Lesson on Cut

Learning to cut is something that didn't cross my mind until I saw this book on, "Let's cut paper!" I never thought she would be able to learn how to cut until it stated on the book cover, for ages 2 and up. I got that book and put it to practice. Before that, I bought Jazz a pair of friendly, round tipped scissors.

She was very excited when I told her we are going to cut papers with scissors. Instead of cutting right into the book, I thought we should begin practice on unwanted papers, to get her familiarised with the scissors and learn how to hold, control, open and close it, as well as how to hold the paper for cutting. Safety precautions apply. We practiced 'air cutting' on the movements, after which I drew a line on the paper for her to cut. 

Practice on paper

 

Her first few attempts were disastrous, so much so that I felt she wasn't ready for this part of motor skill development. After all, the scissors which I bought, stated itself for ages 4 and up. She went zig zag instead of following the line I drew. That was when I decided to stop lesson and continue some other time, when she's older. This little girl persisted in cutting, she wouldn't allow me to keep the tools away.

"Alright then, let's try on the book." I thought to myself. It's meant for armatures anyway. I cut out the lesson page for her to work on and told her how to cut. Amazingly, she did it relatively well, not neat cuts, but nice tries. 

 

To develop fine motor skills

Cutting the otter's whiskers

 

We continued practicing every other days, and that made her more skillful. There's definite truth in saying, "Practice makes perfect." Instead of cut and snip continuously, she could cut, cut, cut and snip, making the cuts smoother.  

 

Cut to separate the rat from the cat

Cut a big square into four smaller squares, and made a picture out of it

 

There are circumstances when I would limit my expectations on Jazz. Always thinking she can't do this or that, but kids can surprise our thoughts. Their pace is faster than we can imagine. There could be this day when we tell them, 'let's play bubbles", and they would probably say they're not interested in bubbles anymore. I hope I can keep up with their growth.