Cut and Glue Station

Behold the cut and glue station: an activity for all kid ages

My three kids are 6, 4, and 3. They’re all playing the same activity together and that is just about the most magical sight around. What’s holding their attention? A Cut and Glue Station, duh!

RELATED: Want to see your child this engaged and focused? Check out my home activities program, Playing Preschool.

An absolute perfect activity

The cut and glue station is perfection.

It starts with some classy dumpster diving.

It uses scissors and glue.

It gives kids a chance to tinker and create.

You might not know this but tinkering and creating are HUGELY important for kids and their development. Studies show that the more kids tinker, the better it is for their brain.

The guts of this cut and glue station are deep

In this activity, I invited my kids to imagine, create, and build ANYTHING they could think of.

They sat for an hour working.

I had gone to the garage and collected garbage from the recycling bin – all sorts of papers, and boxes, ribbons, packaging… you know, only the “classy garbage.”

I set it all on the floor for my kids along with the best tools for the limitless play: glue and scissors.

The goal was simple: there was no goal

I wanted to give my kids a chance to openly create. To just tinker and play and design their own creation.

I also wanted them to have a chance to play with scissors and glue.

More and more kids are going to Kindergarten without having ever used scissors or glue. Please introduce your child to them.

RELATED: Have a child heading to Kindergarten soon? Check out my “kindergarten readiness” post.

Why is it so important to use scissors and glue?

Scissors and glue are HUGE school skills that kids need to be using in early childhood.

Give you child the chance to learn to use wet glue and glue sticks. These skills are NOT intuitive. They need to be explicitly taught to our children. We can teach them by talking them through the process, showing them how to use glue, and letting them practice.

This is the perfect activity to let your child practice using glue. Take the opportunity.

The same goes for cutting: make sure your child heads to school knowing how to use scissors.

RELATED: Learn more about teaching kids to use scissors here.

Give your children free reign with the cut and glue station

Allow your child to freely create.

Give them the chance to use their hands to build.

Let them open their minds up to their imagination.

This is incredibly important work.

My kids loved this bin…

And I loved the HOUR they played and sat quietly working.

It looked like a bunch of garbage on my kitchen floor, sure. But it looked magical to my kids.

When will you be making a cut and glue station?