Location: Indoor

Materials: playdough, child scissors

Playdough can provide a really great way to practice scissor skills. To start with, roll a bunch of pieces of playdough into tubes or snakes. Invite kids to hold the playdough in one hand (their "helping hand") and the scissors in the other. Have them snip the playdough into smaller pieces.

This is a good beginning cutting activity because it focuses just on opening and closing the scissors. With paper, children need to open and close the scissors and move the scissors forward. This allows kids to practice holding something in their helping hand while operating the scissors.

Possible Extensions:

• Challenge children to cut pieces of different sizes (ex: "how small of a piece can you cut?")
• When children get more advanced, flatten the playdough and invite them to cut through the playdough as if it is paper