How To: Make Paper!
A great project to use up old paper scraps, and involve the children in the process of recycling
Making your own paper using old scrap paper is a fun project and a great way to build children’s understanding of the recycling process.
Many young children are aware of the idea of recycling and what types of materials go into the recycling bin, but don’t really understand what recycling means. By turning old paper scraps into new paper they can see the process of recycling in action and gain a deeper understanding of how it works.
This process does take a few days from start to finish, but it is well worth the wait and can be done in large quantities to involve as many children as you’d like.
Start by collecting a selection of scrap paper. We used a variety of paper scraps including wrapping paper, drawing paper and even a few paper towels.
You will also need:
bottles with lids (we used an empty milk bottle)
a sieve
cornflour
baking paper
rolling pin
Optional:
blender
yoghurt cups (or other small containers)
spray oil
Method:
Step 1 - Soaking the Pulp
Begin by having the children rip (or cut) up the paper scraps into small pieces (the smaller the better), then post them into the bottle. This is great small motor practice for children and an activity that they can pick up and put down over the course of a few days.
Once you have filled the bottle with small paper scraps, add water leaving a little empty space at the top. You can fill one bottle or many, depending on how much recycled paper you would like to make - our 2L milk bottle full made one sheet and four small paper cups.
Leave the paper to soak, shaking it every so often to mix up the paper and water - this will break down the paper bits into pulp. This will take a few days so if your children are patient they can see the progress of the paper breaking down over time. Alternatively, if you’d like to speed up the process of making pulp, add your water/paper mixture to a blender and give it a wizz!
Step 2 - Draining the Pulp
Once the pulp is ready, use the sieve to drain off most of the water.
The paper mix will still look quite wet - use your hands to squeeze most of the water (pic 3), however, you’ll want to retain a bit of water so that your pulp isn’t too crumbly.
Sprinkle a bit of cornflour and mix through - this will help the final paper to stick together once it’s dried. Start with about 1 Tbsp cornflour and build up from there if needed. Now you’re ready to make your paper!
Step 3 - Making the Paper/ Paper Cups
We used our recycled paper pulp to make two types of paper - a sheet and planting cups:
Cups:
Spray a few yoghurt cups (or other small mould) with spray oil - this will help the paper to slide out easily once dried.
Smoosh the paper pulp against the sides and bottom of the mould to create a paper cup shape.
These cups are great for starting seeds as you can plant the whole cup in the garden once they have sprouted.
Paper Sheet:
Placed a lump of pulp onto a bit of baking paper, then fold the baking paper over the top and roll it out.
You can make it fairly thin, but try to roll it uniformly so it will dry evenly.
Step 4 - Drying the paper
Leave the paper to dry - the sheet will dry overnight if left in a warm dry spot, such as the hot water cupboard. Weighing it down with a couple of heavy books will help keep the edges from curling.
The cups will take a little longer and will need to be removed from the yoghurt pots for final drying before they are ready to use.
Step 5 - Get Creative!
Although we had planned to use the cups for planting seeds, some of the children decided they would rather paint theirs and use them as keepsake cups. Once the paint dried we used some watered down PVA glue to seal it all in order to preserve the cups for a longer life.
We found this to be a great summer activity that the children could engage with over a long period of time and be creative.