Ways to Help with Scissors

By: Joanne Agsalud, M.S., OTR/L

Cutting with scissors plays a crucial part in school activities. Kids in preschool and kindergarten engage in arts and crafts that require them to cut lines and shapes. At times, parents don’t realize that they need this skill in order to prepare them for school readiness. They are also worried that their kid will hurt themselves or cut something that they weren’t supposed to. Despite the safety concern that will always come up, it is always better to get them started early so that they can be successful in the activities that will be eventually presented to them when they start school.

Just to give you an idea, here is a quick overview of a typical child’s development of scissors skills:

● 2 years old - shows an interest in using scissors

● 2 - 3 years old - holds and snips with scissors

● 2 - 3 years old - opens and closes scissors in a controlled manner

● 3 - 4 years old - cuts a straight forward line (in a continuous motion)

● 3 - 4 years old - cuts basic geometric shapes (e.g. square, triangle)

● 3 1⁄2 - 4 1⁄2 years old - cuts large circles

● 4 - 6 years old - cuts simple figures

● 6 - 7 years old - cuts complex figure shapes

If you think that your child needs help with cutting, here are some activities and tricks that can help them improve their cutting skills:

1) Learning how to open/close or snip with the scissors

○ Any hand strengthening activity can provide them with the proper fine motor skills needed for cutting. Toys that encourage squeezing such as play dough, picking up toys with tweezers or kitchen tongs (graded down), and spraying with a water bottle will help them get used to separate the two sides of their hands, squeeze, and release their grasp.

○ If safety is a concern, you can use safety scissors or the scissors that come with the play dough kit, as they don’t have blades built-in.

○ Practicing snipping or cutting with items other than paper such as straws, playdough, or even cooked spaghetti can make kids more interested in practicing their scissor skills.

○ Using scissors for food preparation (e.g. cutting herbs, meat, pizza) can also be a great tool for kids to use when they have difficulty using a knife.

2) Learning how to cut lines

○ Using wider or bold lines are easier to follow when kids are just beginning to cut lines

○ When they are just starting to learn how to cut lines, it is best to start with snipping short lines, then progressing to longer lines for the “just right” challenge.

○ When kids struggle with cutting long lines, they might have difficulty coordinating holding the paper with the other hand and cutting the paper at the same time. One strategy you can try is taping the paper from the top edge so that they can get assistance with stabilizing the paper, while they cut along the line.

3) Learning to cut around shapes

○ Make sure that your child holds the paper with their palm facing up (thumb on top of the paper), and that your child holds the paper off the table. This makes it easier for the child to stabilize and maneuver the paper around.

○ Kids who are right-handed should start cutting to the right side of the shape, and left-handed kids should start cutting to the left side of the shape. This will ensure that they can still see the blade when they are cutting along the line, which in turn can help them cut the lines smoothly and continuously.