Christmas Cutting Practice Printable with Craft
Scissor cutting is an important skill for preschoolers to master before entering kindergarten, which means they need lots of practice in preschool. This free Christmas scissor cutting practice printable with craft turns scissor practice into extra prewriting practice, too! This is a great option for preschool and kindergarten students that might need extra practice as they start out the year.
Plus, it’s a free printable and can be used in multiple ways so it’s perfect for building Christmas vocabulary and celebrating the season!
Scissor Skills Printable
The Christmas lights have started to appear and the Christmas books have filled up your library. You know it’s that special time of year. It’s the perfect time to add this fun craft to your Christmas activities for preschoolers.
Cutting short, straight lines is a great start to scissor practice, as they allow young children to practice their scissor skills without the frustration of cutting (and following) a long, arduous line.
They offer more than just cutting practice; they begin as a color page and then turn into a Christmas craft. (And there’s some measurement in there, too!)
These scissor cutting pages also encourage oral language as children talk about the images on each square. It’s a great way to chat about traditions, memories, and special moments we experience during December.
Not to mention anything related to scissor cutting is also a fine motor activity. The opening and closing of the scissors uses hand muscles that prepare those little hands for pre-writing! For even more fine motor fun, check out our 12 fine motor task boxes and fine motor letter formation activities.
Christmas Books for Preschoolers
Infusing Christmas books for preschoolers throughout the holiday season is essential! Take a look at some of our favorite Christmas reads. They are timeless, full of cheer and laughs, and are sure to have your littlest readers captivated.
- Wright, Maureen (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 34 Pages – 10/08/2013 (Publication Date) – Two Lions (Publisher)
- Book about a little reindeer with BIG dreams
- Encourages confidence, perseverance, self-esteem
- Charming illustrations with a fun, encouraging story
- Used Book in Good Condition
- Hardcover Book
- Wilson, Karma (Author)
- Story about a little blue truck spreading holiday cheer
- Encourages reading skills, counting, giving, holiday cheer
- Count the trees from one to five and back again
- DK (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 18 Pages – 09/06/2022 (Publication Date) – DK Children (Publisher)
- ISBN13:9780439567039
- Format:Paperback Book
- Ages:4 – 8
- Tiger Tales (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 26 Pages – 09/05/2017 (Publication Date) – Tiger Tales (Publisher)
- Hardcover Book
- Wallace, Adam (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Hardcover Book
- Walstead, Alice (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- Hardcover Book
- Willems, Mo (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
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Christmas Scissor Cutting Craft
These scissor cutting strips are a step above “snipping” practice, and don’t leave preschoolers who struggle feeling frustrated. Eventually, they will move on to zig zags, shapes, and more. However, as they initially develop their cutting skills, small and straight lines are the way to go!
What You Get
This printable includes 2 pages of Christmas cutting strips. Each page includes 7 rows of Christmas images, perfect for little hands to snip short lines and engage in Christmas fun!
Additional Materials
- free printable (from the end of this post)
- child-safe scissors
- construction paper (optional)
- crayons, markers, or colored pencils (optional)
The Set Up
There are a couple of ways to do this activity (depending on the skill level of your preschoolers), and that will change the set-up just a tad bit.
- If you have young preschoolers, you might want to cut the “strips” on the printable with a paper cutter in advance, rather than expecting your preschooler to cut such a long, straight line.
- If you have older preschoolers, you can give them an entire sheet or a half sheet and have them cut their own strips.
Choose your approach and offer the activity with a set of coloring materials and scissors.
How to Use for Scissor Cutting Practice
The steps for completing the activity are simple.
Christmas Cutting Strips
As noted above, you can offer the cutting practice sheets already cut down into strips or have more advanced preschoolers cut their own strips. But in full honestly here, I’d rather cut the the strips for my preschoolers. This allows them frustration-free cutting practice along the small dotted lines, which is an ideal place to start!
Color the Pictures
This coloring step can be skipped, but it’s such good prewriting practice for preschoolers! That being said, adding coloring to all the cutting in one session may be too much for preschoolers. So, if needed, you can break this activity into different sittings.
Also, since the pictures are on the smaller side, some preschoolers may struggle a bit to color inside the lines. This doesn’t bother me.
Some children really don’t see the lines or shapes in a picture until they’re older. They may just choose a green pencil and scribble over the entire picture. Don’t get worked up about this. That preschooler is still using writing utensils and working on developing their pencil grasp, so it’s ok if he or she chooses not to stay in the lines or color every little detail in the picture.
Snipping Practice
This is where the bulk of the scissor cutting practice comes in. These practice strips are 1.5 inch squares, so they require preschoolers to do a little more than a short snip, but it isn’t as demanding as cutting a long, straight line. This is the perfect kind of scissor cutting practice for those children who are in between.
Make the Christmas Cutting Craft
For extra fun, challenge your preschooler to arrange their pictures in the shape of a Christmas tree. You can do an example in advance and add some counting or measurement practice as you guide your preschoolers in making a Christmas tree shape. This helps make it a thematic part of your preschool Christmas skills practice activities. Alternatively, you can allow them to paste the pictures on construction paper any which way.
Christmas Manipulatives for Learning
These Christmas manipulatives are a great tool for adding wonder and excitement into the Christmas season! From puzzles to wooden peg dolls, these Christmas themed activities are perfect for extending your Christmas theme.
- Christmas Wooden Peg Dolls–Package includes 6 different Xmas-themed wooden figures featuring Santa,…
- Prime Quality & Perfect Size–This collection of miniature figures is made of high-quality lotus…
- Stunning Gift–Our adorable wooden toys will make a wonderful Christmas gift or stocking stuffer…
- Christmas: You will Get 6 Pack Christmas Wooden Puzzles, Crafted with care, these wooden puzzles are…
- Designed for Christmas: This Christmas puzzle comes in 6 different exquisite designs, including…
- Safe Learning & Education Toys: There are 4 pieces for each puzzle, This wooden puzzle is very…
- Developmentally Engaging: For kids ages 4 and up this larger than life floor puzzle will tune in…
- Premium Quality: Crafted with child-safe materials, this preschool puzzle ensures durability for…
- Vibrant illustrations and large, easy-to-handle pieces make learning exciting! Watch as your child’s…
- The Skoolzy Tree Shape Sorter has 3 LEVELS OF PLAY – GROWS WITH YOUR CHILD. The Montessori…
- The Skoolzy Tree Shape Sorter has 3 LEVELS OF PLAY – GROWS WITH YOUR CHILD. The Montessori…
- PRESCHOOL LEARNING TOYS: Now kids can have fun while learning how to count with the number blocks…
- 【Package Include】For each set, you will get 30 pieces Christmas gingerbread house picture frames…
- 【Premium Material & Suitable Size】These well-printed kids winter holiday DIY art crafts kit are…
- 【Enjoy DIY】Playful DIY games and activities can stimulate kid’s creativity, imagination, allow…
- 【Get Ready for Christmas】Bring the Christmas spirit to your home with our Christmas paper craft…
- 【Suitable Size and Quality】Our Christmas picture frame ornament craft is made of high-quality…
- 【DIY Holiday Fun】Engage and Enhance with our Product! Our holiday craft kit keeps children busy…
More Ways to Use This Scissor Cutting Printable
There are so many ways to use this freebie! Let me share some more ideas with you.
- Have your preschooler color the pictures and use them as a memory game.
- Print the strips on colored paper and use them as a sorting game. Preschoolers can sort by color, by picture, or both!
- Match the cards to letter manipulatives for their beginning sounds.
- Color the pictures, cut them apart, and then use them as a bulletin board matching game.
- Use them as a way to assign partners by randomly giving a picture to each student. Then the students must find their partner by finding who has the matching picture.
- Provide items such as small pom poms, jingle bells, and mini candy canes to decorate their trees. To add in a sensory activity, consider having these objects mixed together in a bin for the kids to play with/select objects from.
- You could laminate each child’s final product and use it as a placemat, play dough mat, etc.
You are never limited to just a single activity with my printables!
Free Christmas Scissor Skills Worksheets
We’ve got you covered with more Christmas-themed holiday scissor skill activities. Take a look below and see if these are a good fit for your preschoolers!
- Christmas Cutting Practice Pack
- Line Cutting Worksheets for Christmas
- Christmas Scissor Skills Practice
- Scissor Cutting Practice Sheets for Christmas
Scissor Skills Printables
Cutting activities are so vital for your toddler/preschool kiddos. Be sure to offer lots of varied and fun cutting activities to your classroom! Enjoy these cutting practice worksheets.
- Snipping Paper to Make an Art Collage
- Fall Leaf Suncatchers for Scissor Practice
- Preschool Cutting Busy Box
- Printable Scissors Skills Haircut Worksheet
- Spring Cutting Tray
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More Hands-on Christmas Activities for Preschoolers
I’m Sarah, an educator turned stay-at-home-mama of five! I’m the owner and creator of Stay At Home Educator, a website about intentional teaching and purposeful learning in the early childhood years. I’ve taught a range of levels, from preschool to college and a little bit of everything in between. Right now my focus is teaching my children and running a preschool from my home. Credentials include: Bachelors in Art, Masters in Curriculum and Instruction.
