Developing Motor Skills - how to help your child use scissors

The information on this page is also available to download:

• Using scissors (PDF 37KB)

Why?

Using scissors should be fun however learning to use them can be hard work and often does take time! Your child will probably go through different stages in learning to use scissors properly, such as:

Your child will probably go through different stages in learning to use scissors properly, such as:

• Using scissors in two hands
• Fingers only in the 2 scissors handles
• Finger and thumb pushed too far through the scissors handles, almost at the knuckles
  

And then finally:

• Managing to hold at the ends of their fingers (either index or middle finger) and thumb
• When your child comes to use their scissors they may hold them sideways at first before turning their hand so that their thumb is facing upwards.
• Using scissors is usually a skill that is practiced through nursery and primary 1/2

Here are some ideas to help your child:

Using toys to develop using pincer grasp and using the fingertips:

• Post boxes
• Posting pennies in piggy bank
• Duplo/stickle bricks/k-nex/geo-mex
• Wind up toys
• Tearing paper and card for collages
• popoids

Using toys and games to develop squeezing:

• tiddly winks
• squirt toys, water pistols turkey basters and old eye droppers can be played with in the bath
• clothes pegs to hang up pictures or dolls clothes
• hole punches to make confetti to glue onto pictures and collages
• blunt ended tweezers for picking up small items like buttons and beads to pop into containers or tubs
• small kitchen tongs or tea bag squeezers for bigger things to pick up as above