Basic Cutting Activities

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scissor cutting activities for kids

These easy cutting activities are designed to give your child lots of practice in mastering scissor cutting.

They are designed for children who have already learned to use scissors but need lots of practice to cut on lines and to cut out shapes.

Make sure your child is cutting with appropriate scissors, and preferably on paper that is about double regular thickness.

Use my free cutting template at the end of this page to print out the lines and shapes you need!


If your child cannot yet cut with scissors, please make use of these pages to teach your child and to have your questions answered.


Straight Line Cutting Activities

Be creative and give your child lots and lots of practice cutting on thick straight lines.

Use the straight lines on the free template to carry out these activities.

Staple or tape the lines together to make a good old-fashioned paper chain, or a paper flower.

Or try a paper lantern or simple paper decorations.

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Cutting Circles And Spirals

Spider Cutting Activity

Add a circle to 8 lines.

Stick or staple them together to make a spider.

Add some string to the middle to make a dangly spider.


Caterpillar Cutting Activity

Cut 5 or 6 circles and stick them together to make a caterpillar.

Stick the "head" circle a little higher than the rest and give it a smiley face. Add pipe cleaner feelers.

Add little pipe cleaner legs to the first segment ( I folded 3 short sections in half and pushed them through three little holes).


Spiral Snakes

Spiral snakes are so much fun!

You can draw a spiral on a paper plate, or use a free download from here (opens in new window).

Please note: for a left handed child, the spiral needs to go the other way!

How to make a "leftie" snake: Stick the snake to a window (so you can see the outline through the paper) and trace the outline on the back of the paper to get a snake with the spiral going the other way.

When you give it to your left handed child, make sure he/she cuts out the spiral on the BACK of the paper.

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Cutting Simple Shapes

Use the free cutting template to cut out triangles and squares.

Then try these creations!

Build a house!
Create a Rocket!
Make a Fir Tree!

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More Advanced Cutting


Your child needs to practice manipulating the scissors around internal corners (such as hearts and stars).

Cutting out smaller pieces and/or on a thinner line is also challenging, as it requires more careful control of the scissors.

Ask your child to cut out groceries from a supermarket flyer to make a shopping list!

Look for activities with thinner lines, on normal-thickness paper, and with "interesting" angles and corners. I link to some in my "related pages" section below.

You can also try these simple kirigami ideas with older kids! (opens to a different site in a new window)

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Free Cutting Template

My free PDF download contains the printable cutting templates for thick straight lines, circles, squares, triangles and a house cutting activity.

You are welcome to tell others about it, but please link to this cutting activities page and not directly to the template itself.

You can download my free cutting template by clicking here. (1MB)
Your download will start immediately - you don't need to sign up for anything! :-)

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Related Pages On My Site


Teach Your Child How To Use Scissors

Photographed guidelines that will help you teach your child how to open and close scissors and how to cut effectively on the line. Good ideas for novice cutters!


Scissor Cutting FAQ

Helpful tips and answers to your scissor cutting questions, including the difference between left handed and right handed scissors!


Scissor Skills E-Book

All my scissor cutting information and tips in an easily accessible e-book download, with a bonus cutting template!


Scissor Cutting Resources

Motivate your kids to practice their scissor skills with lovely end products from these printable activites!


Christmas Scissor Activities

A range of cutting resources you can use at Christmas time!


Thank you for visiting my site! I hope you found these cutting activities useful for your child!

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› Cutting Activities



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