What is so great about using scissors?

Firstly it can help your little ones learn about which hand is their dominant one.

With younger children, we need to ask ourselves whether our child is left or right handed. Then make we have to make sure we have the right type of scissors. If your child is still at the stage of swapping hands then I would recommend starting with whichever scissors you have at home and observe how it goes.

I always make a point of not handing a pencil, crayon or scissors directly but put them in front of them and have them decide which hand they want to use for colouring/cutting.

Once they choose which hand they want to use, you might want to help them with placing the scissors correctly in their hand. Showing them using your scissors helps so they can see how you are holding them as well. Some children are very observant and they can figure it out just by watching you.

Secondly, cutting with scissors builds hand strength because by opening  and closing them children build up the small muscles in their hands. It also develops their coordination to use both sides of their body at the same time: holding paper with one hand and cutting with the other. This is called “bilateral coordination” and helps with buttoning and zipping up coats.

Learning to use scissors requires a lot of practice so you should let them do cutting as often as possible. If your child is too young or doesn’t have the skills to cut the template out just yet, make sure you give them some scrap paper to practise while you are helping out.

Thirdly, using scissors develops hand- eye coordination where they learn to watch where they are cutting and use their eyes to guide how they should move next. Mastering this skill is helpful in playing sports, cooking and everyday life.