Marina and Miguel, the child care providers in the following scenarios, have the same objective—to help children develop their cutting skills. All characters in these and all scenarios used in this course are fictional.
Marina has set a number of catalogues, magazines, and flyers; blunt-ended scissors; glue sticks; and coloured construction paper on a table. She tells the children to choose pictures, cut them out, and then glue the pictures to the paper.
Jennifer (aged three years, one month) is the first child to approach the table. She quickly picks up a glue stick and eagerly begins to stamp glue onto the cover of a magazine. Marina stops her and says, “Jennifer, leave the glue alone. Cut out a picture first, and then glue the picture onto the coloured paper.”
Jennifer picks up a pair of scissors and puts one hand in each handle. Holding the scissors horizontally, she stabs repeatedly at a magazine page. She misses each time. The scissors finally connect and she makes a few little nicks along the side of one page. Jennifer’s face tightens and tears well up in her eyes.
“No, no Jennifer!” Marina exclaims loudly. “Like this,” she says. Quickly she cuts out a picture of a woman’s purse and sets it on the table in front of Jennifer. Jennifer looks at it, and then she slowly walks away from the table with her head down. Marina dabs some glue on the picture and sticks the picture on a piece of red paper.
When Jennifer’s father picks her up in the afternoon, Marina tucks the nicked paper into Jennifer’s bag and says, “Here, take this home. Jennifer had trouble with this. She needs to learn to finish what she starts.”
Miguel has set on a table blunt-ended scissors and a variety of paper scraps in different colours, shapes, textures, and sizes. As Jason (three years old) approaches the table, Miguel asks, “What can you do with all this paper?”
Jason surveys the assortment and selects a thin, red strip of construction paper. He holds the paper around his forehead as if it were a headband. The paper rips when he tugs at it. He looks at the pieces and proceeds to tear one piece into smaller bits. Miguel exclaims, “Look at all the smaller pieces you’ve made!”
Jason looks down at the pieces on the table. He reaches for a rectangular piece of patterned wallpaper and strains to pull it apart. It does not separate. He mutters, frowning, “Won’t do it!” “That paper doesn’t rip,” says Miguel, moving closer to Jason, “What would happen if you cut the paper with the scissors?”
Jason, ignoring Miguel’s comment, pulls harder on the paper until it does rip. Jason spends the next few minutes selecting paper and tearing it. Before he leaves the table, Miguel holds out a large, brightly coloured box and Jason puts his pieces of torn paper in it. From the box, Jason then chooses two pieces, puts them in his pocket, and skips away.
That afternoon when Jason’s grandfather picks Jason up, Jason pulls a small piece of paper from his pocket, “Look what I made, Grandpa,” he says.
Miguel tells Jason’s grandfather, “This morning Jason had a great time ripping paper. Ripping helps develop Jason’s fine motor skills.” Turning to Jason, Miguel says, “Maybe tomorrow you can glue some of those papers.”
“Okay,” Jason says as he waves goodbye.