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monica
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my son, almost 5 yo is really good at drawing and writing, but he still struggles with cutting with scissors. he gets frustrated when he messes up and i know that doesnt help his concentration. i dont give him anything hard, just straight lines and i dont have him use them much, at most just once a week. i know he has good fine motor skills because he is doing well with a pencil. is it one of those things he is just going to have to be frustrated with for a while until he gets the hang of it. any suggestions?
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montessori_lori
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Like any task, it can vary by child. I would observe him using them and see if there's anything going on that is making it difficult.
For instance, are the scissors too big or too small? Would he use them better with the other hand? (If he's left-handed, he will need scissors specifically for that; even though most pairs say "For right and left handers", that's not really true).
And, it helps to repeat this if you see him turning them upside down: "Thumb points up!"
If you observe him and don't notice anything that could be tweaked, then just continue to give him strips of paper to cut apart (not full pages) and just let him practice.
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lapazfarm
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I keep a tray of card stock strips and scissors available at all times. My kiddos just love to cut the strips up and it is great for their fine motor development.
Make sure you have a good pair of scissors for your child. Blunt ends but sharp blades for cutting. I like the Fiskars ones myself. There is nothing more frustrating for a child than doing everything right and it still not working because of lousy scissors. Also I've found for some reason the cardstock is easier for them to cut than thin paper.
All that being said, my kids have all gotten scissor proficient at different ages, between 3 and 6.
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Rachel May
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Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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monica
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thanks ladies. maybe we will do some kind of christmas crafts with cutting strips of paper. i have a bunch of red cardstock to use. though i have to add that he did manage to cut a whole in his pants yesterday, so he can use them for some things 
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lapazfarm
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montessori_lori
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I just got that...I am really slow today!
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ALmom
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The other thing I'd say is that the real safety scissors for the youngest age have never been easy to use. Our children go right to a pointier scissor but smaller size. That helps.
We've had lots of eye hand issues so our ages for cutting have been quite varied. One I avidly had to teach how to cut at age about 8 - but in addition to the eye issues and far sightedness he was also left-handed and it took a left hander to teach me that you have to check the way scissors are actually screwed together to see if they are truely left-handed or just labeled left-handed. That was a huge step forward. Look to see that the actually way the scissors are screwed together is opposite of right handed - otherwise the scissors might cut (though most duel edged scissors are lousy cutting left), the child still won't be able to see what he is cutting.
The other critical thing is that sometimes scissors can get dull or won't work properly so check how hard they are to use yourself as well. I've ditched some scissors that I thought were fine but had gotten so old that they just took too much strength to cut. Also if they have been used for glueing and other such projects, they become dulled. My children use them to cut unbelievable things so I have to check to see that they are maintained.
One last thing, for cutting practice, we start with a line about 1" long, no longer and not too much paper to hold either. If they have to hold the whole page and maneuver it around, it can be too hard to coordinate all that. Keep what they are working with very, very small.
Janet
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: what age do they master scissors?
