A Snip Here, A Fringe There Will Make My Scissors Shine!

You use a scissors all the time.  It’s something that you do that doesn’t require a second thought for it is engrained in your brain.  Your child however needs to practice scissoring and pack a lot of patience until she becomes a masterful “cutter”. 

When introducing scissors to your child be sure you explain how dangerous scissors can be and that they are only to be used on paper or when making a craft (such as cutting yarn).  Every once in a while, you hear of the child who experiments with cutting  his or her hair.  It makes sense doesn’t it?  They see the beautician use a scissors to cut hair, why can’t they do it?  That’s another discussion you should have with your child when you are at the beauty salon.

When a child first begins cutting it’s helpful to begin with snips.  Have the child hold the scissors in one hand, making sure he or she remembers that the edges are sharp and that he or she needs to be careful.  Give your child a thin narrow piece of paper and have him or her snip off pieces.  You can progress to drawing lines on the paper if you want your child to learn how to snip on a line.  Use the snips of paper to create another project!  How about making a mosaic out of colorful pages from a magazine?

After introducing snipping, have your child try making fringes where he or she only cuts midway on the paper.  Curl them up and you have a fun creation. Manipulating the motion of the scissors and moving the paper at the same time can be difficult for young children.  You can use hand-over-hand to help her get the hang of using the scissors. 

Next, draw a circle shape on a piece of paper with a thick black marker.  Show her how to cut into the paper to get to the black line.  Then have her scissors follow the line as she turns the paper.  Frustration may set in, but be positive and encourage her to keep trying.  You’ll see a huge smile on her face when the circle appears. Continue to practice with different sizes of circles before you move onto other shapes.  Glue all your pieces on a larger sheet of paper to create a beautiful collage of shapes.