Scissor Skills

Lately, Eden has been hanging off me every time she sees me using scissors. It's like a moth to a flame. She hovers at my elbow and tries to sneak her fingers on top of mine so she can pretend she's the one cutting. Time to learn how to use them, methinks!

She has a small pair of safety scissors which I bought a few months back, thinking that she was ready to learn back then. Unfortunately, every time she tried to cut paper she got so frustrated by my attempts to teach her 'scissor safety' that the whole undertaking ended up being shelved. When I say 'scissor safety' I mean things like "AAAHHH! Don't cut your hair! Or Ava's! OR MINE!!!", and "Honey, scissors aren't for eating with [instead of a fork]" and  "Put the scissors down BEFORE you dance!"...You see the problem.

So, I thought an easier way of tackling her scissor fascination, might be to show her how to cut straws into pieces. I put a handful of straws into a brownie tin (gotta love those odds and ends from the kitchen that have so many other uses!) along with her safety scissors. 

Eden seemed to find this much easier to tackle. She was able to hold the straws more easily than a sheet of paper, and given how thin straws are, she could easily see where her hands were positioned (so no cutting unseen fingers - although she's never done that). She also seemed very pleased with her efforts, and I think she was proud that she had accomplished the task I had set for her.
Naturally, littlies need to be closely supervised during this activity - we don't want any cut fingers. And don't forget to show your child how to handle scissors safely, not to run with them, etc. Common sense stuff.

 This was the final product. A note of warning: be prepared for the straw pieces to go flying around the room! Just about every time E. snipped a straw, it went whizzing over her shoulder. The game, when she had finished, was to go on a 'straw treasure hunt' to find all if the pieces. I had intended to do some threading with the cut straws, but she wasn't keen on the idea. Maybe another time? ~L.