So it’s been a while since there was a new CanDo blog post, and that’s because it’s been busy over here! Quite a few new referrals, which is nice, but I’ve also just finished (and passed with a distinction!) my research module for my Master’s degree in Advanced Occupational Therapy, which has taken up a lot of my free time. My essay for this module focused on the ethics of conducting research with children, and my dissertation is likely to be a systematic review focusing on fine motor skills interventions with children, so a blog post looking at scissor skills seemed apt.

Cutting is a skill that most children start to acquire around the age of 3 years, and it tends to follow a similar developmental pathway as pencil use, maturing fully around the age of 6 years. The order in which you can expect your child to develop their cutting skills is as follows:

• 2-3 years: shows an interest in using scissors. Can snip with scissors, often randomly along the edges of paper
• 3-4 years: cuts properly with scissors along a straight line. Closer to 4 years can cut inaccurately around a circle.
• 4-5 years: uses scissors to cut out a triangle, square or other simple shape along the lines
• 5-6 years: cuts around more complex shapes with increasing accuracy

Your child’s thumb should be in the top loop of the scissors, with the scissors held in their dominant hand and the paper in their non-dominant hand. The paper should also be held so that their thumb is on top.

If your child is struggling to use scissors and all of their other fine motor skills seem on track, don’t worry! Every child acquires skills at different rates and the norm covers a broad range. You can develop younger children’s interest in using scissors by tearing paper, and showing them how to snip to make funny textures along the edges. If older children are lacking interest, again it is probably completely normal and most likely related to laziness or frustration when it goes wrong. Encourage them to go slowly with complex shapes and to make small snips rather than big cuts to get the job done quicker! Making cutting part of a bigger overall craft task also helps, and has the added bonus of working on other fine motor skills at the same time.

I’ll be posting some free cutting craft activities on the resources section of this website as I create them so keep checking back – the first is up now!