📝 making recycled paper! 📝 What a fun process!
Materials:
-used paper (and a roll of Toilet Paper if you’d like)
-two tubs/bins or large bowls. One for the paper shreds and one for the slurry
-a blender
-a window screen / old tights over an empty frame
-towels or other absorbing material
-rolling pin and/or block/piece of wood
1. Collect used paper! used coloring pages, construction paper, drink holders, paper bags, even some cardboard! You could also unroll a roll of toilet paper and shred that into the mix.
2. Shred it! by hand. Tearing, ripping, crinkling, cutting…. great fine motorskill activity! You could use scissors if you wanted to add challenge
3. Add water
4. Feel it! Paper and water is such a unique sensory experience!
5. Bring out the blender! Add 3/4 water and some of the paper. You don’t want to overload your blender motor.
6. Blend it until that paper is non recognisable! A “paper slurry”
7. After you’ve blended all the paper put it back in the sensory bin to explore, discuss how different it feels.
8. Now you’re ready to make the paper! Pull out your screen, a few towels, and a rolling pin or block of wood
9. Place screen on top of towel(s). Add slurry one scoop at a time. Spread out with your hands as you go until it’s roughly the size of a sheet of paper. (You could add some wildflowers Or seeds and this could be planted! You can get creative!)
10. (Option 1) Use your rolling pin to squeeze the water out (Option 2) place your block of wood on top of the slurry and screen. Step on it!
11. After the water is squeezed out as much as
possible, set the screen somewhere for the paper to dry.
You’re done!