A cutting frenzy

So many 'blog-able' moments have come and gone over the past few months, with no time to sit down and document them, but this series of photographs were too sweet not to share.

A few weeks before Finlay's 2nd birthday, I commented to my new co-teacher Carol that perhaps we would need some 'toddler' scissors for the few younger ones who were starting in our class (you know, the handle-free scissors that spring open by themselves?).  I had been observing Finlay with a little pair of plastic scissors which we had been using along with playdough, and so far it seemed beyond him to hold them in one hand....  there was a lot of two-handed opening and closing going on.  

Carol's look of horror made me think twice.  We had already committed ourselves to putting only the most beautiful, functional, real objects in our environment - toddler scissors were not an option.  So I prepared myself for some tantrums, imagining Finlay wanting desperately to use the real scissors that were not yet suitable for him.

Simultaneously, I started doing a lot of cutting at home while preparing materials for the classroom... fabric, cardboard, paper... hours and hours of it.  And of course, Finlay insisted that he wanted to try them too.  He was so insistent that we took a special trip out to the shops to get him his own pair of scissors.  The moment we got home I gave him a brief presentation.... and he was off on a cutting frenzy!

Cutting tiny snippets from strips of coloured card

Picking up the snippets and placing them in the dish

This work was left on the shelf for him to take and work with any time of the day, which led to lots and lots of repetition.  

Once he had spent hours and days cutting strips of paper into tiny snippets, he moved on to cutting fringes along the edges of larger pieces of paper, and then on to cutting fabric (just like Mummy)....

Another huge lesson was learned from this series of events.  I was sure that he was not ready for real scissors, and yet Finlay showed me not only that he was ready, but that it was precisely the activity to meet his inner developmental needs at that moment in time.  When repetition and concentration occur around a particular activity, you can be sure that it has just the right balance of challenge along with satisfaction.  Plus, a new skill has been learned.  This has really opened up a new opportunity for us both to work side-by-side, each concentrating on our own task.

Such a lovely way to spend our time together :)