Have you ever tried to teach a little one how to use scissors? It’s really hard! Not only do they have to figure out how to divide up their fingers in order to operate the crazy things, but they also have to learn how to open and close them, as well as how to hold the material they are supposed to cut. Talk about a challenge for fine motor skills and bilateral coordination!

Beginner scissor skills typically involve learning how to perform one short snip at a time (around 2 years old) and how to make several short snips in a row along a line (around 2 1/2 to 3 years old). Then, as children enter preschool, it gets more advanced from there.

So how can you possibly teach a toddler to use something as complicated as scissors?

Use playdough!

Playdough is the perfect medium for introducing scissors because many toddlers are already familiar and comfortable with it, you can easily make it yourself, you can control the size and shape of the piece to be cut (big and flat, long snake, etc.), and you don’t have to throw away the tiny pieces that get snipped off…you can just smash them all together or make a new creation once you’re done!

Playdough is also great because it provides a good deal of “feedback” to a child’s hands, telling their little paws how much resistance there is and, subsequently, how much pressure to use as they snip away. This feedback is an important contributor to the development of fine motor strength and overall skilled use of the hands.

Additionally, snipping playdough is a nice introduction to bilateral coordination, teaching kids how to use one hand to perform a skill (snipping with scissors) while the other hand acts as a “helper” (holding the playdough). Can you think of another task like this which kids must perform as they get older? Fine, I’ll tell you: HANDWRITING.

One way to make playdough snipping fun is if kids pretend they’re making food for their animals or dolls. Two to three year olds are great at pretend play and, for some reason, I find they love to feed their toy animals and dolls. This is especially true if you — the mature adult — join in by snipping along and making outrageous “eating” noises. You know what I’m talking about: num num num! mmmmm! yummm! chomp! Seriously, kids get a huge kick out of grown ups making eating sounds.

As far as scissors go, you can spend money on buying “playdough” scissors (which are fully plastic, no metal blade, and typically come as part of an expensive playdough kit), or you can head to your store of choice (I like my local dollar store) and pick up some toddler safety scissors. It really depends on the child, so it’s up to you.

Get creative with your playdough snipping and, before you know it, those little ones will be on their way to skilled scissor use.

Happy snipping!

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