SOLSC #2 What if we made our own paper?

During the month of March, I am participating in
the Slice of Life Story Challenge.
All participants are writing about one moment, one part of their day, every day for thirty-one days. My slices will be primarily about teaching preschoolers.

Check out the Two Writing Teachers website for many more reflections on teaching.

The Big Cats have been immersed in paper-making the past few weeks. We are creating our own paper and then using these papers as a base to explore a variety of art techniques. I haven't made homemade paper in years...and I remember doing it with a group of adults. I don't believe I ever did it with a group of three year olds. What an amazing time we have had!

Ms. Donna Jonte, our mentor teacher for our arts integration work with the Phillips Collection, showed up with bins, buckets, tubs, felt, towels, screens, frames, sponges - every imaginable tool to help make the paper-making easier. She even brought some pre-made pulp, so that the preschoolers could immediately explore the sensory delight of pulp. And explore it, they did! They immediately rolled up their sleeves and immersed their hands and arms in the murky, cool slurp. Our sensory table is now home to this wet stuff, and children enjoy working with this material even without a plan to make paper - it is just fun to feel.

After only one morning working alongside Ms. Jonte, the children were at ease with the paper-making process - dip the frame, lift, shake and drain (chanting, “do the paper-making dance” as they remove the excess water), move to the table, flip the frame onto a sheet of felt, sponge off excess water from the back of the frame, lift off the frame, cover the new paper with a layer of felt, head back to the sensory table and begin again. I found myself being a serious student, trying to memorize every precise technique that Ms. Jonte shared, but the children taught me it's not an exact science. You can have a lot of fun in discovering shortcuts and new paths. Oh, how they laughed when water cascaded to the floor because they forgot to drain the screen frame. They were equally amused when a slumped paper piece - really, a ball not a sheet - appeared from a hastily emptied frame. The children loved poking holes, adding in extras, squishing two wet pieces together...none of these creative bursts were orchestrated by me, but simply the of joyful result of working in this structured yet free space. 

Since that first morning of exploration, we've added blenders and scrap papers to make our own paper, and this delights the children, too. They love to tear the paper into small bits, stuff the blender, add water, and hear the roar of the blender as it chews the scraps into the tiniest bits. 

Tearing up egg cartons to make pulp

Tearing up easel papers to make pulp

Over and over and over again, the children make paper.  I love how the children come and go – playing with the pulp, making a sheet of paper, running off to explore blocks or science or writing or painting at the easels, returning to make more paper. There is so much to do.

Painting with watercolors on our homemade paper

Once the paper dries, the children have been using the paper for painting, drawing, printing, and more.

Making paper - somewhat sloppy, super simple, superbly fun! It is early childhood play at its very best.

I will be doing this with preschoolers for many years to come.