Activities to Teach a Preschooler How to Use A Pair of Scissors

I have two fearless preschoolers who love to use scissors to do crafts and just to cut paper up.

Using scissors is a great way to build up their hand-eye coordination and to help them use smaller hand movements which is also useful when they learn to write.

An appropriate age to teach cutting with scissors is between 3-5 years old. At this age they are perfecting their fine motor skills.

Start with round-tip scissors made for children. You can find these in the arts and crafts section of most stores.

They can still cut themselves on these, but it would be nowhere near as bad as a pointy tip pair of scissors.

Keep fingers away from sharp edges.

Point the scissors away from the body to lower the risk of them cutting their skin or clothes.

Encourage your child to use scissors with their thumbs up.

Have the kids cut shapes out of construction paper.

You can make shapes with stencils or just draw them on the paper.

Stencils can be bought at Arts and Crafts stores and at Walmart or Target.

You could also give them the comics or a store sale flyer from the newspaper that you have finished reading and have them cut out different pictures and make a story from them by gluing them on a blank sheet of paper. They don't even know they are learning because they are having so much fun!

Try to make them as simple and as large as possible when they are beginning to learn.

After they have mastered cutting out the simpler shapes, you can start making more difficult shapes to cut out.

You can also cut strips of paper and have them cut them into pieces of confetti.

Have your child cut play dough with play dough scissors.

This is a great, safe way to practice before cutting with the real things.

This will also help them develop their fine motor skills and the muscles in their hands that they will use for cutting with scissors.

Have them sit at an uncluttered table with just the scissors and paper.

This will make them focus on the project so they do not cut their fingers or anything else important.

First, you will need to show them how to hold scissors.

Then, you will show them how to cut along a line.

At first cutting along the lines is difficult, but as their fine motor skills build they will get better at it.

Is your child right-handed or left-handed?

They have scissors for each.

Buy the correct so they will be more comfortable while cutting.

It is harder to find left-handed scissors, but keep looking, they are out there!

Would you like to find books of activities for preschoolers on how to use a pair of scissors?

Buy a Kumon cutting book for your child and have them use it.

Learning to safely use a pair of scissors is an important part of preparing for school.

This workbook is for children who have never used scissors before.

Children will learn how to hold and control a pair of scissors, and will advance from simple one-stroke cuts all the way to cutting complicated curved and zig-zagged lines and shapes.

These books are great for children ages 2 and up.

There are many great websites and videos on the internet with great tips and instructions on how to teach a preschooler how to use scissors.

You could also find activity cut-out sheets online that you can print out have your child use their scissor skills on.

Just type "teach preschooler to use scissors" into the search engine and tons of great information will pop up.

Good Luck and Happy Cutting!!!