It is a delight for all parents to see their creative geniuses get immersed in the process of giving shape to their endless imagination—the only concern is scissors, which could be dangerous. Hence, buying the right pair of toddler scissors is crucial to ensure safety and fun. Here is some information that will help you in the purchase process.
Features of toddler scissors
Toddler scissors, also called safety scissors, usually have blunted ends to avert puncture accidents. Such scissors are small, with handles designed to make them easy for children to grip. Moreover, these scissors with lesser sharp blade area than other commonly available scissors prevent cuts and lacerations. The short blade of such scissors and a plastic cutting surface also contribute to the ease of use. Look for these design attributes to ensure a safe crafting experience for the toddlers and eliminate the initial challenges of developing scissoring skills.
Hold and use
Cutting helps in spatial awareness and builds hand-eye coordination in children. To develop the art of cutting with scissors, a child must be able to hold them properly. If your child has a good sitting balance and can use their hands freely, they are ready to hold the scissors. You must also notice if the child can use the middle, index fingers, and thumb, keeping the other fingers reasonably still.
The child-safe scissors are perfect for small hands and are designed meticulously by educational resource designers. A child is likely to get good scissor control by putting the index finger on top. The scissor blades with round tips ensure better protection.
Scissors for left-handers
It can be found that most scissors are designed for right-handed children. Left-handed children must use left-handed scissors. The design of right-handed scissors causes a natural blending of fingers, and the thumb helps pull the blades together. The same movement in the left hand makes the blade move apart, causing the cut to be not as clean or the paper to bend. The use of the wrong toddler scissors also blocks the view making it difficult to cut the paper for the children. The scissors used by both hands also block the line and loosen the blades.
Activity ideas
The activities that may help your children get acquainted with scissors include snipping a playdough sausage or cutting a plastic straw into pieces. You can also let your children snip a thick card or try using it on different textures to make them comfortable with its use.
While considering materials to use the scissors, go for those that do not require a single snip rather than multiple cuts. You can use straws, light cardboard strips with a width of approximately 2cm, and firm papers that could be fringed at the edges. You can later move on to complex shapes and lighter papers that require more positioning and holding, firm papers with curvy lines, or paper with simple shapes.
The ability to use scissors helps develop motor skills in a child. Hence, you must analyze the importance of all the factors mentioned above before letting your child use them.
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