A Fun Way to Practice Cutting and Counting

School starts in just a few weeks. Like most summers, I start out with high hopes of getting the kids to do school work frequently. Then, after about the first 2 weeks of summer, we quickly get into a routine of pool time and playing in the yard. My “school work in the summer” routine quickly loses steam. I decided with a few weeks left of summer it was time to get the girls practicing a few of their preschool skills. I wanted to give them a refresher and to get them excited for the year of learning ahead. After taking off 2 months from school work, they were not nearly as eager to get back into it as I thought they would be. The first attempt was filled with a lot of whining. One skill that both of their  preschool teachers told me they had to work on was cutting with scissors. I decided to try and come up with a fun cutting activity for them to do to get ready for “back to school”.

Our new activity is a fun way to practice cutting and counting! Here’s what we do:

I put together a pile or zip lock filled with things the kids can cut: scraps of paper, junk mail, string, yarn, foam sheets, tissue paper, etc.

Then I label a jar or cup with a number. The kids then have to cut up the items and count the pieces they’ve cut to accurately fill the jars. We have gone as high as 100!

We now alternate between “free cutting” activities that get them to work on basic control and on activities using actual cutting pages (see Julie’s post next week for great, free printable cutting sheets). It’s been going really well and after just 2 weeks, I have seen a big improvement.

Now, of all of her school supplies, Maggie is most excited about her new scissors. She loves these pink Fiskars scissors! If you are looking for great scissors for school, I highly recommend Fiskars Kids Scissors since they are the #1 teacher recommended brand for scissors.  Fiskars Kids Scissors  are really easy for little hands to use and also come in really cool new colors and patterns. My girls call them “fancy scissors” because they are pink and purple and have flowers on them!  Fiskars Kids Scissors also feature an innovative safety edge blade to help protect kids while cutting and a non-stick blade coating for cutting through materials with sticky adhesives, such as glue and tape. We use a lot of sticky back foam sheets for crafts, and Fiskars Kids Scissors make it so much easier to do!

We are getting back into the groove of school work, slowly but surely. We’ll be ready to head to school in a few weeks, and for now we’ll enjoy some cutting and counting on the front porch!