Encourage your preschooler’s fine motor skills as they “cut the grass” to reveal a festive surprise in this simple Easter cutting activity. Free printable included!
It’s springtime! If you’re not quite ready to break out the plastic Easter eggs yet (I always end up finding them in random places around my house for months after Easter), try playing with paper ones instead!
Preschoolers will love this simple, Easter-themed cutting activity (and you’ll love how easy it is). It’s a great way to develop fine-motor skills and scissor-skills, a core skill if your kiddo (like mine) is heading to kindergarten in the fall!
Preparation
Preparation is simple, I promise! The whole thing took me about four minutes to get ready.
Just print out the activity page (click the button at the bottom of this post) and glue a sheet of green paper to the bottom edge. Fold the green paper down about half way (you want the eggs and bunnies covered, but not the sun and clouds), and cut away the extra paper. Last, use a ruler to draw straight lines going down the green paper (like blades of grass). That’s it!
How to do this activity with your child
Now you’re ready to invite your preschooler over to play.
Before you get cutting, though, you’ve got to set the stage for the activity and pique your child’s interest.
One of my favorite ways to do this is to make up a simple story to engage their imagination!
Try something like this:
“Hey, I have something to show you! Do you see this grass? The Easter Bunny hid some surprises in the lawn here, but the grass is so long you can’t see them! Can you help me by cutting the grass and finding the Easter surprises?”
Once you’ve got your child on board, hand over the scissors and watch as they reveal the Easter surprises!
Options for various ages
For beginning cutters, you can keep this activity really basic by pre-cutting the blades of grass and allowing them to cut the grass any way they like.
For more advanced kids, challenge them to cut the blades of grass themselves (following your drawn lines) and THEN cut it short. Cutting all those straight lines is fabulous for strengthening hand muscles and working on fine motor coordination!
I cut a few blades of grass as an example for my four-year-old, and then I encouraged him to try. He got tired about half-way though, so I finished cutting the lines. Then he happily took back over the scissors to cut the grass and reveal all the hidden pictures.
He loved that the more he cut, the more he would discover, layer by layer until he found all the little eggs at the bottom.
Want to create your own Easter cutting activity? Follow the instructions below!
Easter Cutting Practice for Preschoolers
What We’re Learning:
- Fine motor skills
- vocabulary development
Materials Needed:
- “What’s hidden in the grass?” printable activity page (see below to download)
- green paper for grass
- glue stick
- ruler
- pencil
- scissors
Preparation:
- Print out the “What’s hidden in the grass?” activity page. (Don’t have a printer? No problem! You can draw your own pictures or use stickers to create an Easter scene.)
- Place a line of glue along the bottom of the activity page (under the grass) and glue the green paper to it along the bottom edge. (It can also be helpful to add a small dab of glue to each side higher up on the grass so it doesn’t just flop down.)
- Fold the green paper down about half way (you want the eggs and bunnies covered, but not the sun and clouds), and cut away the extra paper.
- Use a ruler to draw straight lines going down the green paper (like blades of grass).
*I promise, the prep goes quick. It only took me about 4 minutes.
Activity Instructions:
- Invite your child to cut the long grass to find the Easter surprises hidden in it!
- First, encourage your child to follow the lines and cut the individual blades of grass. (For younger kids, you can do this step for them and skip to the next part.)
- Use the scissors to cut the blades of grass across and reveal the hidden surprises. The more kids cut, the more Easter fun they will discover!
- Once all the pictures have been revealed, talk with your child about what they found. What did they discover? How many bunnies are there? What color are the eggs?
Want more simple preschool activities for Easter? Try these:
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