The Top 10 Hilarious Benefits of Teaching Children to Knit

There are unexpected joys and humorous moments that come with teaching children to knit. While there are genuine benefits of learning to knit, there are plenty of fun and silly reasons as well.

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teaching children to knit

Just like Bilbo Baggins and his adventure with dwarves and elves, teaching children to knit is its own unexpected journey.
Some of these benefits are genuine reasons to begin teaching children to knit, such as helping them develop motor skills and patience. But there are plenty of other joyous reasons to add knitting to your family culture and education, and some are just plain fun!

1. Less Screen Time, More Stitch Time

Once your children know how to knit, you’re going to be hearing way fewer TV theme songs. A reduction in screen time is bound to happen as kids become engrossed in counting stitches instead of YouTube videos.
The genuine benefit behind this one is obviously that too much screen time isn’t good for our kids. But your children aren’t likely knitting in silence. What takes the place of TV background noise becomes actual conversations between knitters, a book being read aloud by mom, and a family growing together.

2. Ultimate Patience Training (for Kids… and Maybe You)

Teaching children to knit will undoubtedly leave you both with more patience. Learning to get through dropped stitches and tangled yarn teaches perseverance and brings you closer together. Much like Amazing Race contestants, no?
One of my children has always been quick to anger. Little things used to set her off and she just couldn’t keep calm enough to work towards a solution. Once she learned to knit, I noticed a huge change in her ability to stay calm amid knitting mishaps, which translated to her everyday life. This could teach us mamas a thing or two, if we’re being honest!

3. DIY Fashion Shows: “Project Runway” at Home
Once you’re teaching your children to knit scarves, hats, mittens, and headbands, they might just pick up on a new favorite game: Fashion show.

Celebrate the fashion shows where your kids proudly model their knitted creations! Imagine the creativity unleashed as our kids design their own scarves, hats, and “designer” accessories. Who knows, they might just wind up becoming a knitting designer one day!

4. The Art of “Knitflix”

While knitting brings about less screen time, teaching our children to knit doesn’t have to eliminate it. The focus of turning on the TV just becomes sharper. We don’t ever have the TV on as background noise unless we’re all sitting down together for family movie night. But when you’re intentional about your screen time you can enjoy it guilt-free! Share the comical moments of bonding over knitting projects while watching favorite shows or discovering new ones.
There is a lot of joy in cozy evenings filled with yarn, laughter, and maybe a few knitting-related bloopers.

5. Gifts Galore: Handmade Presents for Everyone

When you’re teaching children to knit, there will be an increase of knitted gifts coming from your home. As both a giver and receiver, there is a delight in receiving homemade gifts that range from charmingly uneven scarves to oddly shaped coasters. Knowing that children knit this while thinking about its recipient makes the actual act of giving less about the gift and more about the intent and love behind it.
Encourage kids to create heartfelt gifts for family and friends instead of buying them this year!

6. Math Made Fun: Counting Stitches and Measuring Yarn

Did you know that knitting secretly improves math skills? Through counting stitches and calculating yarn lengths, all children can benefit from knitting, and homeschoolers can cross their math lesson and handicraft off for the day, praise God!
Your kids might even become math geniuses, thanks to their newfound love for knitting!

7. The Unlikely Therapist: Stress Relief, One Stitch at a Time

The role of knitting as a stress reliever for both kids and adults is an important one. It keeps our attention and hands busy so we don’t get into trouble in other ways. The rhythmic movement of knitting also slows our heart rates.
Imagine the therapeutic benefits of winding yarn balls to create something instead of stress balls!

8. Yarn Stash: From Closet to Craft Corner Takeover

While the knitting community online jokes about yarn stashes growing exponentially and taking over the house, it’s something to take seriously when teaching our children knitting habits.
Much like teaching our kids to keep their room clean, or walking them through what’s an appropriate number of rocks to keep from the creek (mine are convinced that number is boxfuls), knitting helps them work through managing the things they own well. One of my knitters loved working on projects, but would constantly start a new one before finishing the old. This led to a problem of tangled yarn projects strewn throughout her room.

There is an art to organizing a collection of colorful yarn that even children learning to knit need to learn. In my house, each child works on one project at a time, and can only have the amount of yarn that fits in a small basket. If they want more yarn, or to start a new project, they need to use and complete what they have first.

9. Bonding Moments: Grandma’s Secret Knitting Tips Revealed

When we’re teaching our children to knit, we’re also exploring the heartwarming tradition of passing down knitting skills through generations. Whether you’re learning an old family pattern, like Grandma’s dish cloth, or a skill specific to the region of your ancestors, it connects your children to where they come from.
I learned to knit from my right-handed aunt and sister, alongside my left-handed mom. It was special, because knitting was passed down from my grandma to my aunt, to my sister. And then it turned comical being passed down to me, who could never sit still long enough to learn, and my left-handed mom who was holding everything backward!

10. Memorable Oopsies: When Knitting Goes Hilariously Wrong

Teaching children to knit brings us funny mishaps, like oversized beanies or unintentional fingerless gloves. If we let them, these mistakes can bring us further apart from our children, and them further away from wanting to learn to knit. But if we see the joy in learning, teaching, and knitting with our children, they are going to be invested in spending that time with you and sticking with learning.
Celebrate the laughter and lessons learned from imperfect projects, because years from now, the projects will be forgotten, but the skill and time together will remain.

teaching children to knit through the humor and perseverance

There are tons of humorous yet heartwarming benefits of teaching children to knit. Head over to the Fiber and Fellowship private Facebook group for a community of homeschool moms teaching our children (and ourselves!) to knit to share why you prioritize teaching your children to knit. I’ll see you there!