Today is rung 4 of 12 on this topic
Cutting with scissors
Can do: Opens and closes safety scissors with one hand and snips across a strip of paper.
Why it matters
Cutting builds the exact hand muscles that hold a pencil, and it teaches two hands to do different jobs at once — the same skill as steadying a page while writing.
What it looks like when it's wobbly
Two hands on the scissors, the paper crumpling instead of cutting, or the elbow flapping out sideways.
⏱️ Two-minute check
Hand them safety scissors and a stiff strip of paper. "Can you snip it?"
Solid looks like: One or two real snips, thumb up, elbow tucked in.
The full activity for this topic · 10 minutes
Snip Soup
- 1Cut strips of stiff paper about two fingers wide. Thin paper folds, card cuts.
- 2Say "thumbs up" and check their thumb points at the ceiling. This one cue fixes most problems.
- 3You hold the strip, they snip. Snips fall in the bowl — that's the soup.
- 4Once snipping is easy, draw a thick line and let them cut along it.
- 5Glue the bits onto paper. Cut, then stick — the sticking is what makes them want to cut again.
If it's too hard
You hold and steady the paper, and they only open and close. Loop scissors help a lot if regular ones defeat them.
If it's too easy
Cut along a curved line, then around a simple shape.
Say this
"Thumbs up to the sky. Open… close. You're doing it!"