PlanetJune Craft Blog

Latest news and updates from June

PlanetJune Stories: crochet with kids

Today’s PlanetJune Story is a follow-up from last month’s story of 10-year old Seth and his crocheted dinosaurs. Seth’s mom Amy and brother Benjamin have contributed this month, to tell us about their family’s crochet time, and Amy shares her tips for teaching kids to crochet.

I think she knows what she’s talking about – the crochet force is strong in this family 😉

PlanetJune Stories: crochet with kids
Benjamin, Seth and Amy crocheting together!

And now over to Amy and Benjamin:


Amy’s Story

I learned to crochet twenty years ago, but after making one baby blanket, I quit. I didn’t like the tedium of doing the same stitch endlessly back and forth.

When we gave my son Seth a crochet kit for Christmas last year, I knew I would have to learn in order to help him. We spent two days straight of crocheting, unpicking, recrocheting, counting, and celebrating anytime we miraculously had the correct number of stitches at the end of a round. We laugh at Seth’s lion now, crocheted wrong-side out with messy seams, but we love him for the victory he represents.

Before too long, I was in love with crocheting as much as Seth was. I started making critters in random colors to use up whatever yarn I had. Making amigurumi was much more enjoyable than the boring baby blanket of my youth.

PlanetJune Stories: crochet with kids
Amy’s horses

By April, my oldest son wanted to learn to crochet as well, and my youngest two sons wanted me to teach them how to chain.

Now, a neighbor comes over weekly for a crochet party, and several neighborhood kids have asked us to teach them. For me, crocheting began as an attempt to help my son and use up a few random balls of yarn. Crochet has become a full-blown hobby, not just for myself, but for my children and our friends too.

Benjamin’s Story

Hi, I’m Benjamin, age twelve, and I love to crochet!

When my brother started crocheting, I saw the cute little animals he made and wanted to make some too! He and my mom taught me how. Then one day, my mom bought the horse pattern from PlanetJune, and made two cute little horses for my grandma. When I saw the finished result, I wanted to make my own horse, modeled after Black Beauty from the book.

PlanetJune Stories: crochet with kids
Benjamin with his Black Beauty – good work, Benjamin!

Recently, I showed some of my critters to a neighbor and she wanted to buy one from me. She said she wanted a sloth, but it was tricky to find a good pattern until I looked at PlanetJune’s sloth. I loved the cute face markings, and the ability to hang! It was so cute I almost didn’t want to part with it!

I think my favorite part of PlanetJune is the tutorials. The tutorial about sewing pieces of animals together really helped my critters go from good to excellent! I have also helped some people learn how to crochet, and the magic ring tutorial helps them remember how to do it when they get home!

PlanetJune Stories: crochet with kids
Benjamin with his Black Beauty and Sloth, and Seth with some of his AmiCats

Amy’s tips for teaching kids how to crochet

  1. Watch the tutorials on PlanetJune. There are tons of tutorials out there, but you may as well start with the best.
  2. Choose a pattern your child really wants to make… the motivation is crucial. My boys especially like PlanetJune patterns because they are realistic, and I like them because they have pictures and very clear instructions so that the kids can easily follow them. If you are going to spend the time making a critter, you want to be very sure that the pattern is a good one. June has also been super helpful and responded quickly whenever we have had a question. [June: I’m so happy to hear that, Amy!]
  3. Don’t be afraid to do the hard parts for your children when they are starting out. You won’t cripple them. When Seth started, I usually did the magic ring and the first few rounds for him. When he would get too overwhelmed or if we had to undo stitches, I would fix what was broken. This kept his enthusiasm high, and before I knew it, he surprised me by making his first magic ring. I don’t think I have crocheted anything for him since, even bobble stitches, picots and back post single crochet.

PlanetJune Stories: crochet with kids
Even Amy’s youngest sons are learning how to chain

Amy and sons’ life lessons learned from crochet

  1. Everyone has a different way of doing things. It’s okay to do what you like, and let others do what they like.
  2. Mixing our own creativity with what we learn from others is fun!
  3. Patience and work are necessary to create something you like. Innovation and flexibility are too, because mom won’t buy a whole skein of yarn for just a few stitches. Sometimes you just have to work with what you have.
  4. Self-compassion is important, especially when your item doesn’t look like the picture in the pattern.
  5. Most things don’t look exactly like the picture, but they can still look fantastic in their own way.
  6. Taking the time to fix a mistake, even very painful ones, is worth the effort.
  7. Mom can help fix a lot of mistakes, and it is okay to ask for help.
  8. Step away and take a deep breath (or many) before trying to fix any mistakes. A calm brain is much more effective at problem solving.
  9. Everyone makes mistakes and has to try again sometimes… even mom.
  10. Everyone has something to offer the world… even kids.

PlanetJune Stories: crochet with kids
It’s a happy family that crochets together…


(Back to me, June, again!)

Amy has shared such good advice here – and those life lessons also apply to much more than just crocheting with kids! I hope this may motivate some of you to see if your kids (or other children you know) might like to have a go at our favourite hobby..? Even crocheting a simple chain from a colourful yarn can provide hours of fun, plus it builds hand-eye coordination and dexterity, and encourages creativity.

Thank you so much, Amy, Benjamin (and Seth), for sharing your story with us today. Aren’t they an inspiring and talented family?
Please leave them a comment if you’ve enjoyed this post!

Do you have a PlanetJune Story you’d like to share? I’d love to hear it! Please email your story to june@planetjune.com, together with one or more high quality photos showing what you’ve made from PlanetJune patterns. If I choose your story to feature here on the blog, I’ll send you your choice of pattern from my shop to say thank you!


PS – If you’re looking for the PlanetJune patterns featured above, here are the links to the patterns in my shop: Horse, Sloth, AmiCats 🙂

9 Comments »

  1. joy todora said

    Seth & Benjamin you two are amazing! Love, love, love your crochet animals!! Great work!

  2. Becky G said

    Amy, your story is very much like mine. I also became bored with the blanket thing. But when I started making animals I can’t make them quick enough. I also love PlanetJune for patterns. Good luck to your sons in their endeavor to learn.

  3. Jamie said

    My 8-year-old says she loves the animals you all are making, especially the dinosaurs. She’s a dino-lover, too!

  4. Harlequin Herveaux said

    This is just heartwarming to read. <3 I love it!
    My husband has also got the crochet-bug and wants to learn how to crochet. 🙂

    • June said

      Harlequin, I should think these tips could apply to teaching husbands as well as kids! 😉

  5. Ruth Lister said

    It is so wonderful to read the stories of Amy and her family. I just love reading of and seeing Seth & Benjamin’s creations. So great to see these young people using their imaginations and creating their own fun… as opposed to sitting and looking at a handheld device. :100::thumbsup_tone1::blush:

  6. Miriam P. said

    I loved these posts! The animals are amazing! It’s so wonderful to see younger folks doing crochet. I learned from my Grandmother who was born in 1898 and I’ve taught I don’t know how many young people over the past few years through volunteering at The National Needlearts Association’s (TNNA) table at the annual NYC Maker Faire.

    I especially enjoyed reading the lessons learned. They’re all important and I would say apply equally to many other things in life besides crafts. Things like being a structural engineer (that’s me), being a good friend to someone, and being a good family member.

    I wish all of you the best with many happy hours of crocheting!!

    • June said

      That’s so great, Miriam! When I was kid (okay, that was quite a while ago now) handcrafts were definitely not ‘cool’, so I’m very happy to know that crochet is being taken up by lots of young people these days! (And not just because that’ll hopefully mean I stay in business for a long time, haha!)

  7. Sarina said

    They’re all having so much fun! <3

RSS feed for comments on this post

Leave a Reply to June Cancel reply

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment here! I read and appreciate every comment. I only respond to questions here on the blog, so please return to this page to see my reply, or check the box below to subscribe to new comments by email.

Please note that I can only answer questions related to PlanetJune patterns and tutorials (see details), and I can only respond to questions or comments written in English. Thank you :) - June

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Quick Links: Crochet

    navigation: arrow

    buy crochet patterns and accessories from my online store

    'Everyday Crochet' and 'The Essential Guide to Amigurumi' crochet books by June Gilbank

    Crochet video tutorials and step-by-step photo tutorials

    Free PlanetJune crochet patterns

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Quick Links: Crafts

    navigation: arrow

    Punchneedle Embroidery information, ebook & patterns

    Papercraft ebook & tutorials

    Free PlanetJune craft projects & tutorials

  • Blog Post Categories

  • Blog Archives

  • Welcome to PlanetJune!

    June Gilbank

    Hi, I'm June. Welcome to my world of nature-inspired crochet and crafting. I hope you enjoy your visit!

    If you'd like to get in touch, you can contact me here.
    crocheted Canadian flag by PlanetJune
  • A fanned-out pile of the books Everyday Crochet and The Essential Guide to Amigurumi, with text 'The answers to all your crochet questions at your fingertips - find out more'
  • Support PlanetJune!

    Want to say thanks? You can send me money in seconds at paypal.me/planetjune (over $20) or paypal.me/planetjune2 (under $20) or send me a donation through my shop.

    Or simply click through from my links before you shop at Amazon, Etsy, KnitPicks, LoveCrafts or Crochet.com, and I'll make a small commission on your purchase, at no cost to you! Start here:

    ♥ Support PlanetJune ♥

    Tip: This link is also in the footer of every page!

    Thank you so much for your support!