I had my own kit of sorts at age 5 as did my daughter. The first “kit” can be a small sturdy box or a small tackle box, she may really enjoy helping to decorate and line the box. For items: a needle placed in a piece of fabric, a pin cushion that she can help make, and one or two spools of thread and a few small pieces of fabric, like 4X4 inch size for her to play around with. Treat the items like precious gold and she will see how important they are and how lucky she is to have them. Scissors: she can borrow yours for now as she learns rules like never running with them, never cutting anything but fabric with them, etc. I gave my own daughter a nice set of good quality scissors for her 18th birthday, before that she had inexpensive ones.. One needle is enough so you can keep track of them, and it does not have to be really large. You’d be surprised how those little hands and eyes can thread small needles.. I loved sewing on buttons at age 5 (and I was legally blind), that will give her an important family job, from picking out replacement buttons to sewing them on. Oh, have her start her own button box/jar getting buttons from toss away clothes and at yard sales. Buttons are such fun to play with and she will have a nice start on her own collection to take her through life. She can also learn some basic machine skills. You can draw some lines and gentle curves on paper and have her “sew” them on the machine without thread. Remember that little girls of the past were doing embroidery and first quilts at age 5 and they were no more talented than our little ones but they sat at mom’s knees and learned the skills. Sewing together is a nice bonding time. Making potholders and bean bags (remember them Mimmie?) were my first projects as a child along with sewing on buttons. My gram and neighbor taught me, my mom didn’t sew much except to take down my dress hems and replace buttons.
