How do i teach a two year old to use scissors? any neat little sayings?

Question

How do i teach a two year old to use scissors? any neat little sayings?

Answer 1

First of all, you should use child-friendly, rounded-tip scissors. You then go about by showing the child where to place his fingers, and the motion that s/he needs to perform to operate them.

That being said, in my experience (I have been teaching 1 to 6 yr. olds for 4 years), most 2 yr. olds are too young to use scissors efficiently because they lack the fine motor skills necessary to control the scissors (holding their wrist steady, moving the thumb, etc.)

There is really nothing that you can do about that because it's a development issue. You can, however, help the child develop fine motor skills by providing him/her with activities that require him to use his thumb, index, and middle fingers (activities such as sorting and stringing beads, using wooden puzzles (the kind that have k***s), etc.

Answer 2

I don't have any "neat little sayings."  I would say to make sure they are a pair that has been designed for small children.  Scissors could be quite dangerous for your little one!

Answer 3

You can buy scissors with four holes so you can use the hand over hand approach.  It usually takes awhile for little children to get the technique down.  Even when the child does learn to use scissors properly they will always need to be supervised.  At the preschool where I teach we just say "Open it close it"  Not very original but it works.

Answer 4

I have seen somewhere a pair of "training scissors" which had two holes on each side, so you can put your fingers in one set of holes while the child uses the other set of holes.  Then you can demostrate the proper technique.  Even if you don't have these, you could do the same thing.

Answer 5

They now have scissors just for preschoolers.  The do not have finger holes.  They have a strip connected to the blades.  They are very dull and can only cut paper.  They can be found in any school supply store or catalog.  Once they can master those, they have some with four finger holes.  The adult uses the outside holes and guides the cutting.  They should be ready for regular scissors by age 4.

Answer 6

well i've always been some sort of afraid of sharp things, but the way i learned was "DON'T RUN WITH SCISSORS"!!!!!!! then again you can always use lectures and tell them that scissors are really dangerous if used in the wrong way.

Answer 7

Start with tongs and have them work to use the tongs to pick up items like cotton balls, little toys, etc.  Then move forward to using play scissors to cut playdoh, clay, etc.  Go to spring loaded (also called self opening scissors) or pinch type scissors called loop scissors to cut edge of paper.  They can progress from that point fairly easily unless they have a fine motor problem.

Answer 8

i like the previous answer  **training scissors***   find more info below... and i would go one step futher once child has mastered how to use give child a pair that the blades are covered with plastic....also found examples below

Answer 9

using a "snip snip" sound and moving the fingers as a visual aid to show the scissor motion seems to be reasonably helpful in getting the lill ones to pick up on the concept.

Naturally i would recommend you use scissors designed for young children rather than grandma's monster blades.

Answer 10

open, close, open, close...

a friend of mine who teaches kindergarten uses some sort of analogy of the thumb being a jockey and "rides" the horse and bounces up and down as he rides.

just remember to tell the child and demonstrate to keep the scissors pointed away from the body like straight out and turn the paper and point the scissors where you want to cut

Answer 11

Have a rule that the scissors are for use only at the table and that when he/she gets up holding them you say "These are table tools right? We only use them at the table and sitting in a chair." Remind the child of the rules. Show the child how to use the scissors and then let him/her try but stay close so as to manage his/her cutting.

Answer 12

2 years old is too young to "teach"  If you think they are ready, just let them cut stuff and use trial and error.  The fake plastic scissors that come with Play-Doh are the BEST for that - they love to cut play-doh.  They will figure it out.  Just make sure you find the dullest, roundest child scissors you can if you insist they cut paper.

But watch out.  I cut off all my infant brother's hair with scissors when I was 3.   Make sure you are being safe.

Answer 13

If you stick your fingers in the way you'll snip 'em off. It'll hurt. Try honesty! Why does everything need a song and dance? This is safety!

Answer 14

these are the best scissors for a pre-schooler (I know you didn't ask that) but they are great because they don't have to be facing a certain way to cut, they can be used right or left or upside down!

http://www.edex.com.au/products/item/ind...

2 years old is a little young to expect them to know how to work their fingers properly.....the best thing to do is get some playdough and let your child cut the dough to strenghten his/her fingers with the scissors....this will make paper cutting easier....

make a "CHOMP-CHOMP-CHOMP" noise as you cut the dough!!

Have fun!

Answer 15

Children should really be taught how to use scissors and cut over the age of three. This is a higher level skill and most kindergartners are challenged by this skill. But there are lots of fine motor skills you can teach children, like pinching out play dough, picking up beans off the floor, balling up foil paper, and many more. All these skills strengthen the hand to be able to even hold a pair of scissors.

When children are three or older that's when to introduce scissors. Start slowly by having children hold the scissors correctly. Tell children to make the scissors "yawn". Then they can practice snipping the air in front of them. If you find that children have trouble holding the scissors upright then give the children a makeup sponge to hold with their third and pinky finger. While holding the sponge, then they will be able to hold the scissors the correct way.

Answer 16

Say, "open, squeeze" over and over again. They will start to repeat you and figure it out. It just takes a lot of practice! Make sure you always supervise them and put the scissors in a safe place out of the childs reach when not in use.

Answer 17

i would use a child friendly scissors with a 2 yr. old. instruct the child to take his/her time & try very hard to stay within the lines.

Answer 18

two sounds a little young, but if you are going to try this....buy age appropriate scissors.

Answer 19

A friend who is also a teacher lent me these spring loaded child safe scissors.  They opened on their own.  The child just had to apply pressure to close them.  They worked great.  My son was a scissor master after using those for a while.  They also make different scissors that only cut paper.  Those would be a good choice once your child has learned how to use them or even to start out on if you can't find the spring loaded ones.

Answer 20

DONT RUN!!!!

Show them how they work and then decide if you really want a two year old using scissors!  Haircuts are cheap!