This is an old post revisited because we made our homemade paper yesterday and as always the children impressed me with their abilities and patience as each of the 8 kids waited their turn to use the blender and scoop out their paper. Here is the original post from last year, though the pictures have not been updated, this show sour process:
One of our recent activities at Art and Soul Preschool was paper making. The children loved the process of choosing their colored paper pulp, blending it and sifting it out on a screen. We have been studying seeds and plants, so we added wild flower seeds along with flower petals and lavender to our paper, making it an extra special treat. We gave them away as Mother's Day cards, and Elianna and I planted ours in the garden. They really came out beautifully, and I cannot wait for my wild flowers to grow.
Bowls of paper pulp cut up from old paintings the students did on construction paper.
A very dirty, yet highly functional blender and trays of clean water in which the
paper pulp was added. Each student used one side of the tray for their pulp.
Adding paper pulp to the blender. After the pulp is added, fill the blender half way with clean water. The pulp should be cut up and soaked over night.
Pouring the paper pulp in the trays with about a 1/2 inch of clean water.
You can see where one student already poured the pulp on the left side.
Adding the wild flower seeds and petals to the paper pulp
Placing the screen in the pulp to pull the paper
Our paper ready to be laid on top of dry towels. we placed a paper towel on top of each paper then folded the towels over to speed up the drying process.
After the paper has dried enough to peel it off the screen, we hung it up to dry fully
Lovely Wild Flower Paper
Elianna and I picked a place in our flower garden to plant our paper
Ellie working hard in the garden covering her paper with dirt
A final touch, a bit of water to help it grow!
