Studying the brain has been amazingly fun. My 4½-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, and I have focused a lot on parts of the brain, including making awesome brain hemisphere hats. The free brain cutting strips I’m sharing here today give both fine-motor practice and a focus on how the brain looks as well as protecting the brain with helmets for sports. As usual, this cutting strips printable is an instant download and super-easy to download and prepare.
Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).
Montessori-Inspired Printables at Living Montessori Now
My daughter, Christina (a former Montessori child), and I are partnering to bring you a series of Montessori-inspired printables. (Note: Christina has some sweet, themed kids’ fitness printables that are great for homes or classrooms!)
The printables are typically themed and use a number of Montessori principles (although you don’t need to be a Montessori teacher or homeschooler to use them). The cutting strips use photographs or realistic images to emphasize reality. The photographs on the first page show how the brain looks and two examples of using helmets to protect the brain while participating in sports.
Preschoolers love to learn proper terminology, so I tell you the name of the objects or animals featured whenever I can. The cutting strips today don’t have special terms, but I do have descriptions of what the photographs are.
Free Brain Cutting Strips
To download, click here and then click on the file image in the upper right corner of the PDF to save to your computer (just choose where you want it saved).
More Anatomy Activities and Resources
Brain Hemisphere Hat and Activities to Learn about Parts of the Brain
Free Brain and Growth Mindset Printables and Montessori-Inspired Brain Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Heart and Circulatory System Activities
- Montessori-Inspired Skeleton Activities
- “All About Me” Free Printables and Activities for Back to School
- Handwashing Activities for Kids – Free Songs and Lessons
- Free Skeleton Printables and Montessori-Inspired Skeleton Activities
- Hands-on Fun with Montessori-Inspired Human Skeleton Activities
- Human Body Unit Study Pinterest Board
Montessori-Inspired Activities Using the Brain Cutting Strips
Brain Cutting Strips with Basket and Brain from the Safari Ltd. Human Organs TOOB
Cutting skills are so important for preschoolers. Two year olds can begin working on them, too. When children are first working on cutting skills, they’ll have an easier time cutting cardstock than paper. So, in the beginning, I recommend printing the strips on cardstock. Printer paper is fine for children with more advanced cutting skills.
I’m not sure where I got the basket, although the small Multicraft tray would work, too. I’ve always used Fiskar scissors for kids, which are sharp enough to cut paper easily. For interest, I added the brain from the Safari Ltd. Human Organs TOOB.
For home use with the cutting work, I like to have a small container to catch the paper scraps. I used a small wooden box we had, although you could use any small container. For younger children, I recommend keeping the basket or tray up out of reach when it’s not being used.
For classroom use, you might want to use Ziplock bags to catch the scraps. Children have fun taking their scraps home in a bag … or saving them to paste onto a collage.
Free Growth Mindset Printables for Kids and Adults
The Ultimate List of Free Growth Mindset Printables for Kids and Adults
At Bits of Positivity, I have lots and lots of free growth mindset printables for kids and adults.
More Growth Mindset Resources at Bits of Positivity
In addition to a long list of inspiring growth mindset quotes, you’ll find a number of word-art freebies (which I add to whenever I publish another one) in my best growth mindset quotes for kids and adults.
You’ll find lots of inspiring- and character-building songs in my free growth mindset songs for kids post.
Both kids and adults can gain a lot of growth mindset inspiration from famous failures.
You’ll find lots of great growth mindset books in my post with the the best growth mindset books for kids.
The Best Way to Begin Working on Scissor Cutting Skills
Even before using cutting strips, I recommend using an easier object to cut, such as strings of beads. You’ll find lots of tips and ideas for teaching scissor skills in my post on developing scissor cutting skills with Montessori-inspired activities.
More Montessori-Inspired Paper Cutting Activities
You’ll find ideas for home and classroom setups in my post on Montessori-inspired paper cutting activities.
You can see my entire list of free cutting strips here. The follow printables are the free cutting strips published before this set.
These free constellation cutting strips are perfect for an astronomy unit.
These free ladybug cutting strips are perfect for a ladybug or insect theme!
These free golf cutting strips are fun for summer!
These free seasons of an apple tree cutting strips are perfect for a tree theme, apple theme, or seasons theme.
These free duckling cutting strips are perfect for a duckling theme, Make Way for Ducklings theme, farm unit, or bird unit.
These free nest cutting strips are perfect for a bird or nest theme with images of different types of nests with baby birds.
These free panda cutting strips are great for a panda theme, bear theme, Asia theme, Chinese New Year theme, or study of China.
These free winter sports cutting strips are perfect for a winter sports and/or Winter Olympics unit.
These free bear cutting strips can be used with a bear literature-based theme, hibernation theme, or bear unit.
These free moon cutting strips can be used for a variety of astronomy themes.
These free owl cutting strips are great for a fall or bird theme.
These free magnet cutting strips can be used for cutting practice and to encourage magnet exploration.
These free alligator cutting strips have two pages with a variety of skill levels on the second page.
These free honeybee cutting strips are a good way to help children learn more about bees and become less afraid of them..
These free zoo animal cutting strips show 8 African animals and can be used for a special animals of Africa cut-and-paste activity.
These free turtle cutting strips are great for a turtle-, pond-, or ocean unit.
These free eat-a-rainbow cutting strips are a good way to encourage healthy eating.
These free lamb cutting strips are great for a March, farm, or “Mary Had a Little Lamb” theme.
These free penguin cutting strips are perfect for a penguin- or Antarctica unit.
Free Arctic Animal Cutting Strips
These cutting strips focus on animals from the Arctic rather than Antarctica and other parts of the Southern Hemisphere.
Here are some free cutting strips for a holiday bell theme.
These free dinosaur cutting strips are perfect for a dinosaur theme. They include two dinosaurs and their skeletons.
These free spiderweb cutting strips are perfect for a spider unit or Halloween. Because of the beauty of the spiderwebs, they’re also great for children who are afraid of spiders.
These free raccoon cutting strips can be used for a forest unit at any time or a Kissing Hand unit at the beginning of the school year.
Many young children either love ants or are frightened of them. These free ant cutting strips can be helpful and high interest in either instance.
Snails are fascinating creatures for many young children, and I have a post with free snail cutting strips.
Cars are a popular topic with many young children … and I have a post with free car cutting strips.
I have a post with free recycling cutting strips … a great way to focus interest on recycling!
I have a post with free butterfly cutting strips … perfect for spring and summer activities!
I also have a post with free frog cutting strips.
Again, you can see all our free cutting strips as we publish them here.
Zoey loves using the cutting strips to develop her scissor cutting skills. I hope your child (or students) enjoys using the cutting strips, too. 🙂
MONTESSORI-INSPIRED PACKS – SUBSCRIBER FREEBIES
Don’t miss our subscriber freebie brain pack, subscriber freebie constellation pack, subscriber freebie ladybug pack, subscriber freebie golf pack, subscriber freebie tree pack, subscriber freebie duckling pack, subscriber freebie nest pack, subscriber freebie panda pack, subscriber freebie winter sports pack, subscriber freebie bear pack, subscriber freebie moon pack, subscriber freebie owl pack, subscriber freebie magnet pack, subscriber freebie alligator pack, subscriber freebie bee pack, subscriber freebie zoo pack, subscriber freebie turtle pack, subscriber freebie eat-a-rainbow pack, subscriber freebie lamb pack, subscriber freebie penguin pack, subscriber freebie polar bear pack, subscriber freebie bell pack, subscriber freebie dinosaur pack, subscriber freebie spider pack, subscriber freebie raccoon pack, subscriber freebie ant pack, subscriber freebie snail pack, subscriber freebie car pack, subscriber freebie frog pack, subscriber freebie butterfly pack, and subscriber freebie recycling pack! You’ll get a monthly freebie with link and password if you subscribe to the Living Montessori Now weekly newsletter. There are now 31 Montessori-inspired packs in our Living Montessori Now library for subscribers!
Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to. Teach Grace and Courtesy! I’m also one of the coauthors of the book Learn with Play – 150+ Activities for Year-round Fun & Learning!
The Montessori at Home! eBook and Montessori at Home! eBook and Materials Bundle are AMAZING resources! You can learn more about them here. Buy them in the Living Montessori Now shop.
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