Kids Project - How To Make Your Own Recycled Paper At Home

My children wanted to make their own recycled paper at home during the school holidays. So we got to work. We got the instructions from my daughter's text book. 

Here's what you need to make your own recycled paper:

1. Newspaper or any other recyclable paper

2. A container

3. A fork

4. A sieve

5. A rolling pin or bottle

6. A piece of cloth

7. An iron

Here are the steps on how to make your own recycled paper at home. It is very easy. Kids can do it with some supervision.

Step 1: Tear your newspaper into strips and soak it for several days. 

If you are wondering what the other spare container in the picture is for. We used it for pouring water into the container filled with paper.

Step 2: After a few days, use the fork to mash the paper into tiny bits.

Step 3: Use the strainer to get rid of access water from the mashed up paper. Note that you are not supposed to push the paper through the strainer. It is only for separating water from the paper or drying your mashed up paper.

Step 4: Use a rolling pin or glass bottle to roll out the mashed paper into a flat piece. We didn't have a rolling pin or bottle so we tried to improvise with an empty cylinder shaped biscuit can. It didn't work. In the end, we found it a lot easier to just shape the paper with our hands. After this you should put the paper away to dry for a day.

Step 5: Put another cloth over the recyled paper and iron it to flatten it nicely.

Step 6: Tadaaa... you've got yourself a homemade recycled paper. My daughter cut hers into four pieces. She wanted to make a card with it and decorate it.

This homemade project for kids on How To Make Your Own Recycled Paper At Home is an excellent way to teach kids that waste products can be recycled and reused.