Using Scissors

I’m Sally Hills- Davis and I’m a Children’s Occupational Therapist and I’m Kirsty Brocklehurst a Children’s Physiotherapist and we are the practical child.

We’re going to be sharing some common issues around child development and our top tips for how you can help. One of the things that children find the hardest to do to do is use scissors and they are really tricky. Tweezers are a really good way for children to start because this movement is what children need to use scissors pom-poms are great.

And there’s actually lots of things out there that use tweezers and just picking them up and putting them in this pot is something that actually children really enjoy doing. You can also buy these loop scissors, which are really nice to use because when children are young, they typically start by snipping and actually it doesn’t matter if you put your hand this way or that way with them, it’s just a nice little start using these ring scissors. And they can go up to bigger children, find using scissors really difficult. You can actually get bigger sizes than these, which are really nice.

One of the things I really say to children that really works a treat. And I guess this is my tip is when you look at scissors, I always say to children, they look very much like crocodiles, and this is the eye in the middle, and this is a crocodile’s mouth and he eats like this. If a crocodile falls asleep, he cannot cut or choose. So you must always keep the scissors upright.

Another tip is always keep your thumb on top. And this is why I like this. This, this is a really good because it’s a visual prompt as where to put your thumb. So having your thumb on top is one of the things that you need to remember to keep the scissors up, right, to keep your thumb on top.