Enhancing your child’s creativity – making a dolls house & recycled paper

Anyone who has a child between the ages of two and ten years old will agree that these children have so much creativity in them. It’s the simple things which can give them the most joy, and things we may have enjoyed making ourselves as children – do you remember making a pasta necklace, a shaker from yogurt pots or a crayon mural painting on the wall? I certainly do.

One of the reasons I first set up this blog was to record all of these special moments, to share the crafts the kids make and the mess which goes with it, a way to show them when they are older and to look back on their childhood and to show them how creative they were when they were little.

One new project on our to do list is to make a simple house for dolls and to decorate making our own recycled paper.

What we need:

• Wall Paper scraps (or even samples)
• Scissors (if you have a shredding machine, this is better)
• Water
• Bucket
• Blender
• Wire Mesh
• Sponge
• Plant Seeds (optional)
• Glitters (optional)
• Large Box
• Glue

How to make:

Collect all the papers you no longer use, paper, newspapers, envelopes etc.

With a pair of scissors or by hand, tear these used papers into strips. The smaller the cut, the better.

In a bucket half-filled with water, put the shredded papers – adding a little by little. Add extra water, as necessary.

Stir until the consistency of the paper is similar to a smooth pulp. If this is not achieved, put the shredded paper mixture in a blender (make sure you are present when they do this). Do this until all shredded paper mixture become a smooth pulp paste.

Using a wire mesh screen, place the paper paste on the wire mesh, distribute the paste as evenly as possible.

Now, decorate the paper pulp with glitters and design the paper pulp as desired. You can also incorporate the plant seeds with the paper pulp, so you can, later on, have a plantable paper. Planting papers could be another bonding moment later on.

If you are inserting seeds, make sure that you cover them with another layer of paper pulp.

Using a sponge, draw out excess water from the paper pulp and leave to dry.

Depending on the weather, outdoor temperature, and thickness of your paper pulp, the drying time could range from one day to 2 days.

Viola! You have created a recycled paper for the wall paper.

Get the large box and cut one edge and lay it flat on the floor. Cut the flaps.

Using glue, paste the recycled wall paper to the flattened box. Decorate using water colours or crayons; you can add ribbons and other decorations as well.

Draw the windows and section the box into rooms.

Make the large box stand by setting it in a U-shaped like formation.

Put in your dolls and play.

You can change the recycled wall paper as desired and all used papers can either be (1) recycled back into a new paper or (2) planted outside in the garden.

This simple activity can help your child express their creativity. Aside from enhancing creativity, this is also a great bonding activity for both of you. If you have 2 or more kids, this can be a group project, and each can create their own individual designs.

“This is a collaborative post”

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