Teaching Lower Elementary Students How to Use Scissors
As adults, using scissors is something we take for granted. Whether it’s clipping coupons or slicing through wrapping paper, using scissors is often a part of our day-to-day activities. However, we forget that we had to actually learn how to use scissors at some point—and there is a surprising number of young students these days who can’t properly use scissors! And if they don’t know how to use scissors, there are many other things in the classroom they’ll be unable to do. That’s why I’ve put together this Montessori scissor cutting for lower elementary guide!
Learning to use scissors at a young age provides so many benefits! It’s an important skill we, as teachers, should be nurturing through lots of practice. When students are able to develop their scissor-using skills, they’re able to do so many artful and creative things, such as cutting paper, following patterns, cutting strings and yarn, and cutting fabric. The more practice children have with scissors, the better and more capable they will be working independently on crafts and art activities. Trust me, Montessori scissor cutting for lower elementary students can be fun!
Benefits of Scissor Cutting Skills for Lower Elementary Students
The constant dynamic motion that comes from using scissors helps young students develop spatial intelligence and fine-motor movements that relate to other important tasks inside the Montessori classroom. Introducing scissor skills to children—even as young as two or three years—can help them move through critical milestones directly related to other areas of childhood development. Cutting activities build muscle control, develop eye and hand coordination, and deepen their tactile spatial awareness.
A few years ago, I started to notice more and more teachers were sharing their frustrations about how the majority of young students coming through their classrooms were lacking in fine motor skills; they were too weak to apply pressure while writing or coloring and lacked the coordination to write their ABCs, tie their own shoes, or zip up their own jackets. Now, I’ve worked with thousands of students over the years, and I’ve also observed that, on average, half of the students in lower elementary coming through my art classes are not capable of using scissors with precision. It’s pretty common that I have to pause the craft I’m teaching to help some kids catch up to the others.
I’m an artist at heart, of course, and back when I was a homeschool mom, I made sure art and crafting was a part of what I taught my own two children—and that meant using scissors! From a very young age—probably younger than lower elementary, even—my students knew how to safely cut with blunt-tipped scissors. And guess what. That means they were also able to accomplish other skills beyond creating art, such as writing, playing music, and making themselves simple breakfasts in the morning without making a mess.
There’s also a ton of research showing that handwriting success is linked to muscle coordination, which can be developed through scissor movements. If you give your students the chance to develop these muscles—through scissor practice—teaching them to write becomes much easier. Demonstrating how scissors work and having them follow your instructions, will help them be able to later excel in projects with complex steps and work independently.
Where to Start: Evaluate Lower Elementary Students’ Scissor Cutting Skills
If you’re planning an art project that requires using scissors in one of the steps, check in to see where your students’ abilities are first. It’s important—for safety and for your students’ self esteem—to evaluate what their skill levels are before starting any cutting projects. You don’t want them to get hurt or cut themselves, and you don’t want them to feel like they’re failing if they don’t know how to properly use the scissors and can’t move on to the next steps.
Start by doing simple scissor exercise like cutting straight lines and curved shapes. Be sure you demonstrate how the blades meet together to slice and how a specific angles are needed to make both blades cut together with precision. Having these opportunities to practice cutting will make art projects smoother and keep your students on track.
Once lower elementary students get comfortable using scissors and can make their desired cuts, then you can move them onto more complex projects. Here are some creative Montessori scissor cutting for lower elementary ideas to help give your students practice:
- Book binding
- Curved line cuts
- Cutting geometric shapes
- Mosaic art
- Paper collaging
- Paper doll chains
- Pop-up cards
- Snowflake cutting
- Scrapbooking
- Spiral cuts
- Straight line cuts
- Zig-zag cuts
One Step Further: Register for My FREE Online Mini-Course
Once your lower elementary students learn how to use scissors safely and properly, the number of different art activities your class can start doing becomes endless! Lower elementary students are capable of so much when it comes to art! But if you want to keep your students interested in your demonstrations and keep the mess down to a minimum, you have to understand how they learn. That way you can find the perfect balance of teaching them without overwhelming or boring them. And I’ve developed a FREE digital mini-course—the Phases of Art Development—to help you do just that!
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The Phases of Art Development is a quick digital course that explains how art making can help students develop their creativity, fine-motor skills, and focus. More importantly, I share what types of projects students at every age are capable of completing safely, and without making a mess.
Best of all—it’s free! To sign up for the course, click here.
It’s an online course that explains how art making helps students develop their creativity, fine-motor skills, and focus. Not only will it help you teach your students, but I make it easier on you by giving you some examples of art projects lower elementary kids will enjoy creating.
Best of all—it’s free! To sign up for the course, click here.
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