7 Things To Look For When Choosing Scissors For Your Child



In our last few posts, we’ve explained what fine motor skills are and which of those skills are the most important as well as what you can do to practice them. 

Today we will go deeper in explaining what you should be looking for when choosing the right scissors for your child.

Proper hold and use of scissors

To master the skill of cutting with scissors first we must learn to properly hold and use scissors. 

The scissors are held correctly when the thumb goes through one opening on the scissors, the middle finger through the other, while the index finger is on the outside of the scissors.

If the child's fingers are too small, the index finger and middle finger (in some models all other fingers) can be placed together in the second opening on the scissors. The wrist joint must remain straight during the cutting activity.

Proper scissor cutting requires the skill of separating the fingers on the hand and involves the use of the thumb, forefinger, and middle finger separately from the ring finger and little finger. These three fingers together participate in controlling the pen holding.

Scissor cutting activity strengthens the muscles of the hand and that way develops your child's fine motor skills.

Three-year-olds will be able to cut with scissors but the skill of holding scissors will not fully develop until the age of six.

What to look for when choosing scissors?

When choosing scissors, we must pay attention to the size of the scissors. The appropriate size of the scissors is determined by the child's hand. They shouldn't be too big because they could fall out of the child's hand, nor too small because they will not be able to grasp them properly. 

Besides the right size of the scissors, ergonomics is also a very important feature. 

You should choose scissors that are safe, which means especially for the youngest ones that the scissors should be designed in a way that child cannot hurt himself or the others in any case, nor there should be the possibility of unintentional contact between fingers and blades.

The tip should be blunt because there are too many eye-injuries caused by scissors. 

The child should never be able to get in contact with electricity by putting scissors in electrical outlets.

Scissors should be sharp enough to cut the paper without a problem. If a child works with blunt scissors that bend instead of cut paper, there is a drop in motivation, and the child will avoid activities that involve cutting with scissors.

What is your biggest concern when your child is using scissors? We would love to hear your comments and thoughts about the safe use of scissors. If you wish, please comment below.

Pro tip!

Offer your child some cardboard for snipping. It's thicker and will provide more resistance and stability...a little help for beginners to hold the paper and more easily maneuver the scissors. After that, they will be ready to start practicing line cutting on thinner paper.

 

For some cool scissor skills practice, download a freebie. 

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