Use these fall cutting strips for scissor skills and fine motor practice in a variety of ways. I think they’re a great addition to your other fun fall activities for preschoolers.
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Related: Free Preschool Printables
Do you know what you need to do if you want the children to practice their scissor skills? Yes . . . let them use scissors!
Play dough is one of the best ways to get started with this, in my opinion. They can get used to the grip and movement of scissors with the duller edges of play dough scissors.
Then move onto blank paper. Give the kids strips of colorful construction paper and just let them cut, cut, cut! You can assist them with holding the scissors and how to use them along the way, of course.
After that, incorporate cutting into craft and art projects too. This way the kids can be creative and practice using scissors in a meaningful, no-pressure experience.
And don’t forget the fun and funky patterns their scissors can follow. These patterns let the children hone their scissor skills in a fun and engaging way.
Fall Cutting Strips
That’s where these fall fine motor strips come into play. The kids can follow the simple patterns as they practice using scissors.
PLUS, you can use the printable cards for more than just cutting. I love printables that can be used in variety of ways.
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Related: Preschool Leaf Activities
Fall Fine Motor Materials
Here are the basic items I suggest you use alongside the fall cutting strips. You can make adjustments to the list as you see fit.
You can definitely add different manipulatives to the fall cards. Some ideas to consider:
- Fall colored pompoms
- Orange, yellow, and red glass gems
- Unifix cubes
- Acorns
- Tiny pinecones
- Small rocks
How to Prep the Fall Pre-Writing Printable
Print out the pages you’d like to use with your students. There are a total of 11 strips on 4 pages.
Cut the pages apart into individual fall cutting strips.
If you want the strips to be consumable, leave them as is. Just make sure you have enough for every child in your class.
If you want them to be reusable, decide how you’re going to protect the printables. You can place them in dry erase pockets, or you can laminate the strips.
Then gather the rest of your materials and you’re good to go!
Playing and Learning with Fall Tracing Strips
As I mentioned earlier, you can use this free printable in a multitude of ways. I’ll outline a few suggestions below, but you might come up with something completely different. (If so, do share it with me in the comments. I love new ideas!)
First, you can definitely use the fall cutting strips as . . . well, cutting strips. Challenge the kids to get the fall leaves to the raking kids by cutting along the dotted lines. Super simple cutting skills practice.
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Another idea is rainbow tracing over the patterns. Grab some crayons in fall colors for the kids. They can follow the dotted lines in red, yellow, orange, green, and brown. The friction from the crayons will help cement those pre-writing skills.
A third option is to pair the strips with manipulatives. We’re big fans of mini erasers over here, so that’s something we definitely tried. You can use fall-themed erasers, pompoms, acorns, or tiny pinecones. More traditional manipulatives, like Unifix cubes, would work well too.
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Related: Activities Using Mini Erasers
If the fine motor strips are laminated or in dry erase pockets, the kids can use dry erase markers to trace over the patterns. Then let them use small pompoms or erasers to clear the path for the next set of children.
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One final idea from me: use the fall cutting strips with sensory writing trays. Put your favorite fall-themed sensory filler into a shallow tray. Then have the kids make the patterns from the cards in the sensory tray.
Wondering what the kids are learning with these simple printable strips? They’re getting to practice their fine motor skills in so many different ways. This helps the small muscles in their hands develop in dexterity, which prepares the kids’ hands for writing down the line.
Done-For-You Preschool Resources
I know you have a LOT on your plate right now! Let Preschool Teacher 101 help with ready-to-go preschool lesson plans, math activities, dramatic play packs, and more.
Click on the images below for more information about each resource. And be sure to check out the membership options, too.
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Get the Free Printable Fall Cutting Strips
If you’re a member of Fun-A-Day’s free email community, you can enter your information in the form below to grab the free printable. The download links will be sent to your email address.
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I can’t wait to hear how you use the fall fine motor printable with your students!
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