A double stitch is a trapezoid with rounded edges, kind of like candy corn. So get out your shuttles and thread, grab a bag of candy and let's play with double stitches!

No matter what size the candy corn - it still has the same shape. So do double stitches. No matter what size thread you use to make them, they still make a trapezoidal figure.

The uniform shape of the double stitch gives tatting its curves and rings. We can make the same curves and rings in candy corn.

Have a little munchkin learning to tat? Print out this worksheet and let them try their hand at pattern designing.

Have them cut out the corn and arrange the pieces (or just hand them a bag of candy corn and let them go to work : )

The only 'rule' is that an orange section must touch another orange section. Imagine the yellow as the band at the top of the knot. The threads that wrap around the bottom of the core are the white section. And the orange is the tunnel the core thread goes through! All the orange sections must touch so the core thread can stay inside its tunnel.

When the child has designed a pattern she likes - make a copy of it for her in tatted string. Or better yet, help her tat her own. . .