we make paper!

I was recently at Target and while perusing the toy aisle at my kids request I found a kit for paper making. I wouldn't normally have bought it but it was about $4 and making paper has been on my "to home school" list for awhile now.

It took me a couple days to get around to opening the box up and seeing what we had to do and I was immediately disappointed that it was recommended we wait 24 hours after ripping paper to tiny bits before actually getting to the paper making process. I wasn't disappointed for me, but the fact that I'd have to explain to my kids that after all the work (and yes, ripping up paper is work) we wouldn't get to even make the paper until the next afternoon. Surprisingly, they weren't that upset. They didn't even get that tired of ripping up the paper.


We half filled a large bowl with warm water and added in our paper pieces. We left it on the counter until the next afternoon where it still resembled the same thing we left the day before.


Alex was the first to try out the paper grinder that the National Geographic kit came with. It's like a kid save blender. It kept the water in the bucket but didn't do such a hot job making the paper into pulp, even after I beat it up a bit.



We came out with a semi-pulpy substance which resembled water in paper and not the "soupy" consistency the directions stated we'd get after "a few minutes" of grinding. But, I figured we'd give it a try anyway. I had the lustrous job of dipping the mold into the paper concoction and creating our first piece of paper. It wasn't that I wanted the job it was just that the kids were a little over excited and got to sloshing the stuff out of the yellow pan the kit came with instead of getting paper onto the mold.


Our first piece of paper was made and let to dry. Unfortunately, between then and now it got crumpled by a well meaning little tot. I suppose the pulpy mixture wasn't quite pulpy enough to handle being handled. So, we're back to the drawing board on the paper making. I suppose I'll have to dig out my blender and give the paper a whirl in there to see if we can get a more fibrous mix to dip the mold.