Asalaam ‘Alaikum:

Here are a few ideas relating to coloring and cutting. Insha’Allah you will find some beneficial ideas here.

COLORING FUN:

Young children love to color – but beware that the younger the child, the faster they will get “finished”. While we homeschooled early last year, I would give my youngest a piece of paper and crayons and she would quickly scribble a line on the page and say “I’m done. Give me something else.” How frustrating – but know that later in the year she started to actually try her best to color in the lines and she would spend quite a bit of time coloring. There are many different ways to make coloring seem different and fun for your child:

• Coloring books

• Coloring pages you can find online (there are many websites with these)

• I found some coloring and cutting activities online for my youngest to do. Problem was, she wasn’t that good with using scissors yet. My daughter decided that she would color the page and have mommy cut it out. This way, she was able to get a craft done – she told Daddy “look what I made” and she wasn’t too frustrated about not being able to cut it out yet. Over time, she learned. Anyway, there are many websites out there with these type of activities.

• Coloring on plain paper (or scrap paper)

• Let your child use stencils. My youngest loves to use stencils now. She not only uses them on paper, but she also drags them over to her drawing toy and stencils on there. She loves it. We found stencils at a resale shop that not only had pictures of trees and houses and bicycles – but they also had stencils for the English alphabet and numbers.

• Provide your child with a drawing toy instead

• Allow your child to draw on a chalk board (they love colored chalk)

• Allow your child to draw on a dry erase board

• You can also make coloring seem more fun when you change the materials your child uses (large, fat markers; thin, small markers, colored pencils, and pens)

• Another fun thing to do with your child is based on the concept of “uncoloring”. For example, draw a plate on a piece of paper and have your child draw their favorite meal. Or, you could draw a tree and have your child draw their favorite tree house. They actually have books out there based on this concept – but you can easily come up with your own ideas.

 

CUTTING FUN:

Kids love cutting – even when they are younger and have less ability to control the scissors. In the beginning, I had my youngest tear paper instead of using scissors. She would get too frustrated that she couldn’t properly use scissors so this helped. After a while, she learned how to use scissors and loves to cut all the time. Last year I found scissors for the toddler child – they are actually plastic and still cut. Now she has moved up to the big girl scissors. Here are some ideas for cutting:

Cutting from Magazines:

Give your child a magazine to cut out from. If you get a lot of magazines, this will be easy. If not, ask around – other people, the library – or you might even find them at garage sales, craigslist, or resale shops. In the beginning, you can do something as simple as just telling your child to cut out things that they like in the magazine. Later, you can actually direct your child’s cutting to specific learning skills. I have heard of people who actually blow up a swimming pool and put it in their room and have their child sit in the middle of it with children’s scissors and a magazine. There is a mess – but it is contained within the tiny pool.

• Cutting out of magazines is a great way to teach your child sorting. You could ask your child to search through the magazine to find food pictures. Then, have your child make up a “shopping list” of items they need at the grocery store (paste the pictures onto their list). You could also have them make a booklet or page with food items pasted on it.

• You could also ask your child to make a “color book”. Have your child find any items in the magazine with that color and have them paste them in this color book. Over time, your child could have a book for each color.

• You could also make a book related to different rooms in the house or inside and outside. For example, you could have your child find pictures of things you would find in the kitchen. Then, they could make a “kitchen book” or just fill a poster size paper with pictures related to the kitchen.

• Another time you could have your child find pictures of clothing in the magazine. Have your child paste clothing related to specific weather. They could also paste clothing related to specific seasons or styles.

• These days, my youngest loves to color in her coloring book and then cut out the picture she colored. I often let her then paste this picture onto construction paper. She will then decorate the rest of the page.

Cutting Construction Paper:

You can also give your child colored paper to cut.

• You can also have your child cut paper into small pieces (or tear them) and then paste them to make a picture or design. My child loves to make mosaics this way.

• After your child cuts out different pieces of colored paper, have them glue it onto another piece of construction paper to make a design or picture.

• Supply your child with construction paper and a paper plate – let them make a mask. Have them cut out the paper and decorate the mask any way they would like. Your child might need help making the eye holes. Staple yarn or elastic to the back of the mask to help your child wear it. Then, your child can use their imagination to act out their character.

Insha’Allah this will get you started. I will send out another post on this topic soon, insha’Allah.

Asalaam ‘Alaikum,
Sumayyah Umm SAA