Scissor Activities in Speech

Scissor Activities in Speech

Are you the type of SLP who is always up for a good craft, or does the idea of “art” make you sweat? Incorporating scissor activities in the speech room can be a way to bridge these two styles.

Why work on scissor skills?

Child development skills

Scissor practice works on several childhood development skills, including bilateral coordination, eye-hand coordination and develops hand strength. The two most important to me as an SLP are bilateral coordination and hand strength.

Bilateral coordination

Bilateral coordination is the ability for our brain to use both sides at once. This not only helps with motor coordination but is also thought to have an impact on focus and attention. Both are predictors of classroom success. And both impact the ability to learn. (aka SUPER important for speech therapy too!)

Hand strength

This might seem like an odd one. How does it tie into speech? While it doesn’t directly connect with speech delays or disorders, it can have an impact on language. 

The ability to communicate with written language and understand it is within the scope of our practice. 

While you may not be terribly concerned with how neat a child’s penmanship is, you do want your students to be able to express themselves legibly. Is typing fine? Of course! But there are going to be times when writing is the more practical option, and it is our desire for our students’ focus to be on what and how they say it, not the difficulty of the fine motor task.

Be a helping hand

The other reason I help with scissor practice is it’s a skill that soooo many of my students need help with. Assisting the OT and classroom teacher with one of their goals, gives me more leverage when I’m asking for help with our goals. 

Plus, it’s not hard to do!!

Keep little ones busy!

When little bodies are occupied, it’s easier to keep them on task. In groups, a scissor activity can help center the group while you work with an individual or take data.

Low prep Scissor Activities designed for articulation     

Pattern Strips

So many kids enjoy patterns! Use these pattern strips to easily fill your sessions. Cutting out these straight lines and then gluing in the correct sequence helps keep students focused. Once complete, there’s a ready-made practice sheet to send home to color and say! 

Grab a freebie here!

Octopus Craft

Again, with this octopus craft there are only straight lines for cutting here and dot daubers are always a fun change from coloring. Tie this in with a pirate or under the sea theme. (Or just make an octopus because it’s cute!)

3D Articulation Crafts

These are a bit more advanced. Students cut out simple shapes and then fold them in half. Glue the shapes into a “book” and they will have an adorable activity to take home for extra practice! Try apples in the fall and suns and rainbows or flowers in the spring.

Don’t forget, scissors are a great way to incorporate multimodal learning into your speech room while keeping students engaged as they work on articulation goals– win, win!

Looking for more scissor ideas? Check out Scissor Activities for Articulation.

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest

FEATURED POSTS

The views expressed in this blog are my own and are intended to inspire other speech-language pathologists in their own practice. If you are a parent, teacher or other educator, these ideas are not intended to take the place of treatment by a certified clinician. Read full disclaimer here.