Bill Nye the Science Guy Paper Recycling Factory toy review

If you're like most people I know, you are thinking about shopping for gifts at this time of the year. If you're anything like me, you want to know what a product is really like before you buy it - especially when you are buying gifts for kids.

So, this article is our family's way of sharing what we have learned about this product with your family before you purchase it. Bill Nye the Science Guy Paper Recycling Factory is rated for ages 8+. We used it with ages 4 through 15, with adult supervision.

We originally studied making paper in 2007, when I was writing Vacation Education EPCOT. This kit provides the materials for basically the same project that is outlined in the book.

Opening this package up is easy. Everything is plastic.

One important note: In order to do this activity, the paper to be recycled must be soaked at least two hours prior to using, so you need to be prepared for this to not be an open and play kind of gift.

TIP: The way we handled this was to tear up the paper and put it in water shortly before meal time. (This part is not very messy) Put the project away, eat, clean up, and then bring the project back out. Once the pulp is made, the rest can be done in one sitting.

The instructions provided with the kit were not as easy to follow as I would have liked (and I was the one reading them). Plan to be patient with them, and yourself in figuring it all out.

The product does do what it says it will!

We used about two full sheets of paper for our original trial of this product, and that made two of the shapes (three options come with the kit).

Cranking the blender is very cool. It's easy to turn - my four year old did this part pretty much all by himself.

It took him about 20 minutes to turn the paper into pulp, so your kids might prefer to take turns.

Instruction #6 says to fill the tray to the "full line" with water - but we could not find a "full line" - we instead filled it enough to cover the frame, and this worked out fine.

We made two shapes, and each one requires two of the "cleaning cloths". The kit comes with three of these. We used a dryer sheet as an extra - this worked well and made our paper fragrant.

You do need to wait 24 hours for the paper to dry before using it.

Lastly, this could be a messy project - plan plenty of time for cleaning up afterward.

We were overall very happy with this product. We learned about environmental science - did you know that one ton of recycled paper can save 17 trees? We didn't until we used the Bill Nye the Science Guy Paper Recycling Factory.