Miss Jennie and I really wanted to incorporate both of our areas

of expertise in making paper. Art and science are inevitably intertwined
as the materials an
artist uses come from the natural world. This project incorporated

the idea of recycling( we had saved paper scraps all year) and

the artists learning that most paper comes from trees.

We asked them"Does the paper just grow on the tree?" "No!" They

were told about chopping down trees and a bit about the manufacturing

aspect of papermaking.We had a bin full of soggy

 paper that was placed in the blender and

swirled into a "paper smoothy". We then dumped the pulp into a

bin of water that the children could see through the bottom of. We showed them 

screen on a frame that had been made especially for this project. They each got

to "dive" their screen into the pulp-filled water and scoop up pulp to make

a piece of paper. They walked it to our drying area where they could add bits

of flowers or colored tissie paper to it. The weather was bitter for an Atlanta spring.

Monday and Tuesday were very cold , but by Thursday we had de-thawed and were

happy to be working outside with water.

I have found that children love a process. Making paper, printmaking, working

with clay, building with wood. It gives them confindence and creativity all in one.

We even had our youngest artists who have just turned two make paper.