Rock, Paper, Scissors...

...okay, not quite, but I do have the paper and scissors part covered thanks to Timberdoodle.   Recently, we were gifted Faber-Castell My First Scissors and Kumon More Let's Cut Paper! in exchange for an honest review.  Both of these items are part of Timberdoodle's 2016 Preschool Kit.

My First Scissors

I was a little skeptical of an ergonomic design scissors.  One of Levi's strengths is using a traditional style scissors.  He's been fascinated with cutting paper for a couple of years now and I wondered how he'd handle this strange looking cutting apparatus.  I needn't have worried.  He handled them like a pro.  The ergonomic design was very natural to him.

I don't have a left handed child, but my sister is left handed and always struggled with a traditional scissors. We still giggle at her early elementary report card that said, 'difficulty with cutting tasks'.  I believe My First Scissors would have been tremendously helpful to her, as well as other left handed children.  Because of the design, no matter which way you hold it, cutting is the same.

More Let's Cut Paper!

I used a few odds and ends Kumon workbooks years ago when we first began homeschooling.  Riley and Ruben were little then and quite honestly I forgot about Kumon until Timberdoole nudged my memory.   The colorful no nonsense designs were appealing to them back then.  More Let's Cut Paper! fell right in line with what I remembered.

This particular book is part of Kumon's First Steps Workbooks. In this series, there are four Let's Cut Paper books designed for ages 2 and up.  At the beginning of the book, More Let's Cut Paper! contains easy to follow step-by-step illustrated instructions for parents.  Then there are 39 student cutting pages to follow, as well as a "Certificate of Achievement" and "Reusable Drawing Board".  Parents are expected to remove cutting pages ahead of time and follow simple instructions to lead their child.  For example, cutting page one states:

Your child will practice cutting short lines with two scissor strokes.  First, say "clown" aloud while pointing to the word.  It is okay if your child cuts unevenly. 

Each student page has heavy gray lines with arrows indicating where the student should cut.  The pages progress in difficulty from simple straight to wavy lines, then curvy to circular, eventually leading to cutting out actual pictures and shapes, such as a bunch of bananas, grapes, an ice cream cone, a panda bear and dog face, etc.  The idea is to help your child develop fine motor control skills.  Here are several sample pages to illustrate the sequence in degree of difficulty...

Overall My First Scissors and More Let's Cut Paper! are great preschool products that Levi is enjoying.