Using scissors is an important skill for preschoolers and kindergarteners to master. Give your child plenty of practice and download these free Christmas cutting strips.
One of my favorite ways to let kids practice these skills is by printing and providing ample cutting strips. I let my kids use them whenever the urge to cut strikes.
My set of Christmas cutting strips offers 5 pages of strips; you’ll get 20 varieties to offer your kids!
Related: Free Printable Winter Cutting Strips for Preschool
Why Are Cutting Strips Useful?
Scissor skills need to be taught to your child; it takes a lot of practice for their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination to work together and cut appropriately.
Unfortunately, most kids either experiment by cutting the wrong thing, or they only cut in school. Kids need more exposure than preschool.
Ideally, they should have access to cutting at home since they need to practice to master it.
Not to mention, when cutting is a novelty, your child is more likely to cut things they shouldn’t.
Like their hair.
Instead, make cutting just a regular part of their lives.
These Christmas cutting strips are great for cutting on lines and learning how to move their hands in different directions!
Related: Teach Scissor Skills by Cutting Play-Doh
How to Set-Up Christmas Cutting & Tracing Strips
These strips can be used for more than cutting as well!
Tracing strips are great way to practice prewriting skills. Aside from using markers or crayons, here are some other ways to trace these cutting strips.
- Play-Doh
- Finger Paint
- Christmas Stamps
- Dot Markers
- Wiki Stix
- Pipe Cleaners
- Beads
All you have to do is print out and separate the cutting strips.
Your child could cut and separate them, but their goal is to cut on the dotted line. So, I prefer to separate them and leave the strips in a basket.
However, if you have older kids, give them the sheet and let them cut their own strips!
Using Christmas Tracing & Cutting Strips
Once you set up the strips, it’s time to use them! Here are the two ways to use cutting and tracing strips.
If you want to use the strips for tracing, print them out and consider laminating them.
Laminating them allows you to use them time after time with dry erase markers, dot markers, or Play-Doh.
Don’t waste the paper when tracing strips can easily be reused!
Cutting strips, on the other hand, are a one-time-use item.
Print them out and show your child how to cut along the dotted lines. Make sure you give your child a pair of kid-friendly scissors for safety purposes.
Grab Your Free Christmas Cutting Strips Here!
Fill out the form below to have your free tracing and cutting strips sent right to your email!
Also, check out more Christmas printables available in my shop here.
I hope your children enjoy these Christmas cutting strips as much as my kids do!