Cutting can be a difficult skill for children to master. I have one child who still does not like to cut things and he is way past the preschool age. To help children learn to cut, start with something other than paper. Let them cut play dough or bread dough to practice holding the scissors. Then graduate to paper-like items such as foam (you can get these sheets at all craft stores). One really fun activity you can do with your preschooler is to purchase the foam sheets as well as a container of shapes, animals, or letters. Children can cut the foam sheets and then add the stickers to the foam, which develops their fine motor skills.
One way to get more bang for your buck with tracing worksheets is to have your child trace the lines and then cut the lines. You use less paper and save money. I date the cut sheets and save them in a folder so I can periodically check my preschoolers progress to see if they are improving. In the pictures, my little one using a tracing program I downloaded for free this week from Currclick.
Tracing
Cutting
Gluing
For those of you super observant readers, yes my lefty is cutting with right handed scissors. Do not follow my example. Our little preschooler was so excited to start school that she is using the scissors we have instead of waiting for her left handed scissors to arrive. If you have a lefty, invest in left handed scissors. They might cost a little more but it is worth it for your child.
Another point for my observant readers. I am sure you are all wondering that since this is not a post about gluing, why did I include a picture? Well, my preschooler wanted to glue. I hadn’t planned on gluing today, but preschool is not about a rigid academic schedule of tracing and cutting. If your child wants to deviate from your plan in a productive way, let them! Relax, this is preschool, not college.
Here are a few links to free preschool worksheets.
More Printable Tracing Worksheets
Great Worksheet for learning colors and numbers 1-10
If you must simply spend money for preschool curriculum check out the Kumon
books. My kids love these workbooks, they have them for cutting, tracing, alphabet and more.
More Preschooler Posts
What to Expect from your Preschooler
niki says
I have a lefty on my hands, too!
By the way…you’ve been nominated for a blog award. Come on over to check it out!
🙂
Princess Momma says
So, where do you find lefty scissors for preschoolers? My 6 year old has managed to make right handed scissors work pretty well, but I think she would feel much better about cutting if she was doing it the right way instead of having to adjust.
TheHappyHousewife says
Rainbow resource (www.rainbowresource.com) sells them. They are made by Fiskars. You also might be able to find them in a teacher store in your area, like Lakeshore Learning or TAPS.
Hope that helps.
Toni