25 Ways to Help Boost Scissor Skills for Preschoolers

Are you trying to help your kids use scissors effectively? Preschoolers need plenty of practice to build scissor skills. Here are 25 fun activities to help them build the skills and accuracy they need to succeed with scissors!

As a kid, I used to sit at the kitchen table and cut apart toy catalogs and magazines. I enjoyed the activity because it allowed me to be creative & dream about everything I desired. I guess it was an early version of a vision board. My mom loved it when I cut up things because it kept me busy and out of her hair.

But, neither of us realized that the simple activity was helping me build essential scissor skills.

It’s not difficult to find fun cutting activities to help your young children build their scissors skills. Before I begin with all the ideas, let’s learn a little more about scissor skills.

Why are Scissor Skills Important?

As kids develop their scissor skills, they will become efficient cutters. Scissor skills are an important fine motor skill as kids will need to complete cut and paste activities and arts and crafts in school as they get older. With practice, kids will be able to cut with precision and control.

Here are some additional skills kids develop as their scissor skills get stronger.

• Hand-eye coordination – Kids need to guide the scissors correctly as they cut. Hand-eye coordination will also help kids in other activities such as sports and dance.
• Problem-solving skills – As they cut, kids have to figure out how to get the paper or fabric into the desired shape.
• Bilateral coordination skills – This is the skill that helps kids use both little hands together. When using scissors, kids need to coordinate the use of their hands. They use one hand to hold the scissor and the other one as a helper hand to guide the paper.
• Focus – Kids need to focus on the blades of the scissors and the object they are cutting. This focus will help them in other activities where they need to stay focused, such as homework.

You may be thinking that the average person doesn’t really use a pair of scissors much in real life, so what’s the big deal?

Developing scissor skills also develops muscles that help kids with other daily tasks such as handwriting, buttoning, zipping, using tools, and sports activities.

Customizing Scissor Skills Activities

When it comes to developing scissor skills, one size doesn’t fit all. Each child has their individual needs and capabilities, and it’s important to tailor activities to suit these differences.

Don’t push kids who are struggling, but look for activities that are appropriate to their skill level and of interest to a child.

Be sure to provide right-handed scissors and left-handed scissors for the appropriate kids. For children who may need extra support, consider using self-opening scissors or loop scissors which require less fine motor control. For more details see my article about how to select the best scissors for your kids.

Scissor Skills Activities

Now that you know the importance of scissor skills and some benefits, it is time to start practicing! I’m here to help you with some creative ways to encourage your kids to use scissors. Here are 25 activities that will help kids build dexterity and accuracy.

Cut and Paste Activities

Cutting and pasting activities are a great way for kids to develop scissor skills. The more practice they have, the better they will cut accurately.

When I was a kid, I spent HOURS cutting out letters or shapes from magazines or newspapers and gluing them onto a piece of construction paper.

So, don’t throw those toy magazines away. Instead, encourage your kids to cut images out and paste them onto a piece of paper to create a wish list.

There are also many printable cut and paste activities perfect for beginners. The one pictured below gives your kids practice cutting on straight lines.

If your kids aren’t ready to cut the images out on their own, you can adapt this activity by cutting the strip of images off the bottom of the page so they can snip them apart.

Fold and Cut Activities

I love to watch kids’ faces as they open up these fold-and-cut printable cutting practice activities to reveal the final design. There are fold and cut activities for all seasons in my fine motor bundle.

Cutting snowflakes is another magical fold and cut activity that kids just can’t get enough of. Your kids can also do the cutting on this fun folded heart fine motor printable.

Cut Photos

Make copies of magazine images or photos of your kids. Let them cut out parts of the photos. They can even make some fun photo collages like these from Picklebums.

Scissors with Playdough

Use scissors in playdough activities. Give your child a ball of play dough and show them how to cut it in half with the scissors. Next, make coils of playdough and cut them into smaller pieces. Be sure to add scissors to your playdough trays for fun, open-ended play, and cutting practice.

FREE Cutting Snip Strips

As your preschoolers master the open and close motion required to use scissors, they are ready to make small snips in paper. These free snip strips are a great way to work on scissor skill development with beginning cutters. The free cutting activity printable includes several levels of cutting activities and some additional printable fine motor activities for your kids.

Large Sheets of Paper Taped to the Table

Here is a great scissor skills activity for kids who are still working on moving the scissors to cut on a long line. First, draw a line down the long side of a large piece of paper. A sentence strip works well.

Tape the end of the strip to the edge of a table. Now, you can show your child how to cut along the long line. As they become more experienced at cutting on the line, they will learn to hold and guide the paper independently as they cut.

Cutting Long Strips of Paper

Once your kids master the use of a helping hand to move the paper, give them strips of paper to cut. Vary the width and length of the strips to make it more challenging for your child.

Cutting Wrapping Paper

Wrapping paper is an excellent material for cutting practice. Some of it is nice and thick, and it often has patterns that young kids can cut along or designs so kids can cut out different shapes.

Paper in the Sensory Table

Add some scissor practice to your sensory table. Fill it with different materials that kids can cut into, such as colorful foam pieces, ribbons, and tissue paper.

Printable Crafts Designed For Fine Motor Skills Development

These printable fine motor crafts are designed specifically to work on fine motor skills. The thematic crafts give your kids the opportunity to work on cutting skills as they cut out basic shapes on various types of lines. If your kids are brand new at learning to cut, there are snipping opportunities.

In addition to cutting, each craft can also serve as a hole punch activity and your kids will get pre-writing practice as they trace the dotted lines on each design.

You can find fine motor crafts for a variety of themes and seasons. Check out these spring crafts for your kids, or check out all the available printable fine motor crafts here.

Cut Paper Crafts

Teachers always tell me that kids have a great time using my torn paper activity sheets. But, instead of torn paper, kids can snip paper strips to use for the fun craft.

Bunny Bags

Kids can cut a white paper bag to make cute bunny bags.

Flower Cutting Activity

This free flower cutting skills activity is great for spring. Your kids can build scissor skills as they cut out flowers from colorful paper.

Cutting PUZZLES

These cut and paste puzzles are a great activity to help your kids cutting practice, plus they will help boost problem-solving skills.

From simple 2-piece puzzles with straight-line cutting practice to more puzzle pieces with more complex shapes and curved lines, there are many levels for all kids.

Cutting Yarn

If your kids aren’t interested in cutting paper, try this cutting yarn activity from New Creation Preschool. Hang a skein of yarn above a sensory table and let kids pull down pieces of yarn to cut.

Cutting Practice Trays

Set up a cutting practice tray with a variety of scrap paper, ads, junk mail, catalog pages, printables for kids to cut.

For a fun, sensory cutting experience set up a sticky cutting practice tray with pieces of tape, self-adhesive foam, adhesive vinyl scraps, and strips of contact paper. Kids can cut the materials and then stick them to a piece of paper.

Paper Plate Lion

Kids can snip around a paper plate to create a lion’s mane. Add some googly eyes, nose, mouth, and whiskers to complete the creature. Here is an example of the lion cutting activity by School Time Snippets.

Cutting Snowflakes

Kids are thrilled to practice scissor skills when they are making paper snowflakes. These snowflake cutting templates provide a fun way to practice scissor skills in the winter.

So, there you have it! A round-up of some fun ways to help your preschoolers get scissor skill practice. Try out a few of these activities and see which ones work best for your child. With a little bit of practice, those pesky scissors will be no problem at all!

Develop Scissor Skills with These Resources in the Store

Are you ready to get started with some fun scissor skills activities? Check out these scissor skills printables in the store.

Additional Fine Motor Activities and Ideas for Your Kids