Can you let him sit on your lap and sort of guide the fabric as you do the foot peddle and really do the guiding of the fabric? That you you can sort of control where his fingers are,

I would go with the sewing cards myself. It will help his eye/hand coordination. Many small kids do not have the fine motor skills needed to handle a regular needle and thread. As he becomes more adept, teach him to hand embroider simple shapes.
When i was taught to use a machine my sister drew shapes on paper and i had to be able to follow them using the unthreaded machine. not until i could follow the lines was I allowed to actually sew. When the time comes that he is ready to use a machine I would use one that has a speed control so he has to sew slow.
Personally I would be uncomfortable with a 4yo and a machine but I don't know your GS.

I forgot all about sewing cards! I haven't seen them for quite a while.

How exciting seeing the younger generations have an interest! Teach 'em well, quilters!

I was sewing well at that age and doing embroidery. I had to practice the stitches from an old book my grandma had. By the time I was seven, I was making stuff on her old treadle. So I would suggest simple embroidery on check material such as easy chicken scratch or needle weaving embroidery on huckaback material so that he can keep track of the lines and size of the stitches.

My grandson was pushing scraps of fabric thru the machine at five. He kept his fingers away from the needle and used a machine that had a speed control, set really slow.

He would talk about winding a bobbin to his teacher. LOL

Jean

How wonderful! My granddaughter wanted to sew when she was 4, I gave her buttons, yarn,and sat with her as sew seed with a needle and thread . When she was 6 ,I bought her a sewing machine for little kids, what a piece of junk it was,looked good, but always jammed up...sew..she watched me sew on my FW 221, I sat her down and introduced her to "Millie",she was so happy!Away she was sewing...made 2 Christmas pillows,potholders,priceless memories. Now she is 10, and loves to sew with Mom-mom and "Millie ".

I did daycare in my home.. large plastic needles with large holes to thread yarn - can be bought in store ( craft sections) I used cereal box fronts, punched wholes and yarn. Also strung cereal on yarn. There are children kits that are similiar.

Please, the needles are hard enough to find when we drop them..

Plastic plastic plastic.. :0)

I would give him his own project to work on: let him pick out the project and the fabric (maybe something from your own stash) and then just show him the steps that he needs to do. It won't be perfect, but he'll be so proud when he finihses something on his own. Just be patient with him and give him encouragement.

i have been teaching some 6 and 7 year olds to sew softie animals. There are tons of free patterns on the internet in every kind of shape and animal imaginable. They learned the blanket stitch around them. Some days we only sewed for 10 minutes but other days a lot longer. When they were done they had a little animal to carry around that they were so proud of.