My youngest is now 4 years-old, and that means we start pre-school. While I began collecting items for our homeschool at Just Between Friends last spring, there are some items I have chosen to make myself. Sewing Cards were an easy place to start.
While to some, a sewing card may just look like a quiet activity to get your pre-schooler to focus, there is a lot more going on there. The use of sewing cards strengthens the wrist and tiny fingers while perfecting their pincer grip – the use of the thumb and pointer finger that is used to grab things – which is needed to hold a pencil correctly.
These kinds of activities are necessary, in addition to coloring and tracing, to develop the full range of motion in both their dominant and non-dominant hands. It also teaches children how the dominant and non-dominant hand work together to complete a task – something we don’t really think about as adults because it’s now intuitive.
Our Turtle sewing card was made using the Cricut Stretch Your Imagination cartridge.
First, cut a 7 1/2″ square of light blue for the background.
Glue all of your layers together with a glue stick.
Laminate your sewing card, and then trim off the excess. Punch holes around the perimeter.
Add a boot lace and your sewing card is ready to go!
You don’t need fancy equipment to make a sewing card for your child. Here’s how to make sewing cards without a Cricut.
First, cut out your image. This can be a plain shape or a picture you printed off the internet or cut from a magazine. If you have multiple layers to your image, make sure to glue them down with a glue stick.
Next, laminate your image. You can use a small desktop laminator or even clear contact paper. The goal is to have a rigid image for your child to sew.
Punch holes around the perimeter of your sewing card.
Use a boot lace (about 72″) as the lace for your card. The aglet makes it easier for your child to push the “thread” through the hole, plus a boot lace won’t shed and fray the same way a piece of yarn would.