Catalogues - Junk Mail or Fun Mail?

I have to be honest and admit that I really enjoy reading junk mail. In fact most of the time I don't see it as junk mail. To me it's fun mail. Not that I need to buy everything I see. (by now you know I like to shop for cheap treasures in treasure shops) I enjoy looking at the pictures. How fun are the Aldi brochures that arrive each week!

Recently all the toy sales have been on in the big department stores so the catalogues have been delivered trying to get people to buy their goods. Miss M doesn't realise that the catalogues are for that purpose because she only knows them as something good to cut up.

Catalogues provide a good amount of pictures to cut out which is great for this mummy who doesn't buy magazines. Just think...there are food ones and clothes ones, toy ones and house ones. It's up to mummy to sort through them first to find age appropriate ones for this activity.

When we first started doing this activity Miss M was a lot younger so I would help her to cut using scissors with holes for an adult finger + thumb at the back and child's finger and thumb at the front. To make things simple I would tear out the pages but not in front of her, so she didn't think it was ok to do the same to books. Miss M can cut mostly by herself now (with supervision) so I just provide her with a glue stick and a piece of paper to stick her cuttings on. She isn't at the stage of cutting around objects yet but she is starting to aim for them. That part will come later and I look forward to it. For now this is a good cheap activity that is helping to develop her ability to hold a pair of scissors and cut with them.

• To find a pair of scissors like the adult/ child ones mentioned talk to the helpful people at Speedy Art Supplies, Richlands or any school supplier near you.
• To buy a good pair of child scissors look in the stationary section of the supermarket next time you're doing your shopping. Make sure that they are small enough for little hands but big enough to manipulate easily.