First Snips

What you need

• child's safety scissors with rounded ends
• a rolled sausage of play dough
• a few strips of paper

How to do it

1. Roll a long, thin sausage of play dough together.
2. Show them how to hold the scissors with a thumb in the top hole, opening and closing.
3. Hold the dough sausage still while they snip it into little pieces.
4. When the dough is easy, try snipping the edge of a strip of paper you hold out tight.

Why it matters

Dough is soft enough to cut with just open and shut, which makes it a gentle first go with scissors.

What they're learning

Using scissors

Opening and closing on purpose is the first step to cutting.

Two hands, two jobs

One hand snips while yours holds still: later their other hand will hold the paper.

Hand strength

Squeezing the handles shut works the small muscles in the hand.

What to look for

Watch for them turning their hand so their thumb is on top without being reminded.

A tip

Sit beside them the whole time and put the scissors away as soon as you finish. Children's scissors with rounded ends only.

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