Fine Motor Skill: Handling Scissors

Today, I was amazed that J is now able to handle his scissors much better, compared to a year ago. It has been almost a year of fine motor activities, which we have been doing since he was an infant and learning to handle scissors and cutting with the scissors.

The way J handles his scissors, has improved.
He is cutting a paper plate, doing his own artwork.

Despite having tons of fine motor activities, the Occupational Therapist (OT) at his Early Intervention Centre still assessed that his development in this area needs lots of working on.

I am glad that today, I am able to see that my efforts have paid off. Though his holding of the scissors is still not perfect, I believe he will definitely master this skill one day.

If your child is like J, unable to handle the scissors well, do not be disheartened! I know, there are days when even I myself, might succumb to the lies and deception in our head, "My son is coming 5, he still cannot hold the scissors properly. Other kids his age, are already, quite an expert in cutting."

Do not fall to the temptation of comparing with others.

Let everyone be sure that he is doing his very best, for then he will have the personal satisfaction of work well done and won't need to compare himself with someone else. - Galatians 6:4 (TLB)

And that includes us taking care and nurturing our beloved child.

On top of doing the fine motor activities, which is still necessary, you can consider Kumon activity books. But I would think 4 years old is a good age to do these. Before 4 years old, they should focus entirely on fine motor activities. You can read more here.

These workbooks provide step-by-step
activities from Worksheet 1 (Straightforward)
to Worksheet 40 (More Challenging)

I like these activity books because of the step-by-step activities to acquire the skills. For example, in the cutting activity book, it started with practical worksheets on cutting one line, then move on to cut multiple lines, then move on to cut zig-zag lines. and then cut circular lines, etc. I believe the step-by-step practical worksheets help J a fair bit and most importantly, he enjoys the activities.

My belief is still not to overwhelm the child with loads of worksheets to complete in a day. It is still necessary to allocate time for the child to play. Play is still important to the child. It has always been my priority.

One of the activities in the book.
At worksheet 33.
This is already coming towards
the end of the workbook.

Hence, I do not do these activities everyday. But rather, take the child's lead. There might be days when he does not want to do sit-down work. It is alright. We can do another day. Each session is less than 15 minutes. And we usually only complete 2 worksheets in a week, which explains why just 40 worksheets in a workbook but till now, almost a year, we still have not completed the workbook.