Make Your Own Paper Activity Students investigate the papermaking process by trying it themselves. Students are thrilled to find that they can make paper and that their product is practical, as well as beautiful. See the PLT website, www.plt.org, to watch a video of the paper-making 51 process used in this activity. Levels Grades 1-8 OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES Subjects ■ Students will describe the steps of the paper- ■ Ask younger students to write the directions Science, Social Studies, making process and identify the elements and for making paper on the piece of recycled Language Arts, Visual Arts outputs of the process. paper that they made. Concepts ■ By reducing waste and recy- ■ Have students use concept mapping, cling materials, individuals graphics software, or write a script for a and societies can extend the video that explains the papermaking process. value and utility of resources and can promote environ- mental quality. (2.7) Skills The process begins when trees, grown Observing, Organizing BACKGROUND especially for papermaking, are harvest- Information, Comparing and ed and transported to a paper mill. At Contrasting Paper is a simple material. It is essen- the mill, large machines strip away bark tially a mat held together by a fiber’s and shred the logs into millions of chips roughness, and can be made from almost the size of breakfast cereal. The wood Higher Order Thinking, any fibrous material such as cotton, chips travel on conveyors to gigantic Paired/Cooperative Learning, hemp, flax, wood or recycled paper. And Realia/Hands-on Learning “pulp cookers,” where chemicals and yet, this simple product has a tremen- steam are added. The mixture is heated dous effect on our lives. Imagine how dif- and pressurized, breaking the chips into ferent your day would be without paper! Graphics Software smaller and smaller pieces and finally forming a dilute water suspension of Materials We use paper for countless things in our wood fibers called pulp. The pulp then Scrap paper torn into 1” x 1” (2.5 everyday lives, including newsprint, mag- passes through cleaners and screens and cm x 2.5 cm) pieces (paper tow- azines, schoolbooks, photocopies, comput- sometimes goes through a bleaching els, construc tion paper, and toilet er printers, envelopes, stamps, tissue and paper work well; a large bowl; a process that will give it the whiteness wooden frame 5” x 7” (13 cm x 18 sanitary products, bags, boxes, containers, needed for the grade of paper being cm) or 8” x 10” (20 cm x 25 cm); food packaging, gift wrap, wallpaper, dis- manufactured. Other chemicals such as nylon or wire screen; staples; a posable dishes, lampshades, and as an art dyes, pigments, sizings, or resins are plastic basin at least 2.5 gallons medium. Industrial uses include gaskets, (9.5 liters) in capacity, that is larg- sometimes added to provide the paper or er than the frame; cloth dishtow- speaker cones, liquid and gas filters, insu- paperboard (thick paper for boxes) with els (felt, blotting paper, or news- lation, and friction devices. the appropriate finish. paper may substi tuted, blender; sponge; strainer; colored paper, The process for making paper was invent- pieces of colored thread, or dried The pulp is then pumped through pipes flowers (optional) Variation: ed in China in the second century A.D., to a paper machine where it is sprayed scraps of construction paper, and all paper was made one sheet at a onto a wide, moving wire screen. After newspaper, water, blender, 9” x time until 1798. With the Industrial the water in the pulp drains through the 14” (23 cm x 36 cm) cake pan, 8” x Revolution and the papermaking 13” (20 cm x 33 cm) piece of win- holes, a damp mat of wood fibers dow screening, two 16” x 16” (41 machine, papermaking became a major remains; this is the paper. It is picked up cm x 41 cm) pieces of wood industry that pro vides countless prod- from the end of the moving belt and ucts, from books and newspapers to pack- dried over steam-heated rollers. Time Considerations aging and note pads. Some modern Preparation: 30 minutes plus machines can make a sheet of paper 26 time to gather materials Commercial papermaking affects the Activity: two 50-minute periods feet (8.8 m) wide and nearly 40 miles (64 environment in several ways. The energy km) long in just one hour! While the tech- needed for papermaking comes primarily Related Activities nology has changed drama tically over the Paper Civilization from fossil fuels, which are nonrenew- centuries, the basic steps are simple able. Burning those fuels can put carbon enough for your students to do in class. dioxide and other pol lutants in the air. However, for public safety, there are state Project Learning Tree • PreK–8 Activity Guide 224 © American Forest Foundation dents to partici pate. Middle school students might use stations so some students can make paper while others do a different activity. For younger students, you might ask a parent or aide to help at stations, or have an activity for the rest of the class while you help small groups make paper. The papermaking process is a wet one, so plan to use a work space that won’t be harmed by moisture. You might want students to wear “wet gear”-an apron or smock, or old clothing. Remove any plastic or staples from the scrap paper, and tear it into small pieces (1-inch or 2.5-cm squares). Soak the paper in hot water in the large container for at least 30 minutes. Buy or build a wooden frame, which you will prepare for paper mak ing. Tightly staple or tack nylon or wire and federal guide lines that control through the manufacturing process, screening to the frame, making a emissions. Most of what you see com- the fibers dete riorate. After repeated “deckle,” which is the surface on which ing out of the mill’s smokestacks is recycling, the fiber is no longer suit- you will layer the fibers. steam, not pollu tants. Many mills recy- able for paper making. cle the waste paper they produce, and use wood waste to generate their own Producing recycled paper requires about DOING THE ACTIVITY electricity for the process. 40% less energy than producing non- recycled paper. And making recycled 1. Introduce the activity by asking stu- The wastewater from the paper- paper produces 70% less water pollu- dents what they think paper is made making can cause pollution problems. tion and much less air pollutants, such of and how it is made. However, in the United States and as greenhouse gases, particulates, and Canada, the water discharged from other hazardous pollutants. 2. Fill the blender halfway with mills is tightly monitored and con- warm water, then add a handful trolled. Traditionally, the pulp-cooking In 2003, the United States, for the first of the soaked paper. Blend at medi- process created strong odors, but most time ever, recycled more than 50% of um speed until you no longer see mills now have systems in place to the paper it consumed. This means pieces of paper, and the pulp has a alleviate this issue. that fifty million tons of paper did not soupy consistency. You can blend in end up in the waste stream—equiva- a piece of construction paper for Most paper comes from trees, a renew- lent to two hundred and thirty Empire color; or stir in short pieces of able resource. Most of the trees used State buildings full each year. In total, thread, dried flowers, for paper are managed for that pur- recycling paper reduces the amount of or herbs for texture. pose. In commercial papermaking, solid waste produced in the manufac- more than half of the fiber comes from turing of paper by over 60%. 3. Pour the mixture into the large lumber mill residues and from paper basin and then fill the basin with that has been collected for recycling. warm water, mixing thoroughly until GETTING READY the ingredients are evenly dispersed. Paper is easily recycled, which helps Adding a few ounces of liquid starch Decide how you will conduct reduce waste. However, no matter how will help make the paper firm. the activity. If you are short on much paper we recycle, new trees still materials or adult supervision, you will be needed for paper products, can demon strate; but, ideally, you because paper cannot be recycled should try to find a way for the stu- indefinitely. Each time paper goes Make Your Own Paper © American Forest Foundation 225 4. Slide the deckle into the basin. Put Variation—Pictures 9. Press firmly on the top board to some pulp onto the screen and, still from Pulp squeeze out moisture. holding the deckle underwater, gently move it back and forth to get an even 1. Collect plenty of construction paper 10. Turn the paper press upside down. layer of fibers on the screen. scraps and sort them by color, tearing Take off the board, then the newspa- them into dime-sized pieces. per, and then, very carefully peel the 5. Lift the deckle out of the mixture, screen away from the paper. This is the keeping it flat. Allow it to drip until 2. Make different colored pulps. For back of your picture. most of the water has drained off. You each color, repeat this process: fill the should have a uniform layer of pulp blender half with paper pieces, and 11. Leave your picture face down on mixture on the deckle. Press the pulp half with water.