Montessori Activity: Cutting with Scissors with Kumon My First Book of Cutting - Part 2

To strengthen his fine motor muscle dexterity, we have been doing a lot of cutting lately. This will hopefully help with his pencil grip.

J has been cutting using the Kumon Cutting Workbook. It is very colorful, and encouraging him to continue cutting. Although I don't correct him when he cuts off the lines, this book really keeps him interested to continue to practise to cut following the lines. It is very systematic. It starts with getting children to cut thick straight lines to thin curve lines. J gets to practise cutting straight lines, curve, circle, pentagon, zig zag and animal shapes.

Kumon is expensive, and it is not really necessary to purchase it. You can simply draw straight lines, curves, circle, zig zag lines on paper and let your child cut them. You can also let your child cut out pictures and challenging shapes from magazine. As a working mom, I also don't have so much time to make the worksheets myself. Thus, I went for Kumon instead. I must also admit that I fell in love with the Japanese Kumon method of developing workbooks which introduces learning with an incremental, step-by-step approach. I find that J is attracted to the color and the pictures in Kumon cutting workbook, making it a lot more fun than those I draw for him to cut. Cutting objects from the magazine sometimes frustrates him. The Kumon cutting workbook captures his attention span a lot more. However, my friend YL has no such problem with her daughter cutting from magazines. She did not use Kumon. So every child is different.

I do feel a little guilty though for cutting away such nice and colorful pages, which is a waste. As such, I kept the book for more than a year after cutting only 1 sheet, before finally allowing J to cut it all up! So he started on this book at 4 years old, although I had the book since he was 2 years old.

It takes J on average 5 minutes to cut one sheet, and he could cut 5 sheets or more a session.

Kumon won 2005 Finalist for the Association of Educational Publishers’ Distinguished Achievement Award. You can find Kumon Cutting Workbook from Amazon:

   

http://amzn.to/1QHDD9f

Montessori Activity: Cutting Out Chinese Characters with Scissors

Age: 3 years old

Objectives:
1. To train the child's fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination
2. To teach Chinese characters in a fun way in the process of cutting

Activity Duration: 5 - 15 minutes

Materials:
1. 1 pair of kid's scissors
2. 1 print out with Chinese Characters
3. 1 containers to contain the cut-outs
4. 1 tray

Directions:
1. Demonstrate to your child how to cut along the lines.
2. Encourage your child to try.
3. When you find a right moment, read out loud the word that he cut out.

Video Demonstration:

Additional Information:
I was cutting out Chinese characters to make into a set of characters for matching game. I printed an extra set, so that Joshua could join in the cutting. Then I realised that hey, this activity is actually very good for teaching Chinese characters, besides practising his fine motor skills. As he worked to cut out the Chinese characters, I read out each of the characters that he cut out. Joshua (3Y4M26D) tried out this activity today.

Montessori Activity: Cutting Paper with Scissors

Age: 2.5 years old

Activity Duration: 5 - 15 minutes

Materials:

1. 1 pair of kid's scissors
2. Foolscap paper
3. 1 tray

Directions:

1. Demonstrate to your child how to cut along the lines.
2. Encourage your child to try.

Additional Information:

When I am tired of making strips of paper and drawing lines on them for J to cut, I use a foolscap paper for J to cut instead. This idea is a cross between Kumon and strips of paper for cutting. I just ask J to cut following the pre-printed lines on the paper. I am going to let J try this tomorrow.

Montessori Activity: Cutting with Scissors with Kumon My First Book of Cutting - Part 1

Age: 2.5 years old

Activity Duration: 5 - 15 minutes

Materials:

1. 1 pair of kid's scissors
2. A page from Kumon My First Book of Cutting Lesson 1

Directions:

1. Tell your child that the mommy and child in the page is going to the store.

2. Demonstrate by using the scissors to cut along the path line leading to the store.

3. Invite your child to try.

Additional Information:

J has not shown much interest in cutting activities, after the initial novelty with french beans, spring onions, etc. However, today, he (2Y5M27D) picked the Montessori tray with cutting activity. Perhaps it is the timing - he is now developmentally ready, he really took off with cutting using "Kumon My First Book of Cutting".

http://amzn.to/1WZBGMW

He likes the idea of the picture of the boy and dad and the girl and mom going to the store. The cutting line leads to the store, and the scissors "brings" them there. He was very focused and tried his best with cutting. He wanted to continue practising and when it is time to stop, he asked to practise it again tomorrow!! This has never happened to his past cutting activities.

J could not cut in straight line right now, but he could cut in a straight direction following the path leading to the "store" on the picture. I am amazed at the progress he made with cutting. There seemed to be a growth spurt today.

The Kumon method was developed by a Japanese parent and teacher named Toru Kumon some 50 years ago to help his son do better in school. He created a series of short fun, simple and attractive activity lessons that his son could complete successfully in approx. 20 minutes a day. Because each lesson was just a bit more challenging than the last, Takeshi was able to master the skills and gain confidence to keep advancing. Apparently his method was so successful that his son was able to do calculus by the time he was in 6th grade.

Montessori Activity: Cutting Magazine Pictures with Scissors/Skæring med Saks/使用剪刀 [shǐ yòng jiǎn dāo]

Idea from my neighbour Yang Li

Age: 2.5 years old

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Objective(s): To train the child’s fine motor skills

Materials:

1. 1 pair of scissors for kids
2. 3-4 pages of magazines with pictures of food, household items, etc.
3. 1 basket to put the cut pictures (optional)
4. 1 tray

Directions:

1. Demonstrate to your child by cutting the out the pictures on a page with the scissors slowly one by one.
2. Then assist your child to hold the scissors with thumb and fingers in the handle himself and have him practice opening and closing the scissors.
3. Hand your child a page from the magazine and encourage him to try cutting.

Additional Information:

J is starting to be bored with cutting papers with scissors, although his scissors skills can still be improved. Thus, I have replaced the papers with pictures from the magazines, so as to bring back some some novelty to this "old" activity. Of course, at this age, don't expect your child to be able to cut out the pictures perfectly, so long as he is having fun.

Updates 10.9.2011 (2Y6M5D):

J asked to cut with scissors today and he worked on this cutting activity for 30 minutes this morning - the longest ever. As he gets older, he has more concentration and spend a longer period of time on an activity, practicing and practicing and practicing, repeating and repeating and repeating, which was really nice.

On a busy day, when I am not so prepared with activities, instead of having to spend time drawing lines for him to cut, it is very easy to just pass him some pages of the advertising papers and scissors. One can't be a perfectionist with Montessori activity, especially for a working mom like me.

Daddy FECS was cutting J hair, while J was cutting the magazine, while sitting on the potty, while mommy got to do other things like blogging... killing 4 birds with 1 stone. One of our best attempts at multi-tasking thus far, but it gets easier with J getting older (2.5 years old) and able to do more things by himself.

Montessori Activity: Cutting Spring Onions with Scissors

Age: 2.5 years old

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Objective(s):

1. To train the child’s fine motor skills
2. To inculcate life skills

Materials:

1. 1 pair of scissors
2. 1-2 stalk of spring unions
3. 1 bowl
4. 1 tray

Directions:

1. Demonstrate to your child by cutting the spring onion with the scissors slowly one by one.

2. Then assist your child to hold the scissors with thumb and fingers in the handle himself and have him practice opening and closing the scissors.

3. As your child opens and closes the scissors, hold the straw in between the scissors while he cuts it.

Montessori Activity: Cutting French Beans with Scissors/Skæring med Saks/使用剪刀 [shǐ yòng jiǎn dāo]

Inspired by Hapalab

Age: 2.5 years old

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Objective(s):

1. To train the child’s fine motor skills
2. To inculcate life skills

Materials:

1. 1 pair of scissors
2. 1 bunch of french beans rinsed

3. 1 basket (optional)

Directions:

1. Demonstrate to your child by cutting the french beans with the scissors slowly one by one.

2. Then assist your child to hold the scissors with thumb and fingers in the handle himself and have him practice opening and closing the scissors.

3. As your child opens and closes the scissors, hold the straw in between the scissors while he cuts it.

Additional Information:

Here is another variation of cutting activities. I got the idea from Hapalab. One can also use spring onions. The Chinese use the scissors for many things in the kitchen - also cutting pork and meat. I also use the scissors to cut salmon fillet into bite size for the chopstícks, when making fish noodles soup.

What to do with the beans you have cut? Here is a very tasty and healthy Japanese inspired recipe.

We tried this activity today. At this age, J (2Y4M25D) found it too hard to cut the french beans with one hand, and thus he was using both hands, with my help to hold the beans.

References:

http://hapalab.blogspot.com/2010/12/snip.html

Montessori Activity: Cutting Straws with Scissors/Skæring med Saks/使用剪刀 [shǐ yòng jiǎn dāo]

Age: 2 years 3 months

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Objective(s): To train the child’s fine motor skills

Materials:

1. 1 pair of scissors for kids
2. 4 straws
3. 1 basket (optional)

Directions:

1. Demonstrate to your child by cutting the straws with the scissors slowly one by one.

2. Then assist your child to hold the scissors with thumb and fingers in the handle himself and have him practice opening and closing the scissors.

3. As your child opens and closes the scissors, hold the straw in between the scissors while he cuts it.

Tips:

1. What to do with those bits of cut straws? Save them in a bucket and when you have a lot, they will be a good base for sensory boxes.

Additional Information:

J is starting to get bored with cutting papers with scissors, although his scissors skills can still be improved. Thus, I have replaced the papers with straws, so as to bring back some some novelty to this "old" activity.

Montessori Activity: Cutting Paper Strips with Scissors/Skæring med Saks/使用剪刀 [shǐ yòng jiǎn dāo]

Age: 2 years 3 months

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 3 minutes

Objective(s): To train the child’s fine motor skills

Materials:

1. 1 pair of scissors for kids
2. Strips of cut vanguard sheet approximately 2 cm wide (to allow the child to cut through the strip in 1 snip)
3. 1 basket (optional)

Directions:

1. Demonstrate to your child by cutting the playdough with the scissors slowly one by one.

2. Then assist your child to hold the scissors with thumb and fingers in the handle himself and have him practice opening and closing the scissors.

3. As your child opens and closes the scissors, hold the playdough in between the scissors while he cuts the playdough.

Tips:

1. You can sing and make the scissors motion as you cut the strips :-).

2. You can sing the song "Open Shut Them" and below are the lyrics:

Open Shut Them
Open Shut Them
Open, shut them, open shut them.
Give a little snip, snip, snip.
Open, shut them, open shut them.
Make another clip.

Here is a youtube video on the tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwQ4n_8G5yA&feature=related

Additional Information:

J (2Y2M14D) tried this for the first time this today. He was able to use the scissors with two hands to cut the scissors. Towards the end, he was able to use one hand to hold the scissors and cut the strip, but it was with much difficulty.

Updates:

Monday, 11 July 2011 J Summary (2Y4M6D) - Cutting with Scissors with One Hand
We tried again the scissors activity and today J cut by controlling the scissors with one hand successfully, but at time, he used his left hand to hold the other hand to give it more strength. We used the normal scissors, as the kid's scissors did not work.

References:

http://theattachedmama.blogspot.com/2010/07/pom-pom-sorting-and-cutting-activity.html

http://mymontessorijourney.typepad.com/my_montessori_journey/2009/09/cutting-work.html

Montessori Activity: Cutting Playdough with Scissors/Skæring med Saks/使用剪刀 [shǐ yòng jiǎn dāo]

Age: Generally from 3 years old.

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 3 minutes

Objective(s): To train the child’s fine motor skills

Materials:

1. 1 plastic scissors for kids (I use the brand called Color Kids)
2. 1 ball of play dough rolled into a roll
3. 1 basket (optional)

Directions:

1. Demonstrate to your child by cutting the play dough with the scissors slowly one by one.

2. Then assist your child to hold the scissors with thumb and fingers in the handle himself and have him practice opening and closing the scissors.

3. As your child opens and closes the scissors, hold the play dough in between the scissors while he cuts the play dough.

Tips:

1. You can sing and make the scissors motion as you cut the dough :-).

2. You can sing the song "Open Shut Them" and below are the lyrics:

Open Shut Them
Open Shut Them
Open, shut them, open shut them.
Give a little snip, snip, snip.
Open, shut them, open shut them.
Make another clip.

Here is a youtube video on the tune:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwQ4n_8G5yA&feature=related

Total Cost: Scissors 30 DKK (7 SGD)

Additional Information:

I am going to try this tomorrow. See I have already prepared the materials in the basket before I go to bed. I prepare in advance, because when Terrible Two Toddler J is around, I find it hard to gather my mind sometime. I am excited to know whether J is developmentally ready for this, but practice makes perfect :-). Tomorrow will be the first practice session :-) I bought the plastic scissors from BR Toys store.

References:

http://unitedteaching.com/blog/?p=222

Updates: 

7 November 2019 (3Y5M21D): : C tried this today for the first time. She enjoyed it, and was able to keep it orderly too at 3 years old, compared to when she was 2 years old. She shaped the play dough  into a flat pan cake too and cut the pancake. 

7 November 2019 (3Y5M21D): She tried it for the first time today, and she could do it very well. She also enjoyed this activity a lot. She was making a lot of effort too and one could see her concentrating. The activity lasted quite long.