Thursday, October 19, 2017

Training Little Hands

One thing I really want to make sure that I get right with my girls is proper pencil grip and handwriting, because I know that once bad habits start, they are really hard to break!  The Pencil Grip, Inc. sent us two of their products to review: The Ultra Safe Safety Scissors and The 3 Step Pencil Grip Training Kit. My girls have been cutting and writing for a few years now, but neither is someone I'd hold up as a flawless example, so we figured these would be worth a try!

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The Pencil Grip, Inc.


The Ultra Safe Safety Scissors are for ages three and up. The scissor blades are covered with a plastic safety shield to prevent the cutting of anything except paper. When the scissors are all the way open there’s a thin slit between the blade and the protective shield that you can slide a piece of paper into to cut it. The tips are curved so there’s no risk of harm from your child poking herself with sharp scissors, but the blades themselves are actually sharper than most if not all other safety scissors since the protection is provided by the shield rather than by dull blades. I love this theory, because there is nothing more frustrating to a new scissor user than trying to cut and only bending the paper because the safety scissors are so dull.

The Ultra Safe Safety Scissors


Although my girls know the rules of scissors, we have had some instances of cutting things that aren't paper, especially in the preschool years. We've had some bang trimming, some hair ribbon cutting, and that frustrates me. When they were first learning to use scissors and itching to try out their skills on everything around them, this would have been a good tool. Now, when they've grown out of this stage and have been using scissors for a while, they weren't a big fan. It was awkward and had them more annoyed than anything. I think if I started with these it would have been fine, and then we could have "graduated them" once they were ready. Going backward was tough, and even I found them a bit frustrating. I do plan on passing them on to someone with young kids who can use them as intended - right from the start.

The Ultra Safe Safety Scissors


Next I asked Reagan to try out The 3 Step Pencil Grip Training Kit first. It includes The Crossover Grip for Training, The Pinch Grip for Transitioning and The Pencil Grip for Graduation. Reagan is a new writer who is at the perfect age for this. Reagan loved them - she's stuck with Step 1 right now because she loves how comfortable and squishy it feels on her hands. I moved on to Madison, and she loves them too (and was willing to use the Step 2). She's holding a pencil well, but she's a reluctant writer who complains often that her hand hurts, and right now she actually likes using these and doesn't complain - so I'm counting it as a win for comfort alone! Honestly, sometimes it's nice to have your hand slide easily in and think "hooray, we're all doing it right!"

The 3 Step Pencil Grip Training Kit


Overall, if you have a preschooler in your house, the scissors are a "wow, I wish we'd had these back then!" moment, and the pencil grips are a win for everyone - whether you need them or not!

Ultra Safe Safety Scissors & Pencil Grip Training Kit {The Pencil Grip, Inc. Reviews}


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