Writing and cutting for a 4 yr old?

[doubleportion]

I would love some input on helping a little one to use scissors and pencils. We are doing Unit 1 of LHTH and I was surprised at how much difficulty my ds had using scissors to cut around his tree. I just printed out a tree and drew a big black square around it for him to cut along. I also was disappointed to see him do a pretty rough job tracing the line between his As on his Hide and Seek page. Is this pretty normal for the first couple of weeks of LHTH? He is 4 as of August and just started using scissors for the first time this month. He does color in the lines of pages with pictures pretty well when using colored pencils but not so great with the preschool sized crayons. What did others start off having their dc use to write with on those pages in LHTH? How do you teach proper pencil grip? And I suddenly drew a blank on whether or not he was holding the scissors right. He is right handed. Been about five years since I have done this and I think I am a bit rusty.

Thanks,
Edie

[raceNzanesmom]

My boys were about the same at that age. I used small pencils and broken pieces of crayons to help with pencil grip. Don't make it a struggle, but encourage proper pencil grip with good modeling. We do lots of writing in rice or sand at the age, making letters out of Play-Doh, using the wood pieces in HWT, etc. For scissor help, I cut strips of paper and just let him snip them. Then moved to basic straight lines. It seemed slow going but when he got it he got it. Our youngest is 6 1/2 now and has great handwriting and cutting skills. Just takes practice and patience.

[Rwandalove]

I would say that is definitely normal for that age! Kumon has some great cutting workbooks for 2-3-4 and 3-4-5 that you could use to supplement if you want to practice the cutting. There are some really cute "projects" in them that the kids enjoy making. You can get them at Barnes and Noble or at United Art and Education, and I'm sure other places as well. Oh and for holding the scissors, we say always make sure your thumb is on top and the point is away from you. And make sure you turn the paper and not the scissors. Open big and close slowly. I am a horrible cutter (left handed) so we worked on this a lot in the younger years because I didn't want them to be as terrible at it as I am!

[Carrie]

Edie,

I just want to encourage you not to worry. If your 4 year old is fairly new to cutting and holding a pencil, then it takes time to build up those small muscles needed to write and cut. The good news is that LHTH is tailor-made for that type of strengthening. It will have your child cutting, gluing, tracing, writing, manipulating etc. in little increments to make sure to strengthen those small motor skills over time. Some of my boys were just naturally better at those skills than others. Either way, LHTH helped each one be ready for LHFHG and kindergarten related skills though, so just keep on going... giving as much guidance and help as needed.

Blessings,
Carrie

[my3sons]

Oh my goodness - this is soooooo normal! I found it a bit frustrating to go back to teaching these beginning skills after my older dc had them down. I guess I kind of forgot how long it takes for dc to really be able to do well with their fine motor skills. I bought a beginning Fisher scissors for my little guy, and I help hold the paper for him. I draw the big black square/rectangle around things too, and that helps. I have to help him turn the paper and used to have to even help him get the scissors open. We did a few Kumon 2 year old cutting books too, and we are still doing them sporadically, which I think has helped too. As far as writing/coloring, I do keep putting the writing utensil back in his hand properly. Bigger is better for him, so thicker crayons/markers work best. When we do go to using pencils, Ticonderoga pencils seemed to work best for my older dc, so I'll probably do those next. Drawing dotted letters for him to trace, as well as drawing dotted shapes for the "Count on Me" pages really has helped him too. But normal - oh yes - very, very normal... patience... patience... I keep telling myself.

In Christ,
Julie