One of my favorite early finisher activities for elementary students is making paper snowflakes. It's such a great reinforcer of symmetry and design principles. I usually start with recycled paper and direct teach the activity as a "challenge." Here is what I find make students successful.
Show them a bone folder (or introduce the concept from origami) and let them use their scissors, a ruler or even pencil to make the folds razor sharp. When the folded paper lays flat it's easier to cut.
Demonstrate cutting really big shapes and then open it up. Many students will think this is amazing. Tell them we can make this even better.
I compare the folded up shape to a slice of pizza. The first step is to make your "crust" an interesting shape so let's go ahead and do that. Remind them they can't cut "across" the slice of pizza. The point of the pizza should always be facing your body. This is the center of the paper when we open the snowflake.
Next we want to think about the flake like a maze. We want to use small shapes to carve our way into the center. It's better to make lots of tiny cuts that build, than a few giant cuts.
Let them know it's ok to open it up, take a look at it, then carefully refold and make more cuts. They can't always visualize the inside.
Talk about organic and geometric shapes. Challenge them to cut both kinds of shapes.
Challenge them to make 10+ cuts. I tell them to count in their head as they go.
Afterward I ask them to hold up their flake if they made 3+ cuts
Then 5+ cuts
10+ cuts
The most cuts I had from a student was over 25 (and it was a super cool design)
Once they have practiced with their recycled paper, they are free to access the art center all winter long to make snowflakes. I staple those with 10+ cuts all over the school as accents to our bulletin boards.
Here's a visual to go along with the instructions:
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