Little Guy is just learning how to hold the scissors, how to coordinate both hands together when cutting, how to open and shut the blades of the scissors to cut smooth lines, and how to stay on a line when cutting.
This little activity is perfect to work on all of those things.
Plus, he thought it was a ton of fun to Cut. Play Dough. With. Scissors.
First, roll out the play dough into a “snake”…this is a perfect fine motor strengthening activity for little hands.
Mom, You then use the blades of the scissors to press lines into the “snake”.
The child will hold the play dough snake with his assisting (non-dominant hand). Using the helper hand in a coordinated manner can be tricky for the new cutter. A fun way to practice (like this activity) is a real confidence booster.
Holding the scissors in a vertical position is sometimes, a big part of the problem with accuracy of cutting paper along lines. Cutting the play dough snake usually will automatically correct a horizontal or diagonal position of the scissors. Practice will help to carry-over the positioning when cutting paper.
The nice wide and short lines in the play dough snake are great for practicing line awareness and the “open/shut” motion of the scissors when cutting. Plus, the slight resistance of the play dough really provides feedback to the child.
Just be sure to do this activity with your child. This shouldn’t be an unsupervised activity…a little finger can get caught in the scissors easily.
This one looked like so much fun that Big Sister had to join in too 🙂
1 thought on “Improving Scissor Skills with Play Dough”
oh!! this is cool. I will try this one for my little boy. Thanks for sharing!
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