Fine Motor Cutting Activity, PreK Style

 Often times children come into my classroom who have never had a pair of scissors in their hands.
  Parents are afraid of scissors when it comes to their preschoolers, with visions of cut pigtails, holes in shirts and perhaps a new haircut for the cat. Every year I hear "We don't let him/her have scissors"! So it is our job to let these now overanxious kids explore the previously "untouchable" scissors. Usually this starts with teaching them not just how to cut a straight line, but how to hold the scissors. 

 Upside down, backwards, wrong hand, two handed... I seen it all this morning. When we finally got that figured out, they all did a great job cutting and making these straws fly across the room. One of my absolute favorite cutting activities, this is always a hit with the kids. If you have never snipped straws with a pair of scissors, you should try it next time you get a chance. Little snips work the best and is what we are trying
to encourage here. Just strengthening those little hands by opening and closing the scissors.
   All I did after everyone was holding their scissors "thumbs up" was sit back and take notes. (:  The rest they did themselves. Encouraged by a more skilled classmate to make those straws fly a little further, each child quickly mastered the straw snipping.

A few more tidbits about this activity:
* Restaurants will usually donate boxes of straws to your classroom.
* Use the cut straws to extend this activity and continue working on those fine motor skills by adding pipe cleaners, yarn and maybe a few beads to string. 

Then there is patterning, comparing sizes, and colors and.... well you get the idea.

Happy Wednesday (: