There’s a reason that cutting projects are a go-to at nursery schools and preschools; scissors are fantastic for honing fine motor skills. So today it seemed time for Veronika’s first cutting activity, using the safest material I could think of: play dough!

First, I simply set out new play dough for play, but I focused on making shapes that could easily be cut later. That meant rolling up lots of “snakes” and “hot dogs”.

I gave her a “hot dog” and a pair of safety scissors, and showed her where to put her fingers in the holes so the scissors would open and close. Obviously she’s young for this, so it turned into more of stabbing at the pieces. But she was so proud.

“I’m cutting!” she reported. Whenever big brother Travis took a turn with the scissors, she immediately asked for them back, very aware that this was the task she wanted to tackle.

It helped if I placed the scissors upright over one of our “snakes”, and then all she had to do was squeeze them shut.

Mostly, I sat back and let her experiment. More precise cutting will come with time, and no doubt we’ll try out another material for cutting practice soon.