More than 3000 years ago, people of the Egyptian civilisation created a paper, which is very different from the paper we use today. They used the reeds from the papyrus plant and a glue to create the paper. They created the glue by boiling bread crumbs in water. People over the years have bettered this invention to make the paper we use today! So, now we’ll go ahead create our own version of the papyrus paper, check out the inventor papyrus paper activity video below.
Parental Involvement: Low
Duration: 20 minutes*
*Drying time overnight
Skills Acquired: Play, Discovery, Exploration
Materials
- Parchment paper/butter paper
- Glue
- Water
- Plastic bag/sheet
- A pair of scissors
- Sketch pens
- Cotton
- Paint
- Aluminium foil
Instructions for The Inventor Papyrus Paper Activity
- Cut your parchment paper/butter paper into strips.
- Create a mixture of glue and water.
- Cut and stick a plastic bag on the table. (This is to save your table from the glue!)
- Dip your paper in strip in the glue mixture and lay flat on the paper.
- Once you have placed the strips of paper horizontally, place another layer of paper strips vertically.
- Place aluminium foil on the paper and roll to flatten out.
- Allow the paper to dry overnight.
- The next day pick up the paper and snip along the edges.
- Paint your paper brown with cotton. Leave it to dry.
- Get out your sketch pens and create some hieroglyphic text on your paper! Or, you can add whatever text you’d like.
Your papyrus paper is ready.
Paper sure has come a long way from its original form. Imagine if we still had to create paper this same way? We would definitely be using lesser paper. How about making this special paper and writing a letter to your friend?
Activity done by Vishwajeet