How to get my cats to stop scratching me, in play?

Both of my 6 mo old kittens are very gentle, sweet cats. Both are spayed, but not declawed. They are becoming indoor cats now, but I am holding off cutting their claws in case they should escape out, but also because they are generally gentle on furniture and on us, and they love climbing the scratching post etc. They have fun being able to use their claws in a natural, positive way.

However, sometimes when I play with them with a toy that is rather small, they will reach too far and grab my fingers with their claws. I've played with plenty of cats that didn't do this. I have trained them to not play with our hands, so they have been used to being able to used their claws in whichever way they wanted, during play. But I would like to be able to play with them with a piece of crumbled up paper ball without them digging into my fingers... It can cause some scratches some times, though not too bad. Just seems like this should be possible, especially since so many cats do well this way. I'm beginning to wonder if never letting them play with my hands has backfired, since they now seem to have no regard wether they grab and scratch my hand or not.

Now, let me say that they will never purposely grab onto our hands in order to hurt us, neither us or our kids. We can touch them just about anywhere and they will not bite or scratch us out of being annoyed. Hurrah! I've had aggressive cats in the past, so this is so refreshing to see!

What are your thoughts on this, and do you have any advice?

I would clip their claws! They are still very able to climb their cat tree and use their claws just as if they were unclipped, but they are less likely to scratch so hard!

Also, it would be a good idea to let them get used to having their claws trimmed while they are young!

Is what worked for me was to say "ouch" in a painful voice or cry and pull my hand away. I have six 6 month old kittens and they use their claws in play but they don't really hurt us anymore. I had one that over estimated how far to reach to claw an object and he got me so bad that my first reaction was to use the papers in my other hand and swat him, to this day he doesn't use his claws anymore on us. I just had a couple of sheets of paper in my hand so it didn't hurt him, but it scared him. I have even used the sound a few papers hitting the floor to correct some behaviour it doesn't hurt them it just scares them a little.

Every since I was little I've always used my hands in kitten play. I've never had any problems with being scratched once they learned that it hurts me.

I started clipping my kittens claws from the time I got them which was younger than six monthes. They also still climb and scratch the post, turbo scratcher, and tower just fine.