Scissor cutting is an important skill for preschoolers to master before entering kindergarten, which means they need lots of practice in preschool. See how this free Christmas scissor cutting printable turns into a colorful Christmas craft while offering extra prewriting practice, too.

FREE Christmas Scissor Cutting Printable with Craft

It happened the one day.

After 15 years of teaching, it finally happened to me. (Erh…to a student).

I thought I was one of the exclusive few. Something so common had never, ever happened in my own classroom.

I thought I was one of the exclusive few. Something so common had never, ever happened in my own classroom.

And then, I realized I’m not special; I’m just like every other preschool teacher or parent.

A child in my class used the scissors I offered him during an art project to cut his hair.

Luckily, it was my own child and not another student, but I was still dismayed. And my son just looked at me so innocently and said, “But I like cutting, Mama.”

Of course he does! Because, like anything else that’s offered only with strict supervision, children have a strong interest in using scissors and cutting things.

When I remind myself of how we as teachers and parents sometimes limit the use of scissors, I also remember that it makes it that much more important that I offer loads of scissor cutting opportunities in my preschool class.

I can’t even tell you how many times at parent-teacher conferences, when we’re reviewing the section on scissor safety and use, that parents will tell me, “Oh no! I NEVER allow ___ to use scissors. He cuts everything in sight!”

Tips For Teaching Scissor Cutting

There are three reasons for this:

1. Scissor cutting has to be taught, including what is and is not appropriate to be cut.
2. Scissor use must always be supervised!
3. Generally speaking, cutting projects are limited to preschool, which means children have limited exposure in the home.

So when my own son chopped a chunk of his silky blonde hair right off the top of his head, I knew I wasn’t allowing enough scissor practice.

That’s not to say that if you offer ample cutting practice that your child will never cut his (or someone else’s) hair, but I think it does help when scissors aren’t such a novelty. And if they’re not such a novelty, then perhaps children won’t feel the need to cut everything they can get their hands on.

That being said, I try to offer my preschoolers some sort of directed cutting practice at least once a week during our two-day preschool program. That’s 50% of the days they attend preschool.

So, I came up with these Christmas scissors cutting strips. 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!)

Christmas Themed Scissor Cutting Practice Strips

These scissor cutting strips are a step above “snipping” practice, and don’t leave preschoolers who struggle feeling frustrated.

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.

1. 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.
2. 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 the Christmas Scissor Cutting Strips

The steps for completing the activity are simple.

Cut the papers into 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.

Color the Christmas pictures on the strips. 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.

Cut apart each image. This is where the bulk of the scissor cutting practice come 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.

Glue the pictures onto construction paper. Bonus points if your preschooler arranges 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, or you can allow them to paste the pictures on construction paper any which way.

All that said, be sure to read below for five more ways to use this printable!

More Ways to Use This Printable

There are so many ways to use this freebie! Let me share some more ideas with you.

1. Have your preschooler color the pictures and use them as a memory game.
2. Print the strips on colored paper and use them as a sorting game. Preschoolers can sort by color, by picture, or both!
3. Match the cards to letter manipulatives for their beginning sounds.
4. Color the pictures, cut them apart, and then use them as a bulletin board matching game.
5. 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.

You are never limited to just a single activity with my printables!

Grab Your Christmas Scissor Cutting Practice Here!

Be sure to scroll down to find more activities for preschoolers, also. There are some awesome winter activities down there, too, so be sure to grab them all!

Check Out These Activity Packs for Winter!

I like to use these activities in my math and literacy centers, but it’s also the perfect set of activities to keep my little boys busy and learning while I’m enjoying a little quiet time.

These activity packs are a great addition to your preschool lesson plans.

Then keep reading for more free winter printables!

Click on the images below for more information!

    .  

How about Some Free Winter Printables?

Just click on the images to grab them.

Want Some Hands-on Winter Activities for Preschoolers?

These are some of my most popular posts. They’re our favorite winter activities we come back to time and time again.