Thursday, August 25, 2011

Cutting practice

I did it. I gave my 2-year-old scissors!

When I want to keep Teresa occupied help Teresa build skills, I let her do one or more of the following tasks at the kitchen table:

1) Color with crayons (on blank scratch paper or in coloring books)
2) Play with playdough (she can choose from 3 colors and use a plastic knife with it)
3) Paint with water (she can do one page from a paint-with-water book each day)
4) Practice cutting with kid scissors (she can cut circulars from the recycling bin)

Having read and heard many stories of preschoolers (and even older kids!) using scissors to cut their own hair (or a siblings'), I was wary of letting my little one use them. But others believe it is a skill that children can work on from a young age, and I figured letting Teresa try cutting with supervision (and giving her plenty of instruction in what we do and do not cut) would be best.

After just a few practices, I'd say she's doing pretty well:

2 comments:

Katherine T. Lauer said...

Great job! Just keep your eyes on her. The one time Mary cut herself some bangs, I was in the room. I was even looking at her! But I was across the kitchen instead of right next to her, so Mary looked me square in the eyes and snipped off her hair!

Stasia said...

We just started teaching scissors skills with Myles in preparation for him dropping in on special Preschool days at our church. I enjoyed reading the post and Myles and I enjoyed watching Teresa cut (she's got great form for him to watch!)
Stasia