Facilitator’s Notes
A practical paper making activity that highlights the environmental benefits of
recycling and gives all pupils the chance to make their own sheet of recycled paper.
Learning Objectives:
By the end of the session pupils will be able to:
• Demonstrate the process of recycling paper
• Identify the raw materials used to make paper
• Explain why it is better to recycle paper than to make it from virgin materials
• Experiment with colour and texture by adding additional materials during the paper
making process
Resources:
• Paper making kit:
o 6 plastic trays
o 6 sponges
o 6 sets paper making frames (please see instructions for making your own below)
o 6 J-clothes
o 6 pieces of old towels for the children to dry their hands
o 6 pencils
o 1 net curtain
o 1 electric blender
o 1 plastic measuring jug
• 1 set of 6 flash cards (see below)
• Shredded office paper
• Newspaper for drying recycled paper (slightly bigger than the paper making frames)
• Coloured poster paint, confetti, tissue paper or glitter (optional)
• Examples of raw materials such as wood chips, bamboo, cotton balls (optional)
• Easy access to water supply
• Space for drying paper sheets, i.e. drying rack
Preparation:
Set up all the paper making stations (as shown below) and make up some pulp before the
session. You can talk through and demonstrate the pulp making process at the beginning of
the session.
Making pulp
Soak the shredded paper in warm water for at least an hour or over night. Put a handful of
soaked paper in the blender and top it up with water. Blend the mixture until it becomes a ‘thick
soup’ consistency. This is now ready to be poured into the trays. Fill all except one tray with
half a blender jug of pulp and add some ready mixed poster paint if you would like to make
some coloured paper. The tray without the pulp and paint will be used to demonstrate this
process at the beginning of the session. You can also add other things such as glitter or
confetti.
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Setting up the paper making station
Fill the plastic trays half full with water and set up the equipment as below.
Old towel (for
mopping up)
Sponge
Newspaper and
pencil
Bowl/plastic
tray half full
with water
Paper frames
(1 empty, 1 mesh)
J-cloth
Delivery:
Discuss the origins of paper with the pupils. Pass around samples of the different raw materials
such as wood chipping, bamboo and cotton balls (used to make bank notes).
Explain how paper is made from wood (the raw material most of your paper is made from)
using the flash cards:
1. Coniferous trees like pine, spruce and fir are the best type to make paper from.
These trees are grown like a crop in specially planted forests. Most trees for paper
making are grown in Scandinavia. The trees are felled and the bark and branches
are taken off.
2. These are then cut into logs, but they are still quite big.
3. The logs need to be cut down into smaller pieces called chips.
4. The wood chips are put into a huge container with a blade at the bottom. Chemicals
and water are added and then everything is boiled. This turns the wood chips into
PULP, which looks a little bit like porridge.
5. Then the pulp is washed and bleached. The bleach takes the yellow colour out of the
wood and makes it white.
6. Next the pulp is sent to the paper-making machine, which is about the same length
as two football pitches. First the pulp gets sprayed very finely onto a mesh, which
drains the water off. Then it gets put through a set of heated rollers which dries the
pulp. Finally the paper gets put through another set of rollers that make it all nice and
smooth, then you have the finished product.
Explain that when you make paper from old paper (which is called recycling) you don’t need
the trees, logs or wood chips. Instead of the wood chips we use paper from the recycling bin.
This reduces the number of trees that need to be cut down and recycling paper uses less
energy and reduces the amount being sent to landfill. Show the pupils a piece of ready made
recycled paper and explain that they are going to make some of their own.
Move the pupils so they are standing around the demonstration paper making station. Explain
that the first thing that needs to be done is to make the pulp. Explain that first the old paper has
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to be shredded and soaked to make it soft. Put a handful of soaked paper in the blender and
top it up with water. Blend the mixture until it becomes a ‘thick soup’ consistency. This is the
pulp.
Add half of the pulp to the tray and add some ready mixed poster paint if you would like to
make some coloured paper (this is your equivalent of washing & bleaching the paper). You can
also add other things such as glitter or confetti (keep it simple if it is the first time you make
paper).
Tell them that in a minute they will be spilt into groups and each group will be a recycling
factory. There are various jobs in the recycling factory, which will be swapped around so the
pupils need to listen really carefully.
Demonstrate how to use the equipment on the table to make recycled paper. (Please see the
‘Paper making procedure’ below for more information).
Split the class into groups of 4, 5 or 6 and allocate one group per table. Let the pupils line up
on one side of the table and give each pupil a number according to the jobs outlined below.
The following instructions are based on groups of 5 pupils.
• For four pupils combine jobs 4 and 5
• For six pupils split job 5 into ‘writer’ and ‘peeler’
Paper making procedure:
1. Swirler
Gently mix the pulp up with the water so it hangs in suspension. Ensure any
coloured paint or other items are added before this point (e.g. dried flowers,
leaves or coloured shreds of paper).
You do not need to add pulp every time as even a small amount will still make a
sheet of paper. Just ensure the swirler does a good job!
2. Dipper
Hold the mesh frame with the mesh on top and then place the empty frame on top. Hold just
the sides and keep fingers off the mesh. As soon as the swirler stops swirling, push the frame
quickly to the bottom of the bowl and then lift straight up. Count to ten, then place frames on
top of j-cloth (folded in half).
a) turn frame so the mesh is
on top then place empty
frame on top.
b) dip right down to bottom
keeping a good grip on sides.
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c) lift up and count to ten to
drain.
3. Remover
b) turn mesh
frame upside
down onto the jcloth.
a) remove the
empty top frame.
4. Sponger
a) press
a sponge
down onto
the mesh
with a flat
hand and
squeeze out
over bowl to
remove as
much water
as possible.
b) lift off
mesh frame
to reveal the
recycled
paper
underneath.
5. Writer
a) write your
name on the
edge of the
newspaper
b) put the
newspaper with
your name facing
down on top of
the paper and pat
flat with hands
If six students in group split job 5 here and call this part ‘6. Peeler’
c) lift the
whole cloth
up and turn it
over
d) gently peel
back the jcloth and use
fingers to
press paper
back onto
newspaper if
it sticks.
Place paper on drying rack for a day or so and then, once dry, peel newspaper off to use the
recycled paper.
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Talk the pupils through making the first two pieces of paper together and then they can do it at
their own speed. Each pupil will have a piece of recycled paper by the end of the session.
When the pupils have finished making the paper, discuss how they may use the paper in the
future, e.g. cards, collage, recycling display, displaying environmental pledges etc.
When ready to clear away, please strain the contents of the trays (water containing pulp)
through the net curtain. This will allow the water to pass through and the pulp to be captured,
therefore preventing the sink becoming blocked by the pulp.
Top Tips:
• If any parent helpers or classroom assistants are available, one per group is ideal
• Tell the pupils to stay in the same order around the table and then move round for the
next piece of paper, taking the job of the person whose place you have just moved in to
• Don’t allow pupils to move from their table unless they are taking the completed paper
to the drying rack
• Write the various jobs on the white board e.g. 1) swirler, 2) dipper etc
Useful facts:
• The paper you’ve made will take 1-2 days to dry
• The paper made today will need a sponge to squeeze out the water as we don’t have
machinery such as rollers
• The paper made today will need our hands to smooth it as we don’t have rollers
• Paper sent for recycling only takes seven days to be made into new paper
• Palm paper mill at King’s Lynn is the biggest mill in Europe. The mill is among the
largest and most powerful newsprint paper machines worldwide. It has a net working
width of 10.63 metres and is currently the widest of its kind. At a scheduled speed of
2,000 m/min., the paper machine has a capacity of 400,000 tons per year.
• The rollers in a mill can produce paper at sixty miles an hour
Experiments
Colour (KS1, 2 & 3) - you can experiment by adding inks, watercolour paint and other colouring
agents at different stages of the process.
Texture (KS1, 2 & 3) - you can experiment by adding more pulp or water to the pulp mixture or
by adding saw dust, liquidised leaves, bits of fabric, pot pourri, confetti etc. at different stages
of the process. By liquidising the pulp mixture for different lengths of time, different
coarsenesses of paper pulp are created. Ironing the paper after it is dry also changes the
surface texture.
Strength (KS2 & 3) - experiment by making thinner and thicker paper and different
coarsenesses of pulp, laying two sheets on top of each other at right angles when wet and
pressing together to form one piece, by adding other agents, such as, saw dust, rags, glue or
egg whites.
Absorbency (KS2 & 3) - test the different textures and thicknesses of paper as described
above for absorbency. Compare recycled paper with virgin paper and other types of paper.
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Making your own frames
Equipment (makes 10 A5 frames):
20 lengths of timber (approx. 1cm x 2cm thick) cut to 21cm
20 lengths of timber (approx. 1cm x 2cm thick) cut to 15cm (from you local DIY store – they
normally provide a cutting service)
2m2 of nylon tight weave net curtain or fine metal mesh.
Staple gun
Gaffa tape
1. Take two of the 21cm and two 15cm lengths of timber and arrange into an A5 sized frame
as shown below (if you have time to varnish or wood stain the wood to seal it, your frames
will last longer):
2. Staple the joins together using 3 – 5 staples per join on each side.
3. Cut a piece of net curtain to fit over the frame. This needs to be attached so that a taught
mesh surface is achieved inside the frame. Use the staple guns to attach the net.
4. Finish the frame off and protect the net attachment by covering the frame with gaffa tape. (5
of these frames with netting should be produced.)
5. Repeat steps 1 & 2 to make 5 empty frames.
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Flash cards
1.
2.
7
3.
4.
8
5.
6.
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