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Monday, September 15, 2014

Learning to use Scissors the FUN Way!

This post contains affiliate links that I hope will be helpful for you!

Recently, my three year old daughter has had a strong interest in using scissors.  This occurred after she observed older girls using scissors independently,  "Let me do it mama" is what she said.

Using the scissors is a very complex fine motor skill.  I remember, when I taught kindergarten, many students having a difficult time using the scissors.  This was my motivation to begin teaching her scissor skills.  I figured, if I start when she's three, then maybe by kindergarten she'll have it!  Plus, she was self motivated to try, which is always helpful too!

Here is how we got started learning scissors the FUN way!!

The first pair of "scissors" we used were these very fun bunny spoon-like scissors (pictured above).  I was so thrilled to find these around Easter time for a dollar!  Although the purpose for this tool was to pick up hard boiled Easter eggs from their coloring mix, we used them in a different way (see picture below).
With a simple plastic shoe box filled with rice, I hid objects (such as numbers), then my daughter scooped them out!  This allowed her to practice finger placement and proper hand motion of opening and closing!  She was learning scissor basics while have lots of FUN!  Unfortunately it's not Easter so you may not be able to find this particular tool although check out these very fun handy scoopers below!  These would defiantly give you the same idea!  Use them in rice, noodles, sand, or water!


After we had time to play with the mechanics of scissors we moved into actually cutting something.  My daughter LOVES play dough!  So using safe plastic play dough scissors seemed to be a great next step!  What is wonderful about these plastic scissors is they cut play dough but NOTHING else!  This is a very safe option for young children!


Next we were ready to try REAL scissors.  One of the difficulties of using scissors is having the hand strength and coordination to OPEN them once they have been closed.  To help this action there is a VERY fun tool available called spring action scissors (also sometimes referred to as preschool scissors).  These scissors gently spring OPEN each time the closing action occurs.  This REALLY teaches the child the proper coordination of using scissors (open, close, open, close, etc.).  I found these very beneficial to the scissor learning process!  She was also thrilled to cut paper by herself!  How fun!!!

Once she had the motion, strength, and coordination figured out we moved on to classic blunt scissors.  She LOVES to cut!  I have taught her that scissors are ONLY for cutting paper.  She practices independently cutting notebook paper, construction paper, wrapping paper, junk mail, or news/sales ads!

There are many helpful tools and beginner scissors available to make this skill FUN and enjoyable.  I hope some of these tips and tools will be helpful for your little one!

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1 comment:

  1. I remember how tricky it was to get my kids to understand the motion of cutting when they were really little. These scissors look like good tools!

    ReplyDelete

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