Paper is one of the most versatile products of modern mankind. In the very old days, paper was made from rags and vegetable fibers, extracted from hemp, bamboo, willow etc. Today paper is primarily produced from wood. We use hundreds of millions of tonnes of paper each year, resulting in billions of trees cut down and tonnes of paper waste in landfills.
As an Enviroschool, at both our preschools we “nurture Nature and People and the whole school environment is a learning resource”. In practice that means that our programme focuses on giving children access to activities that reflect an ecological approach and a positive belief in the future. We aim to practice sustainable practices where possible. With all that paper waste it means we have to act!
At both Tawa Montessori Preschool and at Little Earth we have a system where we collect paper waste and use it to make new paper. The paper waste we collect is soaked in water and every week we make a batch of pulp. This way we can make our own paper every day.
The paper making activity is set up so that the children at our preschool can do this independently, at any time of the day. The only time an adult is needed is when we make the pulp as it involves the use of a blender. The pulp is stored in a sealed container in the fridge for daily use throughout the week. We made the frames ourselves, using fly screen from the diy shop, and the tray is an enamel oven dish.
Here are the steps we use to make our own paper:
Materials: tray, jug for water, pulp, frame, frame with mesh, towel
To make the pulp:
- Rip paper into tiny pieces.
- Add water and soak for a few days.
- Put soaked paper into a blender with a little extra water and blend to a pulp.
- Tip pulp into a container and store in fridge.
To make the paper:
- Tip some pulp in the tray, if needed, ad some water
- Submerge frame into the tray. Gently get an even coverage of pulp over the mesh in the frame.
- Lift frame out of the water.
- Gently dry with a towel.
- Remove top frame to reveal paper!
- Carefully turn paper out on to another dry towel.
- Wait to dry!
We have been making paper daily for nearly two years now. We use this paper for cutting, glueing, wrapping, drawing, and lots of other activities in the classroom. We have even used it to make our own seedling pots.
- Anja
This looks like fun!!! I could probably incorporate this activity next week for my class!!! :D
ReplyDeleteLove this! Great that the kids can can do this independently.
ReplyDelete