Squishy Scissors? You Can Win Them!

 

Scissors are scissors, right? Nope! I just received a 12-pack of the new Westcott Jellies, and I can tell you that these scissors are different. They have super squishy gel-grip handles and come in fun colors. And of course they have those amazing Westcott blades that cut just right.

Although I hate to let it go, you can win that 12 pack. How? Let me know the first project you’d have your students do with their shiny, squishy, crazy new scissors. (Update: Congratulations to Diane, our lucky winner!) Send your comment to this blog by Wednesday, February 13. One teacher will be randomly selected to win!

Here are some other fun freebies to check out this week:

February 5 is Safer Internet Day. This global campaign is designed to raise awareness of online issues and create a better Internet for everyone. Visit saferinternetday.us to find free resources.

 

It’s time for the annual Zaner-Bloser National Handwriting Contest. Local, state, and national champions in grades K–8 receive cash and other prizes. Find out how to get involved at zaner-bloser.com/national-handwriting-contest. The deadline is February 14.

 

It’s almost time for the Great Backyard Bird Count. You and your students can get involved in this citizen science project at school and at home. The count runs February 15–18 and takes as little as 15 minutes. Get the details at gbbc.birdcount.org.

 

If you want those scissors, submit your comments. But maybe our winner shouldn’t count how many are in the box too closely, one purple pair may go astray….

Karen

PS: Learning magazine has a new digital issue! It’s a quick read and has lots of fun freebies and contests. Click here to see it. Plus, after you take a look, if you complete a quick survey you’ll be entered for a chance to win $100 of children’s books. Access the survey here.


125 thoughts on “Squishy Scissors? You Can Win Them!

  1. These look amazing for my special needs classroom! Many of my students have sensory issues as well as motor skill deficits. This looks like a great way to combine getting the desired sensory input with necessary motor skills practice! These are a must try – thanks for sharing them!

  2. I would use the new scissors for a spiral cutting project.
    These sound like they would be great at cutting and comfortable to hold.

  3. We’d use them on our valentine project. A craft block with multi paper cutting and layering. A decor item they can keep for themselves or give as a present to a loved one. Last year we did an Owl block of “Who loves you?” For our moms????

  4. I would use them for ot pratice cutting out circles for snowmen. We cut the amount of circles as the letters of their name. It also help with counting, one to one correspondence, letter and name recognition as well as learning to spell their name. Of course I teach special education preschool. Thank you for this opportunity.

  5. I have 3 year olds. Some are still learning how to hold and use scissors. I think these would be fun! We would use them to practice cutting shapes or for free style art projects!

  6. Oh these would be awesome at our art table! I have a few little ones who rarely visit this spot but I’m thinking these scissors may make all the difference

  7. Sorry this teacher wants to cut with them first. Perhaps I will make valentines with them. Ohhh those pretty colors and squishy. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

  8. We would use them to cut everything! Hearts for Valentine’s Day! I’m an assistant teacher in 4’s and several students are still learning to cut various shapes. I think these would make cutting more fun for everyone!

  9. We would just actually use them! My co-teacher and I accidentally ordered plastic scissors at the beginning of the year for our classes. Think about that, plastic scissors…they do not cut anything. So the fact of just having some fancy new gel scissors would be like winning the lottery!

  10. We would use them to cut playdoh for building fine motor strength to prepare for writing! And it wouldn’t hurt because they’re squishy scissors!

  11. we would use them for cutting out a variety of colors to create a collage of colors heart. I would encourage the children to notice how it feels in their hands as they work the scissors. I believe these scissors would help a couple of my students with developmental delays.

  12. My pre-k kiddos could use them for our upcoming Valentine Day projects! I’m sure they would all love them, especially our kiddos with sensory issues. What kiddo wouldn’t want to use squishy scissors?! I’m sure they’ll make cutting more fun!

  13. We will use them almost daily!! In February, we will be cutting out foods that are healthy for our teeth, using scissors to make Valentines for our families, cutting yellow yarn to learn the letter “Y”, and making dinosaurs from construction paper. Our classroom scissors are 5 years old (older than our students!), so a new set would REALLY come in handy! 🙂

  14. My kiddos would use them to come out black history month posters. Where students complete research and the create a graffiti map using letters from magazines and newspapers to spell out words that represent that person.

  15. Since I have more time Han 12 students I would use them for rewards. Earn so many Dojo points a week and you get to use the squishy scissors.

  16. I’m thinking flowers or something to help us think Spring. It’s – 50 here, and we are missing 4 days of school this week!

  17. A final “Look how I can cut!” A special project my students will do for one of thier pages in their memory book. I give a special memory book to all if the parents featuring project from the first day of school to the last.

  18. These are such cool looking scissors. My class of 26 4 year olds would LOVE them! We would use them to cut out hearts for our Valentines project. I think the gel would be great for sensory input and help some of my kids who struggle with cutting.

  19. We would definitely make super cute valentine cards to give to the patients at Roswell cancer institute ! Lots of glitter too lol ????????????‍♀️ Hearts full of glitter are sure to brighten anyone’s day ????

  20. Omg! My left handed kids would love these, it’s so hard for them when trying to write and cut these scissors would bring great relief. The squishy scissors would also be excellent for my students who have week fine motor skills.

  21. I would test them out myself at home with my daughter as we are boh left handed and I’ve never mastered cutting skills myself. At work my class are starting an interest project om transport so would use these scissors to create different transport types witj boxes and paper.

  22. I love these scissors! We have two projects coming up one is a poetry project where they will be cutting and pasting designs and pictures to match the theme of their poem to display. Then our next project is their kindness and craft writing for our kindness bulletin board. Thanks for doing the contest.

  23. We would use them to cut different things out for our learning books. We are making number, color, shape and alphabet books.

  24. Our Tiny Tots are working on the alphabet – one letter a week – and February celebrates C for Chinese New Year; D for dogs, dinosaurs and daddies, and E for eggs and eating (the week before Read Across America Day. So we would use the new scissors for cutting lisee, doggy masks, and green eggs and ham headbands!

  25. I would love to see how my third grade students with OT difficulties would do with these! What a great idea! It is crazy how the scissor has not had any update or modifications before this!

  26. My class would use the scissors to cut out shapes so they can find the area and then make composite figures with the shapes.

  27. We would use them almost daily! Cutting items for our interactive notebook, art activities to accompany our writing and of course hearts to pass out to other school personnel!

  28. I teach 4th and when you get to this grade, it’s all about preparing them for the test. To take the stress out of this grade, I try to implement a few “craftivities” to get around teaching to the test by having some fun while still covering the standards. These scissors would make a great addition to my class and the first project would be Kindness hearts for Valentine’s day where each child will cut out a heart and give compliments to their classmates. 🙂 Thanks!

  29. In my kindergarten classroom, we love Disney we would use these news scissors to do our mickeys magic of kindness project for Valentine’s Day. We are going to talk about how kindness is magical and then make valentines for people we think need a bit of kindness to cheer them up. It can be anyone they think of in the school or at home and then we will deliver the magic of kindness to that person.

  30. I would have my students use the scissors to cut up straws, count the parts, and make necklaces out of the small cut-up pieces. I would also allow for them to cut up shapes, such as hearts, triangles, squares, and circles.

  31. We would use them to make shamrocks and leprechauns for St. Patrick’s day. I figure it will be close to March when we get them.

  32. We would use them in the emotional support classroom for the students to have the dual benefit of sensory feedback as well as crafty fun, and would start with Valentine’s Day crafts

  33. My child with Down’s Syndrome and those who are having a hard time holding those hard scissors correctly would love some squishy scissors to cut out out our hedgehogs from “Hedgehugs.”

  34. I would use it with my ESE students with tactile sensitivities- that love squishy toys. Teaching them how to cut- working on cutting out valentine hearts to send home to make their parents smile 🙂

  35. I teach 3 year olds and these scissors would be a fun and exciting new tool to work on those fine motor skills. During holidays I like to put different types of paper (wrapping paper, construction paper, tissue paper) into my sensory bin and let them create whatever they want!!

  36. We would use these scissors all the time! I am constantly working on cutting skills with my first graders! Our monthly crafts will be perfect for using squishy scissors!

  37. Students use scissors everyday in our classroom! They would LOVE these, especially since they all want the same three pairs of Wescott scissors that we have instead of the 12 off brand ones. The first thing they would cut is their word sorts!

  38. I would use them to show off their cutting skills by making fun shaped cards to send to local children’s hospital or nursing home to brighten their day! Our focus for February is kindness and service learning so this would be a perfect tie in to our curriculum goals.

  39. My students can use these every day! I’m so ready for spring and these scissors will arrive just in time for Easter. There’s flowers, bunnies and eggs to be cut and cards to be made. There’s so many great projects we could do!

  40. I teach self-contained Special Education with students from Kinder through 8th grade. For students with tactile issues, these scissors would be perfect For learning to hold scissors, these would have a comfortable grip student will love.
    We continually work on mastering cutting skills. This month we are working on cutting out Valentines-lace hearts for their mother’s card/gift. Next month they will be cutting out shamrocks to give to all of the staff. We would love to win squishy scissors.

  41. I have an entire class of low-income students, students that sometimes move often. Many of my scissors are sometimes given because the kids don’t have any at home. I would use these scissors for a Mother’s day project to cut a self portrait of themselves!!

  42. When we return to school we will be getting our next writing craftivity into high gear. It’s all about the love of Valentine’s Day!

  43. I incorporate cutting activities 3 times a week to help my students in special education with fine motor deficits. Thanks for the opportunity!

  44. Introducing scissor skills is important in our little classrooms as they gain their fine motor skills. These scissors look like they would be perfect for little hands and they would enjoy the squishy feel!

  45. I would use it for snowman store. We first make a snowman shape using paint & potato mashers. Then I set up a store & give them 20 pennies in a little wallet. They use money to buy accessories for their snowman. They have to have a face, but there are different prices on all the items and other accessories are optional. They do not have enough money to buy everything. So they have to decide what they really what. Some items like hats and scarves they will need to cut with scissors. I would love these scissors to use at the snowman store. At the end of the project they add up the cost of each item and the total cost of their snowman. Snow much fun!!!

  46. If I had these scissors, the first project I would do would be creating nets for geometric solids with my students. Students will cut out the nets and create their solids!

  47. I would love to try these for my sensory defensive students that do not like to touch hard handled scissors. (They only tolerate touching soft things). We would probably start with cutting tissue paper squares to make a stained glass type project (spring or St. Patty’s day symbol) to hang in our window.

  48. I would use these scissors with my 1st grade intervention group. They struggle to cut and I would love to see if Jellies would support their grip.

  49. We would use them over and over and over again! Starting with Valentine’s day and then many of the great ideas in the other posts!

  50. These look so much fun.
    I am an early childhood teacher and graphic artist ( I would use them in my digital hybrid scrapbooking ) and distance school my two super children.
    We would use these to cut out our new sight word bundle cut and paste we just got.

  51. We are doing a year long kindness project at our school. Kids cut out hearts and write examples of kind acts seen or done and post them all over the school building. These would be great incentive for them to do more.

  52. We are starting to learn about the Bill of Rights. I would have them cut out “peace” birds for a mobile that represents the first amendment. Wind beneath our wings project.

  53. The kids in our preschool classes could use these scissors to cut out the pictures of their friends to attach to Valentine’s Day cards!

  54. These would be great a great tool for my special ed. students with sensory needs. They would first be used for our Valentine’s projects! Thanks for the chance.

  55. I would use them in our classroom Sci-Tech lab to continue making mini journal booklets about all our science experiments. When I think of the Gel handles, I can relate it to properties of matter. COOOOOL! We need those.

  56. While I actually prepare numerous activities for my students to cut, I imagine they would more than likely cut the leftover pieces into a thousand little pieces. They love to SNIP,
    SNIP, SNIP!!! Even more so with fun scissors!

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