Cutting with Scissors

It has been such a pleasure watching the kids in the class form new friendships. I think by now most kids know everyone's name. I keep hearing phrases like, "He's my friend," and "We can be friends."  It makes a preschool teacher proud. 

We did a project together last week that both helps us recognize the seasons, and share a bit of ourselves. At small groups, the kids traced their hands on two different fall-colored sheets of paper. Then, they cut out their hand shape and we tacked them up on our class tree. Right now, they are all on the tree, but as fall moves on, some of our classroom leaves will also "fall" to the ground. As the seasons change, so will the hand print leaves on the tree. 

This activity really focused on the fine motor skills of tracing and cutting. Many kids were able to cut their hands with just a little help from a teacher. Some kids chose child-sized Fiskar scissors, and others chose "squissors," scissors that bounce back open after you close them. Cutting around fingers is not easy, considering all of the paper turning that is required. We showed kids how to cut with their thumb up and how to hold the paper with one hand and turn as they opened and closed the scissors with the other. 

We will have many more opportunities to use and practice with scissors. This will help develop the kids' hand-eye coordination and fine motor muscles in their hands.