Making Paper

K, the first time we made paper was Wednesday, but I forgot to take pics.

I know. How could I? lol!

Anyways, so today we made it again. The boys were excited.

K, here's the materials you need:

 

• bath towels (or a workspace you don't mind getting all wet and messy - like a sidewalk outside)
•  a sponge (we didn't have one, so we used hand towels)
• a blender
• old newspaper
• a screen
• HOT water
• optional: a frame (an old photo frame will do)

Oh, and you'll need some helpers.

These are mine. :)

K, what you want to do first is tear up your newspaper and stuff it in the blender. Then add HOT water till it's a little more than halfway full.

Then blend it all up till it looks all nasty and feels kind of like that slime stuff they had in the late 80's and early 90's. (Remember that stuff? lol!)

 This is about what it should look like. Nice, huh? lol! This is called pulp. It's a lumpy, watery, gooey mess. :)
K, then you need to lay your towels down on your work area and lay the screen on top of the towels. This is when you'd lay your frame on top of your screen, if you want perfectly square paper. We didn't care about perfectly square paper. So we just poured our pulp on top of the screen.

Then we smoothed it out. This is a bit easier said than done. Little ones might need some help.

K, if you have sponges, now's the time to use them. If not, grab your hand towels, lay them on top of your paper, and press as hard as you and your little ones can! Paper is held together by pressure (which is why it falls apart so easily when it gets wet), so it's important you press hard. This also helps absorb excess water.

Push, push, push! My boys like this part. :)

Once you've pressed as hard as you can and have absorbed as much excess water as you can, carefully remove the towel.

Then let your paper dry. It needs several hours. I recommend doing this activity after dinner so the paper can dry overnight. You could put it in the sun, but it will dry too quickly and might warp.

When it's dry, they can write on it or draw on it. We're going to frame ours. :)

Thanks for reading! Have fun! :)