LEARNING TO CUT WITH SCISSORS
Sandy Moline, Early Childhood Educator

Young children need to practice in order to develop skill when cutting with a scissors.  Cutting skills are easier when children have hand strength to open and shut the scissors.

Activities Children Can Practice That Develop Hand Muscles:

• Do simple finger plays with your child, especially ones that include opening and closing their fingers.  For example:

Open, shut them, Open, shut them, Give a little clap, clap, clap.
Open, shut them, Open, shut them, Lay them in your lap, lap, lap.
Creep them, Creep them, Creep them,
Right up to your chin, chin, chin.
Open up your little mouth, but do not let them in.

• Let children practice squeezing water out of sponges.
• Give your child some squeeze type clothespins.  Have him or her snap them onto a paper plate or piece of cardboard.

Adults need to show the child how to hold the scissors.  Blunt edged scissors work well for beginning cutters. Many of these scissors are interchangeable for right or left handed cutters. The correct grip is to have the thumb in the upper hole and your first two fingers (index and middle) in the lower hole. Keep reminding children to have their thumb on top as they cut. Remind children to hold the paper they are cutting with their other hand. Always remember to supervise when children are using scissors.

Easy Ways for Children to be Successful as They Begin to Cut:

• Give children soft play dough and let them cut with a scissors.  Look for recipes to make homemade play dough that is very easy for children to cut through as they play.  The adult can show children how to roll a long thin tube of play dough or roll the play dough into a long, thin tube for the child so that the play dough is thinner for children to cut through.

• Give children colored cooked spaghetti noodles to cut.  The noodles are very thin for children to have success as they open and shut their scissors.   Hint:  Add ¼ cup oil to the water when boiling the noodles to keep the noodles from sticking together.  Allow the pasta to cool.  Then place some noodles in a Ziploc bag.  You can then add food coloring to the bag and squish to color the noodles.

• Give children thin strips of copy paper to cut through.  The strips should be no more than an inch wide.  Children will have more success as they only have to make a few snips to cut the paper into pieces.  It helps beginning cutters even more if an adult holds the paper for the child.  Remember to save the child’s cut pieces in a baggie for another art project.
• Give children a thin strip that is no more than an inch wide and draw vertical, horizontal or diagonal lines for the children to cut.  Make the paper wider and the lines longer as children develop more skill.
• As children develop even more skill, cut paper into 4 or 5 inch squares.  Draw a square, circle or triangle inside the square for the children to cut out.  Save the shape pieces to find the same shapes in your house or use for a gluing project – What can you make from these shapes?
• Other fun items to cut include:  junk mail and catalogues, shredded paper, or straws.

Additional Resources:

http://www.preschoolexpress.com/skill_station01/skill_station_jul01.shtml

http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/miscellaneous/scissor_skills.htm

Sandy Moline, Early Childhood Educator