Scissor Skills Practice Spring Cutting Tray

What is the best way to get some scissor skills practice with preschoolers? Simple scissor activities like this spring cutting tray!

Scissor skills practice doesn't have to be fancy, but you can make it more exciting by using new materials or a theme! Simple cutting trays are so much fun!

For this Spring cutting tray we used a flower theme!

RELATED: Before you hand scissors to kids, you want to make sure they try lots of fine motor activities first. Here are some of easy fine motor activities for kids.

What you need for this flower cutting activity?

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• Colored cardstock paper
• Scissors for kids (rounded) or you can try pointy ones
• Optional: Craft tray
• Sharpies
• Markers

How to set up a Spring cutting tray for scissor skills practice:

You can set this up so quickly!

1. Grab a tray or container to put paper in. (I love these colorful craft trays!)
2. Cut several pieces of colored cardstock into circles and half circles. I traced some bowls to make some big circles
3. Cut a few strips of green paper for stems and stick them to the circles to make flowers.
4. Draw lines, designs, zig zags, slits, etc. on each circle/half circle with a Sharpie.
5. Stick the paper flowers in the craft tray with a pair of scissors.
6. Introduce it to your preschooler!

See this Scissor Skills Practice activity in action through the pictures below!

RELATED: Did you know I share fine motor activities all year long in my Year of Play ebook? You can see more details about the ebook here.

Once you've shown the activity to your preschooler, you can let them explore and cut as much as they would like. Make sure to include some plain paper as well in case they want to cut their own designs.

Add some zip zags, curves or other more complicated lines for more experienced cutters!

Scissor Skills PRO TIP:

Make sure to draw a smiley face on your child's thumb (on their dominant hand) or use a sticker. Remind them to keep the smiley face up towards the sky while they cut!

This pro tip will help them have a more successful time cutting with scissors!

Here's how to extend this awesome cutting activity and build more fine motor skills!

• Give your kids some markers to decorate the flowers.
• Give your kids some green paper scraps and tape so that they can cut out leaves/thorns and stick them onto the flower stems.

Once your kids are done decorating their paper flowers you can stick them to the window and make your own garden inside your house!

Do you have any other Scissor Skills Practice ideas that your kids love?

Check out these 5 scissor activities from Happy Hooligans.