Every day we end up with tons of paper in the recycling bin. Sometimes the paper comes from left over scraps from snipping lessons, unnamed paintings and drawings that have been forgotten, paper bags and even paper producing lessons the students have deemed not to be their best work. Since January is our month for studying the Earth, we learned that we can help the Earth by recycling.
One of the funnest ways to recycle old paper is to make it into new paper. Although it is a little bit messy (it a perfect project to start indoors then bring outside when the weather allows), it is super easy and satisfying for even the youngest Earth helper.
Here's how we make recycled paper...
Materials: Paper, water, blender, screen, something to put under the screen to catch water (we used Tupperware)
Step 1: Collect recycled paper (no waxy stuff please)
Step 2: Rip up all the paper into tiny bits. If your feeling really organized you can color coordinate the bits so that your end product will be a certain color. If not, it is a fun surprise to see what color you end up with.
Step 3: Put the bits in a blender and pour in about 4 or 5 cups of water. It does not need to be an exact science, but we found that there should be a lot more water than paper in the blender.
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| Yes - It is MESSY! |
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Step 4: Once all the paper is quite blended pour the mixture out onto the screen. Don't forget to put something underneath to catch the excess water!
Step 5: Pat the paper mixture to squeeze out the excess water. We used a rolling pin so that the paper does not bunch up.
Step 6: Once you have your paper mixture rolled out as thin as you like set the whole screen someplace safe to dry. It might take a day or two to dry completely depending on how thick you paper is. When it is all the way dry you can remove it from the screen and cut it into whatever shape you like. Since paper turned out all different shades of pink we are going to use it to make valentines!
