A Fun Offline Activity - Making Your Own Paper

Yesterday, as part of his textbook challenge Scott McLeod posted a list of resources that were very comparable to the content and activities he found in his daughter's Environmental Science textbook. (BTW, read Scott's post not just for the links, but for his commentary too). One of the links in Scott's list was to a paper-making activity that was very comparable to the activity outlined in the textbook. Make-Stuff offers directions for making your own recycled paper. The activity is intended not only to teach students how they can make their recycled paper, but also to teach students the value of recycling. I read through the directions and thought that it seemed like an activity that most middle school students could handle. To take the directions a step farther, I did a quick YouTube search for "how to make paper" and quickly found three videos that demonstrate the "at home" paper-making process.

This video is the most succinct of three.


This video comes from The Green Parent which specializes in environmentally-friendly at-home projects.


This video goes into the most detail about the at-home paper-making process.

Applications for Education

If you're looking for a hands-on project to connect to a lesson about recycling and Environmental Science, consider having students make their own recycled paper. It's certainly a lot easier than letting them try to make their own recycled plastic or sheet metal.

Here are some related items that may be of interest to you:Video - Two Cases of Global Warming
Climate Change, Wildlife, Wildlands Lesson Plans
Endangered Places Multimedia Map