Cutting Practice Made Easy

Cutting practice has been a hot topic around here lately.  Logi-Bear is desperate to learn to cut,but Royal is the one that is really at the cutting age.  I try to do most of our cutting practice incognito…in the form of crafts!  But sometimes you just need a bit more, right?

I made these strips for early cutting practice.  Cut each page into strips using the small dotted lines.  Then let your child cut on the big dotted lines or the wide solid line!

Watch how we use the cutting strips

 

Why Cutting Practice

How necessary is cutting practice?

I’d say it depends on your child. Some kids just do more activities that require fine motor skills and simply won’t need as much practice with cutting.

Others need more.

Fine motor skills are simply a matter of experience. The more they work with their hands and manipulate small objects, the better their fine motor skills will be. I say this with the caveat that some kids do need a lot more fine motor skill practice for whatever reason. 

Fine motor skills are very important though. They set the precursor for things like handwriting. Kids with stronger fine motor skills will have an easier time picking up handwriting in the future.

What Scissors Should Preschoolers Use?

I’m a fan of letting kids choose their scissors at a certain point. But for younger kids, the scissors can make a huge difference.

I love the scissors that have a little spring action to help kids open them again. This helps kids develop a smooth cutting motion. These ones are some of our favorites (but there are tons of similar ones on Amazon, so look around).

When they can open and close the scissors with ease, I like to provide fun scissors. They break up the monoitiny of cutting sometimes.

How to Use the Cutting Strips

I like to leave the strips out for my kids. Sometimes they just want to cut something and this gives them the perfect opportunity.

In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever just left cutting strips out that didn’t get used.

I also like to leave fun scissors around for them to use as well.

Even as my kids get older and don’t really need cutting practice anymore, i still find them enjoying cutting just for the sake of cutting.

Get your Cutting Strips Here

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