One of the skills we have been hard at work to develop has included working with scissors. Learning to use scissors safely and effectively is an important part of early development, and we’ve been taking it step by step (or rather, snip by snip!).
To help students remember the correct way to hold their scissors, we use a fun and easy-to-remember phrase: “Thumbs up, dude!” This reminds everyone to keep their thumb pointed upwards and placed in the small hole of the scissors. This thumb-up position gives better control and helps children build the proper grip they’ll need for cutting with confidence.
We’ve also talked about how we use scissors at school. We know that scissors are special classroom tools and we only use them for cutting paper and Play-Doh. When it’s time to set them down, we say, “Scissors down, safe and sound,” reinforcing that scissors should always be put away carefully when not in use.
We started off by cutting Play-Doh! We rolled it into long “snakes” and practiced snipping through the soft dough. This gave students the chance to strengthen their hand muscles without the resistance of paper.
As students felt more comfortable with the motion, we moved to cutting straight lines on paper. Their names were printed across a piece of paper, and after cutting them apart into vertical strips, students were able to reassemble them like a name puzzle. This activity supports both fine motor development and name recognition.
We’re so proud of the progress students are making with these foundational skills. They’ll be bringing their name puzzles home at the end of the week so they can continue to practice and share their progress with you!
