Scissor Skills
Children begin to master scissor skills in their pre-school years, most children will develop
these skills in a regular sequential developmental pattern however some children will greatly
benefit from modified equipment, activities and strategies and to help master and refine these
skills.
Holding the Scissors
The optimum position to hold scissors is with the middle finger and thumb in
the scissor loops stabilising the lower loop with the index finger. The loops
should rest near the bent middle joint of their fingers. If the child presses the
fingers in deeper than the middle bend of finger, it will be more difficult to
open the scissors.
Quick tips to improve cutting
 Encourage the child to hold the paper in their non-dominant hand and use their dominant
hand to operate the scissors.
 Both hands should be held so that the child’s thumbs are ‘on top’ rather than underneath
the paper.
 When cutting, the “scissor hand” should move away from the child’s body (in the
direction the child is facing), rather than in an angle across the midline.
 The “scissor hand” is doing the cutting and the “paper hand” is doing the turning. It is
important that the “scissor hand” should remain fairly still to develop accuracy during
cutting.
 Use a permanent marker and draw a black line on the inside of scissors along both
blades – this line should disappear between the blades when the scissors are closed.
This line serves as a visual focus to help the child aim to put the blade on the line the
child intends to cut.
 Use Tippex (or a different colour permanent pen) to apply a dot about 3 mm away from
the tip of the blade. This dot will serve as a reminder to open the scissors fully to allow
smooth, long and rhythmical cutting.
 Ensure the child has a supported seating posture before attempting cutting. If necessary
allow the child to stabilise his/her elbows on the table. Always think “Stability before
mobility”
Teach the child that the black line on the scissor blade goes on the black line on the paper.
The white dot shouts “open up” prompting the child to open the scissors as wide as
possible and move it forward. The scissor hand should make a long slow cut - slow enough
for the paper hand to move the paper where it is suppose to be. The paper hand turns the
paper and scissor hand goes straight.
Tips for grading of cutting exercises
 Start with short straight lines, then angled lines and then curves. Be creative - you can
cut a square or triangle by using straight line cutting.
 Grade the size of the paper – start with thin strips and gradually increase the length the
child is expected to cut.
 Grade the firmness of the paper – firmer paper will be easier to cut, but be careful not to
give the child too thick paper as that will make cutting harder.
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 Practice cutting along thick lines (as wide as necessary for the child to achieve)
Decrease the width of the line as the child’s skill improves.
Activities to prepare and strengthen the hands for scissor use
Tearing paper will teach the child to move hands in opposite
directions in preparation for cutting. It will also help the eyes to focus
on what the hands are doing. Try to tear along a line if the child can
cope with it.
Use serving scissors to pick up beanbags/ face cloths or other
lighter weight objects – this will improve the child’s control without requiring the bilateral
component.
Clothing pegs
Putting pegs on a firm card held in the non-dominant hand (or the side of a plastic
container) will strengthen the thumb for cutting. Start with pegs that are fairly easy
e.g. wooden pegs. Grade this task by using firmer pegs (usually the pegs with
springs inside). Coloured pegs can be used to play a sequencing game (e.g. put the
pegs in colour sequence and continue till all the pegs are used). It would be easier
to place pegs on firm cardboard and more difficult to put it on thinner paper or
string. Try to encourage the child to use thumb and index fingers and curl the other
fingers out of the way (they could hold a small coin using the other fingers).
Encourage the child to practice taking off the pegs with both hands at the same time
starting on the outside and moving towards the middle. Tip: wooden pegs can be
dyed using food colouring.
Activities to practice scissor control
Dot–to-dot
Equipment: Paper, single hole punch or sticker spots and scissors.
Method: Punch a line with single hole punch or make a line using sticker spots and ask the
child to cut along the dots. Variation: These lines can be straight or curved or make a shape.
Jigsaw Making
Equipment: Picture of an animal (from magazine); photo of a friend / relative / favourite toy;
etc.
Method: Draw lines over the picture and ask the child to cut long the lines to make their own jigsaw.
Variation: Increase the complexity by adding curved lines.
Comment: Coloured pictures will be easier to assemble than black and white pictures. The
more numbers or the more detailed the picture the harder it will be to put back together. A
second copy of the picture is recommended as a useful guide, when putting it back together.
Snowflakes
Equipment: White or silver paper and scissors.
Method: Fold a square or circle several times and ask the child to cut out shapes along the edges
and open out to make a snowflake to stick on the window.
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