Activities+to+help!

From __Eco-Detective - Adventures in Science__ || Paper that has been used and treated for use again is __recycled paper__. Paper from homes, offices, and schools can be collected, sent to special recycling centers, and remade into usable paper. This process can take place over and over. Every year we cut down more trees to meet the world's demand for paper. Recycling will help save trees from being cut down. ** Activity: ** Make your own paper from old newspaper. ** You will need: ** a blender a whole section of newspaper 2 and a 1/2 single newspaper pages 5 cups (1.2 liters) of water a pan 3 inches (7.6cm) deep a piece of screen to fit inside the pan a measuring cup a flat piece of wood the size of a newspaper's front page waxed paper **Follow These Steps:** 1. Tear the two-and-a-half pages of newspaper into tiny strips. 2. Place the strips in a blender with 5 cups of water. ASK PERMISSION TO USE THE BLENDER. HAVE AN ADULT SUPERVISE THIS STEP. Cover the blender and blend the newspaper and water. 3. Pour about 1 inch (2.5cm) of water into the pan. Pour the blended paper pulp into the measuring cup. 4. Put the screen into the pan. Pour one cup (240 ml) of pulp over the screen. 5. Spread the pulp evenly in the water with your fingers. 6. Lift the screen and let the water drain off. 7. Open the newspaper section to the middle. Put the newspaper on a waterproof surface. Place waxed paper in the center of the newspaper. Place the screen with the pulp on the waxed paper. Close the newspaper. 8. Carefully flip over the newspaper section so the screen is on top of the pulp. THIS STEP IS VERY IMPORTANT. 9. Place the board on top of the newspaper and press out extra water. Open the newspaper and take out the screen. Leave the newspaper open and let the pulp dry for at least 24 hours. When your paper pulp is dry, peel it off the waxed paper and write on it ! ** Eco-Facts ** Now you know how to make recycled paper. Wood pulp, the raw material used in most paper production, comes from trees. More than 1 billion trees are cut down each year to make disposable diapers! Recycling efforts are increasing worldwide because of our concern over the deforestation of the earth. Discarded items, such as computer paper, grocery bags, milk cartons, boxes, and newspapers, are now collected, cleaned and recycled. **Explore Some More** Try to buy only recycled paper products. Find a recycling center in the business pages of the phone book. Recycle newspapers, magazines, or other paper products. Write to your governor and ask that state offices and businesses use only recycled paper. FIND YOUR AGE by Joseph Cornell Recommended Time and Environment: Day/forest Number of Players: 1 or more people Best Age Range: 5 years and up Materials Needed: Paper and pencil In this activity each person tries to find a tree his/her own age. It's easy to estimate how many years a young pine spruce, larch or fir tree has, by counting its whorls or branches. In these trees you can see where one year's growth of branches all radiate out from the same band. Simply count the sets of branches and you'll have the approximate age of the tree. Be sure to add extra years for the branch whorls the tree has probably lost at its base. If you look closely you may be able to see scars where the old branches have broken off. You'll find the best shaped young trees growing in open clearings, well away from the larger, more dominant trees. (This activity only works with trees up to about 25 years old, because as they grow older, it's difficult to estimate their age.) Tell the players how a conifer tree grows - from the tip upwards. Each year's new growth grows beyond last year's new growth which stays at the same height. The youngest part of the tree is at the very top, while the oldest is at the bottom. The tree also grows from the tips of its branches and roots, as well as a little in diameter at the trunk each year. The trunk doesn't grow any higher, but stays at the same height. To see if the players understand this, you can ask the following question: "If I nailed a board five feet high on a tree, how much higher would it be after 30 years?" If they think the board will be higher ask them if they've ever seen a barbwire fence nailed to a tree - hanging twenty-feet form the ground! Study the tree to see if you can tell anything about its growth and life. For example, I was studying a twenty-year old ponderosa pine, when I discovered I could see the history of northern California's rainfall reflected in its growth. Counting back in years from the top of the tree, I could see energetic growth between the branch whorls during rainy years, and little growth during the drought of the 80's. Other things you can look for are fire scars; places where animals have used the tree, like deer rubbing their antlers, or bird nests; where another branch has taken over for a tip that was damaged (look for a bend in the trunk); and how its surroundings may have affected the tree. Modified from Sharing Nature With Children by Joseph Cornell. Used with permission of the author.
 * **Make Recycled Paper**