I'm having the hardest time teaching my son how to hold the scissors, much less cut with them. His left hand is his dominant hand so that's already a problem. I am also left handed but I do a lot of things with my right hand including using scissors. I'm not sure which hand he is going to use. Can someone help me with which hand to teach him to use and how to hold the scissors correctly? I usually just give him his safety scissors and let him try it on his own but he's actually tearing the paper with the scissors, not cutting it. Any advice? Thanks in advance.
Also: I understand that this is a fine motor skill but his preschool sent a letter home to the parents asking that parents please spend time each week helping them with this particular skill and drawing circles.
Cutting with scissors is a fine motor skill activity. He may not be ready. Cutting is a screening activity for KIndergarten, which is about age 5. Don't stress.
There ARE spring loaded kid scissors that make it a little easier.
I would just put the scissors on the table and let him pick them up with whatever hand he chooses and go from there.
I am left handed with a right handed son. I would go buy the left handed scissors (you know, the ones with the green handles) - buy the ones with curved ends if you are worried. Then teach him to hold them correctly in his left hand. They will cut. Regular scissors will not always cut correctly in his left hand, even if he holds them upside down (yes that does not make too much sense). He will be able to adapt to regular/right handed scissors once he is older. At least I have (and probably you as well) since they don't seem to make left handed adult scissors.
He is only 3 His fine motor skills and strength of his hands may not be ready yet. I agree to make sure you have lefty and regular scissors to practice with.
You can work on fine motor skills, but he will need to have a bit of an attention span.. once again a 3 year old only has about 3 minutes of attention span,.. he will be a lot better, especially 4 1/2yr old.
clothes pins.. Have him open and close them with one hand and then with just thumb and forefinger. Once he can do this, have him go around and pick up and carry the item with the clothes pins. Socks one at a time out of the laundry basket. Pick up magazines and carry them to your room with only the clothes pin and his forefinger and thumb.
Get a box of large paper clips and have him chain them together.
Empty a piggy bank and have him sort out all of the coins. Then have him put them back in the piggy bank, one coin at a time.
Have him push little cars and trucks on a drawn line, with only his forefinger.
Have him roll out playdo in little balls using only his forefinger and thumb. Have him line them up. Once he has lined them up.. have him squash them with his fore finger or thumb..
Have him stack small blocks only with the forefinger and thumb.
These are just a few of the therapies you can start with him.
I agree with the other posters that it's still awful early to be worried about this. Using scissors is tricky and requires a lot of practice!
My son also has a dominant left hand, but does many things right-handed. I've never been able to make that decision for him. He has to do what feels right, even if it may look strange to us. For example, when he eats with a utensil he uses his left hand, when he eats finger food he uses his right. Bowling---one ball is thrown left handed, one right handed. It's actually fun to watch to see what he's going to do!
So funny that you should post this. My son is four and recently received (as part of a class-wide assessment/teacher meeting) a list of questions for me and activities for him and cutting up and down with scissors on a straight line was one of them.
I believe you should allow him to continue tearing the paper with scissors- why not?:) Also before you get to the actual paper allow him - under your close, close supervision - the chance to "open, shut them, open shut them" or show him how the scissors like to "eat" the paper and chomp it.
It is a fine motor skill and just because he isn't supposed to have it mastered until a later date, doesn't mean you can't continue to teach the skill and let him practice it :)
I can sooo relate. They worked on it with him in therapy. What a difference and upgrading to real scissors made even a bigger difference.
He LOVES Hershey Kisses and we use that as a form of therapy to build his fine motor skills.
I've worked in Kindergarten for the last five years and also have been a mom for almost 30. He can cut with his left hand using left handed scissors. You can find them easily online. If he is using his left hand, I would let him. It confuses them, if you don't. You can do a google search and print out practice sheets for cutting. It's great that you are working with your child so early. It helps them so much, once they enter elementary school.
I would have him try with a better pair of scissors and stiffer paper. Cutting with scissors is not just an up and down motion, there's also a tiny bit of sideways pressure from your hands. If you're using the correct left-handed or right handed scissors, the sideways pressure forces the blades closer together at the point to get a good cut. But if you use right-handed scissors with your left hand (or cheap scissors that have a loose connector or bent blades) the sideways pressure forces the tips of the blades apart, and the paper just slips through and doesn't cut well.
One easy project is to make a bunch of short, choppy cuts along the edge of a piece of paper to make a fringe. Then glue this to a picture as the "grass".
My daughter is the only lefty in the house. Her pre-k (3) teacher also said that she was having trouble with scissors. I found scissors at target (i think fiskars) that can be used with left or right hands. I gave her those and a pile of magazines and let her have fun. By the time she started k4 she was great with scissors.
