Preschool Express by Jean Warren

Here are some art activities that will not only help develop your child’s creativity but will also improve his/her cutting skills. The activities are listed in order of cutting difficulty.

Paper Collage

	Set an assortment of paper scraps and paper strips in a box.
	Let your child use child scissors to cut the paper into smaller pieces.
	Give your child a piece of construction paper and some glue.
	Encourage your child to glue the small paper pieces onto the construction paper to create a paper collage.

MOSAIC PICTURES

	Give your child 1” x 8” strips of paper.
	Mark the strips with 1” lines.
	Have your child cut the strips into 1” squares.
	Let your child use the squares to create and glue a mosaic design on a piece of paper.

GRASS PICTURE

	Give your child a 4” x 12” piece of green construction paper.
	Help him to fold the paper in half length-wise.
	Then open the paper back up and show your child how to fringe one side by cutting from the outside edge into the fold all along one side.
	Have your child then glue their grass strip onto a piece of light blue construction paper for grass.
	Give your child some crayons or marking pens and have them draw something sitting on, or hiding in their grass.

PLAYDOUGH CREATIONS

	Set out some playdough and a pair of safe scissors.
	Show your child how to roll the dough into “logs”.
	Let your child use scissors to cut the log into smaller pieces.
	Or, flatten the playdough into a “pancake” and let your child make small cut all around the outside of the circle.
	If you wish, have your child snip several colors of playdough and press them together to make a colorful playdough sculpture.

STRAW NECKLACES

	Give your child one or two large drinking straws.
	Show your child how to cut the straws into approximately 1” sections.
	When your child has cut out 5 to 10 straw sections, she can use them to make a beaded necklace.
	Take a 14”- 20” piece of yarn.
	Tie a straw section on one end and wrap the other end with a piece of tape. The taped end acts as a needle for stringing the straw pieces.
	Give the yarn to your child and show her how to sting the straw pieces.
	When she is finished stringing, help her tie the two ends together, cutting off the tape and tied straw piece.
	You may want to wrap the yarn knot with tape to prevent it from pulling apart.
	This way your child will be able to put the necklace on and off by themselves.
CAUTION: Be sure to supervise this activity, long pieces of yarn can be a choking hazard for young children.

PAPER CUP FLOWERS
You will need some extra small bathroom drinking cups for this activity.

	Give your child 2-3 small drinking cups and some safe scissors.
	Show him how to cut from the top of the cup down to the bottom, four or five times around the cup.
	Then have your child flatten the cup by smashing it down in the middle.
	These make nice flowers.
	Have child decorate the middle of each flower with marking pens or by gluing colored poms in the middle.
	Give your child a sheet of construction paper on which to glue the cut flowers.

CUTTING FOLDED PAPER

	Give your child two square pieces of paper approximately 7” x 7”.
	First have her fold one of the squares in-half.
	Next, have her open the paper and cut along the folded edge, turning the paper into two rectangle pieces.
	Next, have her take the second square and fold it corner to corner.
	Then open and cut along the fold, creating two triangle pieces of paper.
	Finally, give your child a piece of construction paper and have her glue the cut papers into a picture or design on her paper. (These could easily be turned into two trees or two sailing rafts.

SNOWFLAKES
Here is a simple way to create snowflake like paper creations.

	Give your child a square piece of white paper.
	Have him fold it in-half and then in-half again.
	Show your child how to cut out small notches or triangles along the two folded sides.
	When the paper is opened, the papers have a lacy look.
Variation: These snowflakes also look great when done with flattened coffee filters or doilies.

FOIL ART

	Give your child several sheets of aluminum foil and a pair of safe scissors.
	Show your child how to make snips in the foil and how to fold the foil in different directions.

PAPER SNAKES

	Give your child a plain inexpensive paper plate and a pair of child scissors.
	Show him how to cut the plate in a spiral, by starting at the edge and cutting around and around, turning the plate as he goes, cutting eventually to the middle.
	Your child may want to decorate his snake with marking pens.
	These look great hung up-side-down.

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