Are you in need of a last minute summer craft with the kiddies?!?  AH!  Summer is almost over for those of us in Utah!  I can’t decide if I am happy or sad about that…

I guess this is more of a kid “experiment” than a craft- making paper out of old paper.  My kids thought that doing a “science experiment” was crazy exciting.  Seriously, they went nutty for a few minutes after I told them what we were going to do.  Crazy kids!

I did this with my crafty mama when I was little.  I was probably in first grade.  I can vividly remember sitting at the dinning room table doing this with my mom, no joke.  I still have the paper I made!

 

This experiment will take a day or two to complete, but that kinda makes it more exciting for the kids.

First!  You will want to rip up old news paper or egg cartons.  After you have a big pile all ripped up- place it in a bowl and cover with water.  It is one of the longer steps.  You will then let it soak over night.   If you can easily pull it apart with your fingers you are ready for step two.

The second step is to blend it up in the blender.  Do this for a few minutes, until it is smooth.

Step three is to strain the water out of the paper with a fine mesh strainer.  Get as much water out as you can so it will dry faster.

Step four is to spread it out and let it dry.  We used an old window screen- it won’t damage it at all.  I put cookie sheets underneath the screen to catch more water while the kids flattened out their paper.

Last step!  Once it was laid out how they wanted it we took the screen and set it outside in the hot sun.  It was dry a few hours later and then they got to write on it.

Oh sweet joy!

Hopefully they remember these moments as fondly as I remember them with my mom. 🙂