One of my favorite activities to do in the warmer months is recycling paper. We save all of the unclaimed art and scraps of paper from other projects in a big tote. When we have a large amount, we fill the sensory table with scraps of paper and scissors. This first stage of the process often takes a day or so. The children are given the opportunity to come and go, cutting and ripping whenever they choose. (Some people use a paper shredder if their goal is make homemade paper. We try to do our without the aid of electrical tools.) In order to make great paper, it is necessary to cut the paper into tiny pieces. The smaller the better. This give the children ample opportunity to work with scissors and to tear paper which is very important to building their fine motor skills.
Then we take the pulp and form it into a ball, removing as much water as possible. (We set this aside and add it back to the mixture in small amounts as we use it from the pulp water. When we have leftovers, we add glue to it to make a great sculpting clay or paper mache.)
After they have had an adequate time to dry, you can remove them from the form. The best way to tell if they are ready is to rub on the tulle on the opposite side of the pulp. If you rub gently and the paper begins to separate from the tulle the paper is ready. If it does not, you need to let it dry longer.
If the paper is too thin, it will not remove as one piece, it will easily tear. (You can see in this photo, some of our paper was too thin.). When this happens, we usually add the paper back into our scrap box or add it to the balls of pulp we use for sculpting.
Some fun things we have done with our paper include making cool shape collages using scrapbooking punches, making great cards for our parents, or just coloring it with different mediums. The paper has a great texture and is fun to experiment with.