This video by Ms. Kristina Hawkes, the SRES Occupational Therapist, shows a typical developmental progression of scissor skills. Cutting skills take time for children to develop.
Children usually have the skills to use small scissors by three years of age, but the skills to use scissors to cut out a shape neatly are not fully developed until 6 years of age. Students are expected to arrive in kindergarten with fairly competent scissor skills, which can make some school activities challenging if the child is not a proficient cutter.
Tips to remember:
1. At first, many children try to manipulate scissors using both hands to open and close the blades.
2. When the child can hold the scissors correctly then they are ready to practice opening and shutting the scissors
3. Get your child to snip along a piece of thick paper (card stock or cardboard) as it is more rigid for a child to hold. Get them to try snipping different textures before moving onto paper.
4. Scissors with small oval handles are easiest for children to use as the short blades will give the child the most success when cutting.
What is a helping hand? The non-preferred hand, or “helping hand,” holds the paper. The thumb of the helping hand is on top of the paper with the other fingers flexed under the paper. The helping hand turns the paper, allowing the hand holding the scissors to cut out the desired shape.
