How Not to Teach Girls to Knit

I attempted to teach some 5th and 6th grade girls to knit today. I failed.

It's Blondie's Girl Scout troop. They're having a week-long summer camp to complete a few badges. To complete the knitting badge they must cast on, knit, and bind off.

Only one girl (of six) caught on to the standard cast on method. We switched to another method, but that led to other problems as they attempted to then knit their first row. Blondie got so frustrated that she ended up in tears. And she's knitted before!

The girls were making decent progress. I got one making stitches, so I went to help another, and then the first one got lost in the process and needed help again. Their knitting was a bit of a mess, but getting it to look pretty comes with practice. Today's goal was to get them familiar with the technique.

This was not good enough for them. It was "too hard". I suppose if I could have sat down with them one by one, it might have gone better. It's an unfamiliar motion. But I couldn't convince them to keep at it. When I called time (because they needed a break, not because they were anywhere near completing the badge), they were thrilled.

(Well, all but two. One had knit before. The other took to it like a duck to water.)

I'm supposed to go back Wednesday. The girls were not enthused. This is not good.

I've got to figure out a better way. Pep talks only go so far. Perhaps I need to show them some videos. There are plenty online.

I guess I should stick to knitting by myself. I want to make this dragon hat (for Detritus) and this alligator bag (Blondie oohed when she saw the picture). Yeah, that'll be much easier.