I guess it depends upon the kids.
Lots of kids love to get their hands into gloppy messy stuff. Any chance to giggle, gasp, "eeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwww groooossssssss", and any number of other expressions. They will say it's "Yuck", but you will have trouble getting their hands out of it.
They key is to ONLY have their hands in WET PAPER. Once an active ingredient, like cement, lime, or flyash is added. No more skin contact allowed.
I might suggest the following approach with kids.
1. Warn parents ahead of time that their kids might get messy. Advise them to dress their kids in gardening or other work clothes.
2. Give each kid a newspaper. Have them tear it up in to strips, and then tear those up in to small pieces.
3. Give each kid a bucket. The bucket might be an ice cream bucket or a cutoff milk jug.
4. Add the shredded paper and water ONLY.
5. Have them mush mix tear and generally smush the paper around with their hands. This will be the entertaining part. The comments will be priceless. Make sure to have the video camera ready. Have them keep working the stuff into a nice mush. DON'T EXPECT A PERFECT PULP SLURRY. No need for perfection.
6. Have each kid dump their gloppy mess into a common bucket or barrel.
7. Make the kids stand UPWIND.
8. Set a good example and make sure you are wearing goggles and gloves.
9. Add your cement, lime, clay, borax, or whatever you will be using for this mix. (since the kids are standing up wind, none of the dust should blow in their direction.)
10. You mix it all together with a drill and mortar mixer or maybe just stir it up really well with a board or a shovel. Once the powders are wet, maybe each kid could get a turn stirring the big cauldron. ONLY IF THEY ARE SUPERVISED. This isn't the time to get the stuff flying around and in everyone's hair and clothing. (There is always one that wants to. Yes... I WAS THAT KID IN MY DAY.)
11. Fill molds/forms.
12. Hose down the kids as needed to wash of gloppy bits of paper.
13. Let dry. (both the kids and the papercrete)
Anyway. That is one suggested method for kids for you to use, modify, or ignore as you deem appropriate.
HAVE FUN!!
--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, JUDITH WILLIAMS <williams_judith@...> wrote:
>
>
> I know I could go back through the archives (in fact I am doing that one at a time starting with the first post) but would appreciate if my memory could be refreshed on this subject. Are you pulping the paper with the power washer or mixing the entire batch of papercrete? I am now looking into the simplest way to make a stationary mixer, something I could use with kids to make papercrete for little projects. 5 gal bucket to 55 gal barrel quantities. Thought it would be fun for kids to make large lightweight building blocks to make forts with.
>
> Sincerely, Judith
>
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