Scissor skills

Using scissors, learning to cut out in all forms helps young children to develop their fine motor skills and can help with handwriting later on. It is also a skill that opens up lots of exciting opportunities for children to be creative.
IMPORTANT - get the correct scissors for your child's age and hand size.
Children should begin to use scissors at around 2 years old and always need adult supervision when learning the skills and they need to be helped along the way. Teach your child the correct way to hold the scissors as relearning once a child is used to doing it wrong can be really hard.
Getting the right grip and the grasp / release action are essential and can begin even before they pick up a pair of scissors!

1. Use a trigger spray bottle (in the garden!)...fix clothes pegs everywhere using that squeezing movement.

2. Learn to snip but start with things like play dough and drinking straws.

 
3. Snip paper using different thicknesses including card. I purchased a large dress pattern book that was a great hit with my granddaughter, especially when she found the Disney dresses!

 

 

4. To begin to control the cutting skills start with cutting along straight lines, strong black lines are best.

 

5. Move onto cutting circles as you need to begin to turn the paper.

 

 

6. Next cut simple shapes such as circles, triangles, squares and rectangles. These require turning the paper

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Move onto cutting more irregular shapes such as wiggly worms and mazes.

 

 

8. Finally begin to cut out more complex shapes like vehicles and people.

 

Always praise your child's attempts, celebrate their achievements!