First knife for a 7 year old girl

[Brock O Lee]

The Mora 511 Basic or Pro S works well for my five and seven year olds. Big finger guards...

My eldest on her first lesson:

She is hooked! I'll have to get her her own knife soon. Thinking about an Opinel. I like the security of a lock, the handle ergos, and no spring to cause unexpected blade movement. I'll "downgrade" her to a SAK eventually.

 

[sparky42]

i know these have been mentioned, but they are worth seeing...

morakniv classic scout 39 safe, comes in 5 colors...

or the victorinox my first victorinox

 

[Axe nut]

I frankly think it is weird to argue AGAINST a safety feature on a knife intended for a child who wants to carve wood. I still avoid wood carving with the tip of any knife that doesn't have more than a spring keeping the blade in place. What is the possible downside to having a safety feature that only increases the carving performance AND safety, when you can get that feature on just about any possible type of knife????

When the child has a hard time working the lock, for example my first knife was a schrade 30t lock back that I got at seven, I couldn't work the lock to save my life( still have trouble twenty years later for that matter)and wound up cutting my fingers on more than one occasion when I improvised a method to close it. It turned me off to knives for ten or so years.
Getting back to the thread , I'd go with either a sak or a slipjoint of some sort