Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Sissors


Levi is working on using sissors correctly. I have to place them carefully into his hand, and show him where to cut. But already with just a little practice he can cut a peice of paper in half along a line, cut a square corner off a peice of paper (following a line), and, as shown here, cut 'snips' on a picture, stopping the sissors at points indicated. The worksheet he is using here is a Kumon cutting book. See how his hand is twisted in this pic? Thats one thing I have been helping him to correct, the sissors should be held right out in front of him, not at a funny angle.

Sissor safety:
- use kids sissors only, with rounded ends and not-too-sharp blades
- supervise closely (duh!)
- show the child how to hold the sissors correctly (demonstrate and then help them try it)
- hold paper with one hand, and the sissors with the other, watch your fingers!
- sissors should only be used sitting down in a designated spot.
- Only cut paper (not hair, clothes, people, the dog....)
- store sissors out of your child's reach (and where they cant drag a chair up to reach them when you go to the bathroom)
- carry sissors by wrapping your hand around the blade, blade pointing downwards and walk dont run!

Cutting ideas:
- practice 'snips' by drawing short lines from the edge of the paper inwards for the child to cut along. Its easier to work with a smaller peice of paper instead of a full peice.

- cut strips of paper 1" wide or so and have them snip it into confetti. Next try drawing lines at 1" intervals and have them try and snip only at the lines to make squares (then go make a collage)

- draw lines across the page and have them practice cutting the page in half. This is tricky because they have to open the sissors and line them up in the right spot. Draw your line thick at first so its easy to follow. Try diagonal lines and then curves.

- cut the corners off the page, draw an 'L' at each corner and have them cut on the lines, then fold up each side and tape it into a little box!

(thats all we have done so far, I'll add more ideas when we get some more practice in!)
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1 comment:

  1. Love the pics!

    We lvoe the Kumon Cutting Book too - soooo kid friendly and slowly builds the skills. Interested him in cutting and challenged him to build his skill level. Gotta look to see if they have any more of them.

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