Kids Need Scissors, Paper, and Glue Paste for What?
Don't sell those kids' items short because they pack a mighty punch when it comes to learning.
Mothers yell out, "Don't run with those scissors!" but kids don't often listen. We're fortunate there aren't more accidents, but ask yourself, does a child need scissors? And, if they do, what use are they in learning?
Perhaps you want to begin homeschooling your child/children. Ok, there's a book that may help, and you can download it free. It's called "…Using Scissors and Other Implements," and the benefits of scissors are many. As the book will tell you, scissors help kids:
Develop good sitting balance so they can use their arms and hands freely.
Strong wrist and hand muscles to open and close the scissors.
Development of a preferred and an assistant hand.
Cutting involves each hand doing different tasks that require practice.
The preferred hand uses the scissors, and the other hand turns the paper.
Good coordination of their eyes and hands for cutting around shapes.
An ability to use the thumb, index, and middle fingers while the other fingers remain still.
Choosing a pair of suitable scissors and an interest in using them.
Did you think there were eight benefits kids get from using simple scissors? The scissors should be plastic. And that's just the beginning because from there, they develop other skills, and some experts say it can be applied to critical thinking, creativity, and math.
Scissor skills are essential to what educational experts call developing scaffolding; skill-upon-skill momentum. With the use of scissors, the child builds a sense of confidence, including mastery, and independence, can follow instructions, develops patience, and can stick to a task. A wealth of information on scaffolding can be found online, and you can download it free here.
The activities may be described as play but should be thought of as enhancing brain development. What can play do for a child? You can read all about it here, but it's not a free download.
Adults benefit from adult play, and there's a whole discipline devoted to helping adults get over their denigration of playing as kids so easily do. Perhaps the videogame craze hooked into the need for distraction from stress, the challenge presented by games, the freedom from boredom, and the need to enhance self-esteem by winning or earning points in games.
Yes, adults, play is vital for us. It is so essential that one physician, Dr. Stuart Brown, created the National Institute for Play. Summing up what play means, he said, "Play is (the) state of mind that one has when absorbed in an activity that provides enjoyment and a suspension of sense of time. And play is self-motivated, so you want to do it again and again."
The use of scissors and the development of spatial skills related to their use have been found in studies of children's spatial skills to connect to their later understanding of mathematical reasoning. Therefore, this simple use of childhood skills and tools may have far-reaching benefits that will propel the child forward in the future.
The child develops spatial skills, but they also increase visual-spatial working memory and associations, which are vital for mathematical ability. Who would have thought that playing with children's scissors, bits of paper, and glue could lead to mathematical understanding? The studies have shown this repeatedly, and the importance of these skills cannot be stated too strongly.
Children's fine motor skills, as early as kindergarten, were also related to achievements in reading and the control of executive function (judgment), handwriting, and even vocabulary. All of this has a mitigating influence on the child's intellectual development and literacy at an early age.
The children who developed early fine motor skills (FMS) also engaged in exploring and manipulating objects which increased their curiosity and knowledge base. Studies have also shown that children with more developed graphomotor skills advanced in reading and higher performance on literacy tests. The burgeoning development from a simple skill led to more internal information processing, which also affected intelligence testing.
Suppose you might want to help your young child in many areas of intellectual development; what else could you begin to introduce to them that would achieve this goal? One item of interest is the Japanese art of origami, paper folding to make exciting objects.
They would need to have developed some facility with paper cutting and manipulating paper with their hands. However, it opens an entire range of possibilities in terms of creativity, curiosity, and accomplishment by producing beautiful objects from simple materials. One website you might consider is an Australian one: Creative Activities for Preschool Learning and Development.
How wonderful scissors, paper, and glue can be when you understand the potency and potential they promise.
Nice point about building skill on skill. builds confidence too.