Fine Motor
WinterPreschoolers14 Comments
Henry’s been on a cutting kick lately. Since its winter, I decided to take advantage of this and cut snowflakes!
I tried my best to make this as preschooler-friendly as possible. We used coffee filters for our snowflakes.
Coffee filters are easy to cut, plus they’re already round!
And they were really easy for Henry to cut. He didn’t struggle cutting through them at all.
He has a Crayola sharp pointed child scissors (affiliate link) that work perfectly for him. And they cut really good. (Seriously, we’ve tried many others that don’t work worth a hoot.)
I folded the coffee filters into eighths (in half three times).
— You could add in another degree of learning by talking about fractions with your kid.
So Henry would know where and how to cut the snowflake, I drew marks in a simple pattern on the folded coffee filters.
More ways to make snowflakes! Check out these 30 ideas to make a snowflake!
We did several snowflakes, and I learned how to best draw the lines. (For example, don’t draw marks to cut right across from each other, they very may well cut a little to far and cut through the coffee filter.)
We had a mishap with one snowflake being almost completely bare. I had almost crumpled up the coffee filter and threw it out.
But, Dad had stopped me, and told me to open it up to show Henry. (Ah…. see, there’s a consequence for an action….)
We decided to keep the mishap snowflake and hang it up with the rest. Dad even made his own coffee filter snowflake! (Can you believe, he had never done this before? Seriously! Even as a child!)
— Sorry, I don’t have any pictures of Henry actually cutting because I had to hold the folded coffee filter as he cut out the snowflake.
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Brittney says
Looks great! I am planning on making some of these with my 5 year old as part of our winter unit soon!
Brittney
http://www.moms-heart.blogspot.com
nik w says
I take these and put a bit of spray starch and lay a light cloth over them and iron them……. it perks them up with out the folds and looks neater in appearance !!
Science Sparks says
Very pretty! I remember making them when I was little! Thanks linking to science sparks!
maryanne @ mama smiles says
Thanks for linking up to Learning Laboratory!
maryanne @ mama smiles says
Love the idea of using coffee filters – easier to cut and just the right shape!
Barnlille says
what a great idea -and it look cute on the window as well!
I always thought that my toddler was too young for this, but I think I will give it a go.
:-)
Whole Child Creative Curriculum says
This is a great idea! I love that you kept the "empty" snowflake–it teaches so much!
Carla
LeeanneA says
I love making these with my toddlers as well – but we have some that cannot cut with scissor yet so we made snowballs – http://kreativeactivities.blogspot.com/2011/12/hallway-decor.html
that way no one was left out of the coffee filter exprience!
Laura @Art For Little Hands says
I found coffee filters are great for little hands too because they are thin so the kids are actually able to cut through that many sheets of paper at a time. I like the idea of putting marks for where to cut. I just let my kids go and it worked, but my youngest didn't really have success.