DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Make your own Parchment

(for notes or maps)

Materials:

• cold coffee or tea (about 1/2 cup),
• piece of white paper,
• string or ribbon,
• a blow dryer, and
• markers, paints or pens.

Instructions:

• Take a piece of nice white paper and rip off all the edges (don't cut them with scissors, rip them!)  If you rip the paper a bit more than you meant to, it's not the end of the world...  It just makes the parchment look older.
• Crumple the paper up as tightly as you can into a ball.
• Flatten the paper out again and put onto a plate or cookie sheet.  (if you haven't told the kids what you're doing, they'll start thinking you're really weird right about now).
• Pour coffee or tea over the paper.  Swoosh around with your hands to make sure it covers everything.
• If you're doing this with a large group of smaller kids, you may want to get it to this point and set them aside for a couple minutes (get the children arranged at the table for drawing their maps).  Then pull out some finished, dried sheets that you premade.  It keeps the kids from having to sit through the "waiting" parts of the project.
• Let it sit for about 5 minutes (if you're doing it with a group of impatient crafters, you don't have to let it sit so long... 2 minutes is enough to give it some colour).
• Pour the coffee off into the sink.
• Blowdry with a hand held blowdryer on high for about 5 minutes (leave it sitting on the plate while blowdrying or it will tear to pieces).  When it's pretty dry (and starts to lift a bit) switch the blowdrier to low to finish off (about another 2 minutes).
• Write a note or draw a map.  This makes a terrific birthday invitation for a fantasy themed party.
• To finish off your letter or map, roll it up and tie with a piece of wool or ribbon