This Saturday, 21 children took on a new creative challenge: learning to crochet.
The session was led by a facilitator from aikyam’s stitching unit, bringing a skill already present within the community into the Curiosity Club. It was a lovely example of how knowledge can be shared across different groups within the space.
We organised the children into three groups of approximately seven and gave everyone a crochet hook and colourful yarn.
There was some hesitation at the beginning, particularly from a few of the boys who initially said they did not want to try crochet. Once the materials were in their hands and they began experimenting for themselves, their interest quickly grew. Before long, most of the children were concentrating closely and trying to understand the movements.
With one crochet facilitator supporting the whole group, providing individual guidance to everyone was challenging. She began by explaining the technique to one table at a time, but this meant that some children had to wait before receiving support.
Several children already knew how to crochet, so we encouraged them to help someone else. They began demonstrating the movements, offering encouragement and patiently supporting their friends. What began as a practical challenge became a lovely example of peer learning, cooperation and children sharing the skills they already had.
Our main learning was that an activity like crochet needs a clear whole-group demonstration at the beginning. Next time, we would first show the basic movement where everyone can see it before moving into smaller-group and individual support. We would also identify children with previous experience earlier and pair them with those needing additional help.
Initial hesitation soon turned into concentration, conversation and shared learning. The session reminded us of the value of drawing on skills from within the community and giving children the opportunity to learn from both adults and one another.