Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school scissor skills and other fine motor skills

Does anyone have any suggestions for improving fine motor skills, especially for scissor usage? My DS4 has always been a bit slow in both gross and fine motor skills compared to age-peers. I'd like to spend some FUN time working on these skills before he enters PS in a year.

Just for a bit of background: His handwriting, after considerable practice, is now beautiful for his age but it is still laborious. He cannot draw a recognizable triangle (but he can tell you how to measure the angles and determine the perimeter ). He has major issues using scissors. On everything, he vacillates between being an absolute perfectionist (freaking out that something isn't just right) and being absolutely nonchalant about it (where he gives something no time or focus). His "art projects" typically take five seconds of time and are sloppy and poorly done.

He was in a Montessori pre-school for two years where he spent a lot of time working on his motor skills -his teachers wanted to create a more "well-rounded child" so they avoided academics and focused on his weak areas.

Clearly, he has things he�d rather be doing (reading, math, etc.) but at some point, he needs to be able to draw a triangle and use scissors. Thoughts?

I don't know if your ds has a birthday coming up ... but we got a great suggestion last Christmas of giving our dds the Sunday circulars from the newspaper (especially the one from ever popular Toys R Us) and allowing them to cut out their wish-lists for Santa. They cut out as many things as they wanted every weekend and each put them in their own envelope.

This probably sounds a bit materialistic, but honestly, the girls never really cared if they actually got those toys. They just enjoyed the cutting and choosing and comparing with each other. And if you have a child who would care (because certainly, some would), you might tell him that he can put as many items as he likes in the envelope but he will receive only one that he has chosen.

You could probably do the same with back to school items, etc.

Can you relate the triangle drawing to something he already knows? For instance, to make a triangle, start like you are making a capital A, then connect the two bottom parts with a straight line.

A good intro to scissors is just to get the hang of opening and closing them by snipping pieces off strips of paper. Let your DS "shred" your junkmail for you

For more control, you can start by drawing a thick line with a marker on a piece of paper and having him cut on the line. Then try zigzags and curves.

Cutting is actually a series of movements. Open scissors, position paper where you want to start cutting, make sure scissors are pointed in the direction you want to cut and the blades are vertical, close scissors partway, reposition (turn) paper if necessary, repeat. It's actually pretty complicated and a lot of kindergarteners have trouble with it.

Oh, and my kids liked those wipe-off workbooks where you follow the dotted lines with a dry erase marker. You can get them with letters, shapes, mazes, dot-to-dot, etc.

I think someone around here has suggested several times using graph paper for writing and writing out math problems, which are great uses, but it seems to me it might really aid in getting a triangle out of a perfectionist child! (Ellipses, maybe?)

Also, we used this book, for fun cutting crafts, and the kids enjoyed it a lot...
http://www.amazon.com/First-Book-Cutting-Kumon-Workbooks/dp/4774307084

In my daughter's kindergarten they could used modeling clay when ever they were done with projects early. They said it was great for those motor skills. You could put some in a baggie and carry it on your purse for your child to play with in resturants or other waiting times.

A few other ideas: stress ball, tangle toy, braiding.
I always thought it was fun to cut out from the jewlery catalogues and the paper flyers with cats & dogs.

Have fun with everyone' ideas.

Hi,

I've heard cutting rolled out playdoh/clay with scissors is easier than cutting paper for beginners, cuts easier. And with paper the weight of the paper is important... I forget which weight is the best for beginners.

Polly

I'm going to differ from the group opinion here: I wouldn't push him if he isn't interested.

My eldest and youngest were all over the fine motor stuff from very early ages. DS7 didn't pick up a pencil or crayon more than a handful of times until he was nearly 5 1/2. He just wasn't interested. Then, when the light came on one afternoon, he suddenly started drawing ten, fifteen, or more drawings in a single sitting. Many of them filled the whole paper. His characters were crude, but they were all alive: pterosaurs and birds were obviously swooping through sky; megalodon (huge shark) was savagely hunting, and his raptors all looked rather manic as they chased their prey.

This is just my 2c, so take it for what it's worth, but it seems to me that if you can interest him in something (eg cutting out pictures of possible birthday or Christmas gifts and putting them into an envelope), that's great. But if he's not happy, I'd back off.

Val

Good point, Val!

http://www.klutz.com/Chicken-Socks/Super-Scissors-Book

This book is very fun. $13.00