Knitting, Crocheting and other Crafts

The knitting and crocheting ASA is an opportunity for students to broaden their creative horizons, learn new skills, and create collaboratively. Each week the students will either knit or crochet with the aim of creating an object of their choice. These skills will be taught by experienced grade 9 students. The skills that we will be teaching can be used throughout the student’s life as a means for relaxation, improvement of fine motor skills, gift giving, and challenging themselves (e.g. learning new stitches, creating unique patterns, etc). The students will also learn to develop and incorporate ATL skills such as creative thinking, problem solving, organization, and listening.

Student Reflections

Session 1: We were really pleased with the show-up which consisted of around 10 kids from 3+ different grades. I think we were all really surprised how easily we were all able to communicate and help each other despite the age difference. This made teaching easier and the mood happy. We split the group depending on who wanted to knit and who wanted to crochet; though the majority chose crocheting. We used this lesson to teach the basics of crocheting, however, we didn’t have all the materials we would’ve liked so it was a bit difficult. The kids learned really quickly and were able to get a feel for what they could do. We also made sticker-booklets for achievement stickers to encourage progress. We also presented reasonable projects that could be done in the given timeframe. Our next step is to go shopping for the desired yarn and needles, bake or buy some snacks, and present smaller projects (like bracelets etc.) if crocheting and knitting get’s a little tedious. Overall, this was a great experience and we can wait for next time.

Session 2: We started the lesson by continuing to teach them how to crochet a second row and for the kids who progressed faster they were taught how to crochet the third row. Then we talked to them about the projects they wanted to create and made sure their goals were realistic and accomplishable by the end of the ASA period. The projects that we proposed included: a pencil case, a keychain and a summery top. We also supplied snacks and music and there was a lot of dancing. I think that next time they will start their projects and we will continue to help them improve their crocheting skills.

More to follow...