Beetle and I were trying to make paper snowflakes the other day. She is just getting the hang of using scissors now, and she has been doing a lot of practice at snipping little bits out of paper.
But we found that once a regular bit of paper was folded the four or more times required to make a decent snowflake, it was far too thick and difficult for her to cut with little safe scissors and little hands.
Beetle worked on paper folded once, but then she found some single-ply paper serviettes and started cutting those. They were super easy and soft to cut and they make a lovely square snow-flake. Not to mention being pre-folded neatly into quarters! She soon discovered that she could fold them once more, diagonally, and they were still really easy to cut. So we were very pleased.
Next I realised we could make a paper chain of dolls using the napkins. I’d demonstrated them with some junkmail, but realised they, too, were too tricky for Beetle to cut.
I unfolded the napkin and cut it in half:
Then I zig-zag folded it into quarters, and drew the shape of the paper doll… making sure it touched the folded edges. To make it easier for her, I coloured the bits that she needed to cut out, and trimmed off the top, so only some simple cutting was required.
It worked really well and made simple paper crafts much easier for a child who is just starting with the scissors.
And it is also why I now have a very very beautiful window indeed.
