Children are amazing in the things they think, want, create, do, etc.
I had purchased a *Dino Bible book for our oldest to work on daily for our religion section. In that book they have a little journal assignment for each day. This particular one asked to make a list and have God help you. One of the things he listed was to learn how to make paper.
This took me by surprise as this seem to have come out of left field with no rhyme or reason.
I thought for a moment, and then surprised him by asking if he’d like to learn today.
His face just about burst with happiness and curiosity.
I gave him the list of items we needed and he gathered them all then we got to work.
Best thing is with all the extra crafts everyone’s been doing while stuck at home you should have more than enough scrap paper. You could even use art paper that you’ve already colored on.
Needs:
- scrap paper (about 10 full sheets)
- blender
- 3 plus or minus cups of water
- seeds (optional)
- cooling rack
- jelly roll pan (it’s the pan with the side so the water doesn’t leak everywhere)
- cheese cloths or dish towels
First: You’ll rip the paper into small pieces and place into blender. Don’t pack the blender down just let it fill up to the top.
Second: Add about 2 cups of water off the bat and pulse, add more water until it blends.
Third: Pour the mixture out into your towel covered cooling rack that’s on a jelly roll pan.
Fourth: Have your little ones have fun with the soft smooshy paper, and work with them to flatten it out as thin as you can. Try for an even square or rectangle as you can (this helps prevent it from tearing apart). Add the seeds at this stage.
Fifth: Lay a towel over and press with a gentile but firm hand (if your little ones are over zealous then take this step yourself otherwise it will leave holes).
Sixth: After most the water has been squished out then you’ll want to transfer it to another dry towel. Since it’s pretty well mushed together and still pretty wet it FLIPS over onto the new towel nice an easy. Once it’s on the new towel you can use another dish towel to press firmly and “squeeze” out more water.
Seventh: We have radiator heat and they have these nice flat tops I can lay ours on, but anywhere dry and warm works great. The dryer and warmer the faster it dries. We let ours lay for 24 hours.
Once it’s dry your little ones can write or draw anything they’d like on the NONseed side before taking it out to ‘plant’. The planting is so easy not sure I can even call it planting haha. You just lay it SEED SIDE DOWN where ever you’d it to grow. It’s been raining a lot here so we haven’t watered it but just make sure it stays moist.
*Dino Bible book I found and we’ve been loving. Make sure to snag a notebook to journal also. https://www.amazon.com/Dinosaur-Devotions-Discoveries-Bible-Truths/dp/1400209021/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=dino+bible&qid=1584834127&sr=8-1
Till then Enjoy and God Bless!
~Just Your Average Mama