Scissors - Page 31 of 47

Felt Slot Feed

Steps:

Adult Prep: Cut a felt square to cover the container opening. Glue the felt securely onto the container rim, creating a lid.
Cut 4 to 6 short, narrow slits (about 1 inch long) into the center of the felt lid. These slits must be tight.
Give your child a sheet of construction paper. Encourage them to use both hands to tear the paper into small pieces (about stamp-sized).
Ask your child to hold the container steady with their helper hand to provide proximal stability.
Challenge them to use a strong finger push to insert one torn paper piece through a narrow felt slot.
Continue feeding the container until all the torn paper scraps are successfully pushed through the resistant felt slots.

Safety Tip:
Adult supervision is required when using scissors. The torn paper pieces are small and pose a potential choking hazard for children who still place objects in their mouths.

Slot & Stitch Sculpture

Steps:

Prepare the structure ‘parts’ by cutting several index cards into different shapes (squares, rectangles, triangles). Then, cut small, narrow slots (about 1/4 inch deep) into the edges of each card. (Adult help required for cutting slots.)
Challenge your child to connect the slotted cards by sliding them into each other to create a 3D structure, like a tall building, a bridge, or a fun abstract sculpture.
Using the hole puncher, encourage your child to punch several holes around the edges of the assembled structure. Remind them to hold the structure steady with one hand while squeezing the puncher with the other to strengthen their grasp.
Give your child long pieces of yarn. Demonstrate how to weave the yarn through the punched holes to ‘stitch’ the structure together, reinforcing the corners and decorating their sculpture with color.

Safety Tip:
Always supervise the use of child-safe scissors. Yarn and small pieces of index card can pose a choking hazard for children who still mouth objects; ensure all pieces are kept away from the mouth.

Cap Twister Rings

Steps:

Prep: An adult should cut the pipe cleaners into small 4-inch strips. Place the container and the strips on the table.
Show the child how to firmly hold the body of the plastic container steady with one hand (the helper hand) to ensure it doesn’t move.
Demonstrate how to take a pipe cleaner strip and use the fingertips of the other hand to tightly twist and wrap it around the ridges of the container cap, creating a tight ring.
Challenge the child to continue wrapping the pipe cleaner strips until the entire cap is covered in colorful, tight rings.
For extra practice, encourage the child to use the opposite rotation (untwisting and unwinding) to remove all the pipe cleaner rings before starting the challenge again.

Safety Tip:
Adult supervision is required. Since this activity involves pipe cleaners cut into small pieces, they can pose a potential choking hazard and should be immediately collected and stored safely after the activity.

Stick Flag Thread

Steps:

Use markers to color the craft sticks in three different colors (e.g., red, blue, green).
An adult should cut the paper roll into 3-inch sections. Use a hole puncher to create 6 to 8 holes randomly around each section.
Help your child take index cards and draw a matching colored dot on each one. Cut a small slit into the center of each card (these are your flags).
Challenge your child to hold the paper roll steady with their helper hand. They use their other hand to thread a colored stick straight through one of the holes.
Once the stick is threaded, they must find the matching colored index card flag. Ask them to slide the flag onto the exposed end of the stick.
Continue threading sticks and matching flags until the entire paper roll is covered in colorful flags!

Safety Tip:
Adults must handle the scissors and hole puncher during preparation. Supervise the activity to ensure the child does not put the craft sticks near their eyes or mouth.

Fringe Card Weave

Steps:

Fold one index card in half lengthwise (hot dog style).
Use markers to draw several short, straight lines along the folded edge. Stop the lines about one inch before the open card edges.
Hold the card steady with one hand. Carefully cut along each marker line to create a dense fringe.
Unfold the card to reveal the long, cut strips. Put a small dab of glue on one end of the yarn.
Challenge your child to weave the yarn horizontally across the fringe strips. Go under one strip, then over the next strip, and repeat.
Continue weaving until the entire fringe is connected by the colorful yarn. Secure the final end with another dab of glue.

Safety Tip:
Scissors and yarn require direct adult supervision. Ensure the child uses child-safe scissors and monitors closely to prevent accidental ingestion of small paper snips or pieces of yarn, which pose a choking hazard.