Cutting Skills #13

Preschool children need the development of fine motor skills as of their developmental stages. This affects many sub-areas such as fine motor skills, self-care skills, or literacy readiness skills. For this reason, it is important to develop fine motor skills in the preschool period. Many art activities have sub-steps for fine motor skills. One of the skills that develop hand skills and is important for children in many areas of development is the ability to hold and use scissors. With such activities, you will both contribute to your children’s ability to hold scissors and create beautiful activities.

Stages of Learning to Use Scissors

∗ Tearing 

∗ Clipping

∗ Fringes

∗ Straight lines 

∗ Zigzag lines

∗ Circular, wave lines 

∗ Right angle lines 

Tearing a Paper

Before using scissors, tearing cardboard is a fun activity for kids. Children use their fingers to tear the paper. Paper tearing activities enable the child to move their hands in opposite directions, and also improve the child’s bidirectional coordination skills.

Clipping

The clipping motion refers to the scissors opening and closing only once while cutting something. The clipping motion allows the child to develop fine muscles so that he can cut in long lines without getting tired.

Fringes

Making fringes is repetitive scissor movements without cutting the paper completely. Starting at the bottom of the backdrop cardboard, use a ruler to draw lines with an equal amount of space between them. Attach a sticker to the end of each line and invite the kids to this cutout activity.

Straight Lines

Once children complete the first three steps, they begin to cut with scissors in a straight line from one point to another. This process requires the scissors to be opened and closed more than once. Don’t be surprised if they say their hands are tired. This tiredness in their hands is an indication that fine motor muscles need to be developed. 

Zigzag Lines

It is difficult to cut with scissors along zigzag lines as it requires the child to turn the paper with the other hand while cutting with one hand. This is a very high-level cutting skill. You should make sure your children are developmentally ready before starting this activity.

Circular and Wave Lines

It can be difficult for children to make cuts on circular and wave lines. How can you know if our kids are ready for these cuts? Observe them making the cuts on the other digits. If they can do these steps without any problems, they may be ready to make circular and wave line cuts.

Right Angle Cuts

Cutting squares or rectangles can be quite difficult for a child. Flipping the paper is always challenging, and kids may instinctively turn their arms around. You may have to show how to hold and turn the paper while making angular and oval cuts. Making angular cuts requires a long practice period.