Pets Theme Fine Motor: Scissor Skills

Pet Scissor Skills

Need fine motor activities for your pets theme? Teaching scissor skills in preschool and kindergarten is a perfect way to help your students develop fine motor skills. This pet themed fine motor tray will help you introduce scissors to your kids in a way that meets them at their individual stages of development.

Pets Theme Scissor Skills

Pets Theme Fine Motor

If the very thought of teaching your preschool kids to use scissors sounds scary, you’re in the right place!

Teaching your little learners how to use scissors is one of those classic preschool activities that is so much more complicated than it sounds. You can’t just put out the scissors and hope for the best. If you’ve been teaching for more than a few weeks, you know that introducing scissors to preschoolers usually results in cutting clothes, hair, and pretty much everything they shouldn’t be cutting.

But introducing scissors to your preschoolers doesn’t have to be scary. Good teachers know that developing fine motor skills is a process that takes time. When you assess your student’s fine motor skills first, and meet them where they’re at, then learning how to cut with scissors becomes much easier – for both the teacher and the students.

Pets Theme Fine Motor Cutting Practice

Pets Theme Scissor Skills

Young children can quickly become frustrated when they first start using scissors, so we have to get creative in how we approach teaching scissor skills.

Do your kids like dogs? How about cats? When you use their natural interests you can spice up a boring scissor practice activity and motivate your little learners with a pets theme.

Pet Fine Motor Cutting Skills

Scissor Skills Benefits

Learning how to cut with scissors will help your students develop the important muscles in their hands that will be necessary for writing later.

There are many educational benefits of cutting with scissors. Here’s a list of just some of the skills your kids will be developing when they use scissors:

  • Practicing independent movement of individual fingers in hands
  • Strengthening small muscles in the hand (necessary for grasping and holding writing tools and self-help skills)
  • Developing hand-eye coordination
  • Improving bilateral coordination (using both sides of the body at one time)
  • Developing visual perceptual skills (directionality)
  • Practicing fine motor skills (opening and closing scissors)
  • Increasing focus and attention spans

Pet Theme Cutting Practice

What are the Prerequisites for Cutting with Scissors?

Have you ever had a child flat out tell you “No” for no apparent reason when you asked him to write his name? If you’ve ever wondered why kids do that, keep reading! (Hint: it’s not because they’re stubborn or spoiled.)

Instead of panicking or punishing the child, try to think of these negative behaviors as a form of communication. What is the child trying to tell you when he says “no?”

Whenever young children refuse to do something by saying no, it can mean that they may not have acquired the necessary prerequisite skills to do what you’re asking of them. Instead, try to focus more on strengthening your student’s fine motor skills before asking them to write. You can accomplish this goal by incorporating scissor skills and cutting activities into your lesson plans.

Check out this research-based, playful learning unit in our curriculum shop!

Preview in the Shop

Pet Theme Bundle

18 of our most popular pet theme resources, including math, literacy, and dramatic play! Make learning fun with these hands-on resources!

Scissor Cutting Practice

You’re probably already doing some things to get your kids ready for using scissors. Offering opportunities for playing with play dough daily in the classroom is one of the best and most popular ways to get those little hands ready to hold scissors.

You probably also have a super fun writing center in your classroom too, which is perfect for practicing how to hold writing tools like crayons, pencils, and markers.

Is there a way to make teaching scissor skills to your kids less stressful and more fun for everyone? You betcha!

The fine motor scissor cutting skills bundle includes a developmental sequence for cutting skills, cutting skills practice pages for a variety of different themes, and an assessment sheet. Now you can meet your kids wherever they are in their individual stages of learning.

Pet Theme Scissor Skills

Assessing Scissor Skills

When you think of scissor skills, do you automatically think of scissors? Of course you do! But there are a few things your kids need to be able to do before they’re ready to hold scissors in their hands.

To get started, you’ll need to find out where your students are in the process of acquiring scissor skills. This is where the assessment from the scissor skills bundle comes in. You may also find this post on tips for teaching scissor cutting skills.

After you’ve introduced scissors to your students, and they can hold and are opening and closing the scissors on their own, you’re ready to get started.

First things first, you’ll need a copy of the scissor skills checklist included in the scissor skills bundle. This will give you a better understanding of the different developmental stages young children go through when learning how to use scissors.

Fine Motor Scissor Skills Cutting Practice

Pets Theme Scissor Practice Pages

When it comes to teaching scissor skills you have to assess first, then carefully plan how you will help each student develop their cutting skills. It can be tempting to just throw a bunch of cutting practice pages on the table and let the kids have at them – but there’s so much more to it than that.

The activities in the fine motor scissor skills bundle are only for intentional teachers, those who want to really help meet kids where they’re at and help them move on to the next level.

The scissor skills bundle includes black and white pages for each of the different cutting skills, including a pets theme. Did you know that crumpling and ripping paper with their little hands are two skills that come before the introduction of the almighty scissors.

After snipping, skills increase in difficulty from straight lines to curved lines, and then to simple shapes. On each printable practice page, there’s an image of a thumbs up to indicate where the child should hold the paper while they cut.

You can use AstroBrights cardstock paper to really make this activity visually appealing for your kids, but it’s not necessary. The different colors can also help distinguish each stage of cutting. You can also use whichever type of paper you prefer or have on hand. Or you can also use a permanent marker on construction paper to make your own practice pages. You can grab your copy of the scissor skills bundle HERE.

More Pets Theme Ideas

Pet Shop Small World Play
Pet Paw Print Art Activity for Preschool
Pet Theme Supply Scavenger Hunt
Pet Theme Sensory Bin
a collage of 3 different books about pets
Pet Biscuit Play Dough Activity
Pet Theme Activities for Preschool
songs about pets for kids