Scissor Skills & Cutting Practice Worksheets
From first snips to spirals. Five books that develop cutting control, hand strength and two-handed coordination.
Themed Cutting: Lion, Monster and Octopus
Give the lion a haircut. Don't snip his face!
Cut and Stick Picture Puzzles
Cut, puzzle, stick! Can you put the cat back together?
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Free scissor skills worksheets and cutting practice
Cutting builds hand strength and two-handed coordination, and it is one of the EYFS fine motor goals. These scissor skills worksheets progress in small steps. Cutting Strips begins with single snips, then straight, wavy, zigzag and curved lines. Snip-Snip Haircuts keeps the strips attached as manes and hair, Cut Out the Shapes moves to circles, squares, triangles and stars, Cut & Stick Puzzles adds thinking, and Spiral Cutting is the final challenge.
Print the cutting practice worksheets on normal paper rather than card, use child-safe round-ended scissors, and keep an adult close by.
Questions about scissor skills
At what age can children use scissors?
Many children can make single snips with child-safe scissors from around 3. Cutting along a straight line usually comes at 3 to 4, curves at 4 to 5, and cutting out shapes by the end of Reception.
How do I teach a child to hold scissors?
Thumb in the small hole, pointing up, with fingers in the larger hole. The other hand is the helper hand that holds and turns the paper. Say 'open, close' like a crocodile's mouth.
Should left-handed children use special scissors?
Yes. Proper left-handed scissors have the blades reversed so the child can see the cutting line. 'Universal' scissors do not solve this.
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