Our Homeschool’s Favorite Picture Books About Knitting
As knitters, we love to share our craft with the kids in our lives, from our own kids to grandkids, nieces, and nephews. Getting knitting needles and yarn in their hands is great, but what about those who aren’t quite ready to learn to knit yet? How do we get our kids excited about knitting so they can one day appreciate picking up the hobby and skill?
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In our home and homeschool, we read a lot of books. And since I am a knitter, the kids have found a treasure trove of children’s picture books about knitting.
There are board books, biographies, silly stories and serious ones. But we have our list of absolute favorites.
I did read from this master list of all the picture books that have mentioned even a sentence about knitting, a reading assignment that my kids loved. And while a few joined our list of favorites, most didn’t join our permanent library.
So I wanted to share our favorite, 5 star rated picture books about knitting, straight from my kids. These are books that aren’t chosen by a bunch of adults with any agenda, but from my four kids ages 2-7.
While there are a lot of knitting books that teach kids to knit, we’re just looking at knitting books that entertain.
>>Want a walk through my knitting library? Read more here!
Why do we knit in our homeschool?
Teaching kids to knit is so beneficial to their development and learning. My 5 and 7 year olds knit right along side me, but my 3 year old isn’t quite there yet. I won’t start lessons with her until around the time when she’s reading, which is so beneficial to teaching kids to knit. But, to keep her a part of the group and looking forward to knitting, I rotate through our favorite books about knitting as part of our read aloud. The other great thing you can do to get kids excited about knitting is to let them see Mommy, Grandma, or Auntie knitting. Even small squares and rectangles can become blankets in imaginative play.
If you want to learn to knit, head over to my YouTube playlist here!
Developmentally, around the time kids are learning to read is a great time to teach them to knit. Knitting follows the same horizontal eye movements as learning to read. If you start teaching your kids to knit and they’re not ready yet, put it away and try in another few months. You know your child best! While they might not be ready to knit, there are several books you can read with your kids to get them excited about knitting.
My next daughter is 3.5, and not quite ready to learn knitting with needles yet. She is ready, however, for finger knitting and winding balls of yarn.
How we read our favorite books
So we read 28 books about knitting. Most were new to us, and some we had read before. Some were even in our permanent library already, and others are on now Christmas lists!
The books that we didn’t have were checked out from our library network so that we had an actual copy of the book and could really see the pictures well.
I did pre-read them all before reading them aloud to my kids and I always suggest you do the same these days. Sadly, I did come across a few iffy ones that I didn’t even read to my kids.
Again, this is a list of the actual, best, funniest, sweetest, favorite stories and illustrations that my four kids love. And I wanted to share their favorites as we approach gifting season.
Our favorite picture books about knitting
1. Crafty Llama
This sweet 32-page story by Mike Kerr is about everyone having a different hobby, craft, or project and still enjoy doing it together and sharing what they do with others. You can also make something that is lovely or fun or useful, or all three. We don’t have to be like everyone else or all work on the same things! We all have different talents and passions, and can share and appreciate them with each other.
2. The Mitten
The main character in this story is a knit mitten. When a boy drops his brand new mitten that his Grandma knit him, a whole host of animals and adventure begins. This is a classic story is 32 pages long, written by Jan Brett with beautiful illustrations. My kids love this one!
3. Mr. Putter and Tabby Spin the Yarn
In usual Mr. Putter and Tabby fashion, these two get up to fun and mischief and always learn a good lesson. This time, neighbor and friend Mrs. Teaberry starts a knitting club and chaos ensues. This is a beginner chapter book, with 44 pages total, and very short, manageable chapters that make for a great bedtime read aloud for a few days.
4. Extra Yarn
A young girl named Annabelle finds a box of magical yarn. She uses it to bring lots of joy to her friends and community. Beautiful illustrations fill the 40 pages of this story, and there is humor and adventure. This was our first picture book about knitting that we ever added to our home library, and definitely one we come back to.
5. Leave Me Alone
“One day, a grandmother shouts, “LEAVE ME ALONE!” and leaves her tiny home and her very big family to journey to the moon and beyond to find peace and quiet to finish her knitting.” (Amazon.com). This 40 page long adventure is a total walk through discovering the grass isn’t greener on the other side. At first glance, this is all of us on our grumpiest days. But after traveling to find the perfect knitting spots, and along the way finding bears and aliens and obnoxious goats, she discovers the most important and best place to actually be.
6. Knitting Nell
I read this with one of my kids in particular in mind. I was right, and because they related to the main character so well, this quickly became a favorite. Nell loves to knit, and she has a giving heart. She knits things for other people, like scarves, hats, and mittens. What Nell doesn’t love is to talk, but knitting helps bring even that out of her. This 32 page long story is for every introverted kid or kids who maybe could use a book to help understand their introverted siblings and friends.
7. Ned the Knitting Pirate
The pirate crew of the Rusty Heap are rough, tough, and they knit! Okay, there is one knitter, but the other pirates tease him a bit and try to get him back to being scary and scurvy. But through this adventurous tale of 40 pages, Ned’s knitting actually saves the day!
8. Annie’s Swiss Cheese Scarf
We loved this one! It was a sweet story of little Annie who wants to learn to knit. So, her mommy teaches her. But there are realistic challenges that happen in this book that doesn’t in others. Unlike the stories where the child already knows to knit and makes all the things for all the people, Annie struggles to learn at first. This 32-page story is also where we learned the sing-songy rhyme that my kids always repeat while they’re knitting.
>Check out this post on how to babyproof your yarn stash.
There are so many great children’s books out there amongst the duds. These are our favorites in our home and homeschool, what are yours? Now onto finding appropriate chapter books about knitting and crafting bigger kids!
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