Teaching a Preschooler to Sew...

I've tried to teach my 4yrold to sew before and it hasn't been successful -- took too long to get anywhere, not interesting projects, and couldn't get the thread to go in-out-in-out in a (relatively) coherent line. Thus, I could relate to Denise's story about the kindergarten kids getting rather muddled when confronted with needle and thread (from yesterday's post).
However, I was hanging out with one of the many awesome preschool moms I know, and she had this cool book called 'The Creative Family', by a woman named Amanda Blake Soule (in case you haven't heard of her already....). Wow.
Which is how I was re-introduced to SEWING CARDS! I'm not going to post a link because there are so many, just google 'sewing cards' -- or better yet, work with your little one to make your own....
I used a shape she likes (heart, out of cardstock), punched a few holes, threaded a big straight needle, and gave her some stuffing for the inside to make it puffy (novelty value). She was GRACEFUL with the needle, and loved it, and I was amazed.