Making a paper mache bowl for Teacher's Day

Ayden’s had many opportunities of activities at home. I like to enrich him (and eventually the twins) with non-academic activities such as arts and crafts, baking, gardening and simple chores.

So here’s a fun activity that we did quite some months back for Teacher’s Day. Instead of buying gifts we made a paper mache bowl for his teachers.

So its just a standard issue paper mache bowl.

Step 1

Get a plastic bowl, that is not too big or too small.

Step 2

Make paper mache glue. One cup of floor with 2 or 3 cups of water. Stir over a hot stove until you get a gluey consistency. If it is too thick, add more water. I personally like it quite runny so it is easier to soak the newspaper bits in it. Add a little bit of salt (one teaspoon) so the floor mix does not go bad too quickly.

Step 3

Cut strips of newspaper.

Step 4

Ok we are ready to start working on the bowl. For the first layer, soak the newspaper strips with water and lay one or two layers on an upside down bowl. Subsequent layers should be soaked in the glue mix that we made earlier. Ideally you should do two layers and then let it dry before working on the next layer. We usually do the next layer the next day. Yes it is a week long project. Keep going with a few layers until you reach the thickness that you like. You might want a very thin bowl or a very thick bowl. On the last layer, use a brush and spread a thin layer of glue and dry it in the sun.

Step 5

When the bowl is dry, gently remove the newspaper layers from the plastic bowl. Then work on a few layers with glue on the inside of the bowl and let it dry.

Step 6

Trim the edges of the bowl and tidy up the edges with one or two layers of newspaper strips with glue. You’re almost done!

Step 7

Dry the bowl completely before painting!

Hope you enjoy this project as much as we did. Ayden’s teachers certainly liked the present.