Finger Knitting With Young Children, the Waldorf Way

Sit beside your child with a ball of thick wool, and knit on your own finger first. Start with one finger. Make a loop, wrap the wool once around the finger above it, and lift the lower loop up and over the top. Say a little verse as you go. Many Waldorf kindergartens bring finger knitting in around 5 or 6, and a child who has the knack can work for a long time. The cord that grows ends up as reins, a belt, a jump rope or a rug for the dolls.

Why finger knitting comes first

Picture a 5-year-old at the kitchen table, wool looped over one finger, lifting a loop and letting it drop, lifting and dropping. She isn't following instructions. She's copying the grown-up beside her.

That's how handwork begins in many Waldorf kindergartens. Highland Hall Waldorf School in Los Angeles writes that its preschool and kindergarten children learn "simple finger knitting, hand sewing, and crafts" with their teachers. Lavender's Blue is a Waldorf homeschool curriculum. It puts simple hand sewing, finger knitting and wet felting in the kindergarten years, at about 5 or 6.

Finger knitting comes before needles for a plain reason: there's nothing to hold but the wool. Your child feels how one loop pulls through or over another to make fabric, the same idea every knitted thing is built on. When the needles come later, the hands already know it.

It carries on into grade 1, too. Lavender's Blue starts first grade handwork with winding wool, finger knitting and braiding. The Waldorf School of Santa Barbara describes its first graders "finger-crocheting jump ropes" before some move on to making their own knitting needles. If your child starts grade 1 without much handwork behind them, a few weeks of finger knitting is a good way in. Our guide to teaching a child to knit picks up where this one ends.

What age can children start finger knitting?

Around 5 or 6 is common. Some children are ready at 4, especially for one-finger knitting, which has only two moves. One family writing at Homestead Honey describes a daughter of almost 5 who learned it in minutes and then knitted for more than two hours.

A few signs your child is ready:

• They can copy a simple movement of your hands.
• They can stay with one quiet activity for a few minutes.
• They ask to join in when they see you with wool.

If it's a struggle, stop and try again in a month or two. Nothing is lost by waiting.

What you need

• Thick, smooth wool. Chunky yarn makes big loops that small fingers can see and lift. A light, clear color shows each loop better than a dark one.
• A basket. Somewhere the wool and the growing cord live between sessions.
• A lollipop stick or pencil. For pausing without losing the loops.
• Scissors, kept by you.

Leftover yarn works well. A child who loves finger knitting can use a lot of it, so there's no need for anything special. Our supplies list has the rest of a kindergarten handwork basket.

How to finger knit, step by step

Before you teach it, knit a short length yourself so the movement is easy in your hands. Then sit side by side, not facing each other, so your child sees your hands the same way round as their own.

One finger (the place to start)

1. Make a loop. Tie a loose slip knot and put it over your child's index finger, near the base. Leave a tail hanging down the back of the hand.
2. Wrap once. Bring the wool from the ball once around the finger, above the loop. Now there are two strands on the finger.
3. Jump over. Lift the lower loop up, over the top strand and off the end of the finger.
4. Snug it down. Pull the tail gently, so the new loop slides down the finger.
5. Again. Wrap, jump over, snug. After a while a cord hangs from the back of the hand.

That's all. Two moves, repeated. Keep the wraps loose. Tight wraps are the most common problem, and the cure is to hold the ball a little closer.

Two fingers

Once one finger feels easy, try two. Weave the wool in and out around the index and middle fingers in a figure of eight, so each finger has a loop. Lay a second row of wool across the front of both fingers, then lift each lower loop over the top and off. The cord is a little wider and flatter.

Four fingers

The four-finger version makes a thick, soft cord that's good for scarves. A mother writing at Passengers on a Little Spaceship learned it from her 6-year-old, who had been taught in Waldorf kindergarten. The wool is wound once around the thumb to hold it, then woven over and under across four fingers, and back again, so there are two rows of loops. Each lower loop is lifted over the upper one and off the back of the finger. The thumb wrap is only needed for the first round. Most children are older, or have plenty of one-finger practice, before four fingers feel comfortable.

A verse and a story for the hands

Waldorf teachers often teach handwork "pictorially", in the words of the Waldorf Resources handwork curriculum: through a verse, a gesture or a story rather than a list of steps. A short rhyme keeps the rhythm, and your child doesn't need to remember instructions.

The Homestead Honey blog shares a short one-finger knitting verse (2012), which the writer learned from a Waldorf-inspired finger knitting video. Its lines follow the hands: the loop is a ring, you wrap once, and the lower loop jumps over. Many families make up their own verse the same way: one line for the wrap, one for the jump, said slowly for each stitch.

Sheep and fences turn up in many handwork stories. The Ithaca Waldorf Handwork blog shares The Shepherd and His Sheep, a finger knitting story by K. Manchip, copyright 1998. At the Waldorf School of Atlanta, handwork teacher Lisa Roggow teaches first graders to knit on needles with "under the fence, catches a sheep, brings it through, and off it leaps". If you'd rather tell your own, keep it short and let each move be one part of the picture.

How long should a child finger knit at one sitting?

As long as they want, at first. Finger knitting has no stitches to drop and no needle to lose, so children often keep going far longer than they would with needles. When interest fades, stop.

Some families keep the basket by the sofa for story time. It travels well in the car, too. It fits well in the quiet afternoon part of the daily rhythm, after lunch and rest. Knit your own cord alongside. Children want to do what they see you doing.

To pause, slide the loops off the finger onto a lollipop stick or pencil. The Passengers on a Little Spaceship writer uses a popsicle stick. When it's time to knit again, the loops go back on in the same order.

To finish, cut the wool with a long tail, thread it through the last loop (or loops) and pull snug.

Easy finger knitting projects for children

A finger-knitted cord is only exciting when it becomes something. Plan the use with your child, then measure the cord against it as it grows.

• Reins for playing horses. A long cord tied into a loop. A favorite first project.
• A belt or sash for your child or a doll.
• A jump rope. It takes a while, which is part of the pleasure.
• A necklace or a crown, with a bead or a flower tucked in.
• A garland for the nature table or a winter tree, in the season's color.
• A spiral rug for a dollhouse. Coil a long cord flat and stitch the rounds together with a large blunt needle. You do the stitching for a 5-year-old; an older child can help.
• A lead for an imaginary dog, which the Homestead Honey children planned too.

For an older child who wants more, there's Bare Hand Knitting by Aleshanee Akin, from Waldorf Publications. It builds on finger knitting with needle-free techniques for children of about 7 to 10. Akin went to a Waldorf school on Maui and has taught in Waldorf schools.

When the needles come out

Finger knitting doesn't disappear once your child moves on. Many children keep coming back to it for the pleasure of a long cord.

In many Waldorf schools, knitting with two needles starts in grade 1. Our guide to Waldorf grade 1 shows where handwork sits in that year. Finger knitting also comes up in our first grade readiness guide. If you're choosing a program, the best Waldorf homeschool curriculum for grade 1 compares the options.

Finger knitting turns up again later, too. Starpath's grade 3 Fibre Arts block ends with a small project in finger knitting, weaving or felting, and the public Fibre Arts guide shows how the block runs.

A week to try

• Monday: finger knit your own short cord while your child watches. Leave the basket out.
• Tuesday: teach one-finger knitting with the verse. Five minutes is plenty.
• Wednesday: knit together during a story read aloud.
• Thursday: decide together what the cord will become, and measure it.
• Friday: finish it, tie it off, and put it to use.