DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Planet Earth Coffee Filter Craft

Contributed by Leanne Guenther

Coffee filter 'coloring' is something I really enjoy doing.  The kids always have to beat me off so they get a chance to color the filters too *blushes*.

This is one of those crafts that's really simple for little kids (toddlers and preschool) but remains fun as you get older.

Materials:

• coffee filter
• blue and green washable markers (we used crayola brand)
• squirt bottle or small glass of water
• black construction paper
• glue
• Optional:  white paint, old toothbrush and popsicle stick

Note:  You can complete this project using food colouring instead of washable markers.  However!  I find this option to be very messy so would not do it with young children (if they get food colouring on their clothing you won't be able to get it out).  I would only use this option with children over age 10 and even then would want a good amount of supervision and old clothes to be worn.

Instructions:

• Flatten out a coffee filter on a plate.
• Scribble the filter with blue and green washable markers.

• Use a squirt bottle to spray the coffee filter 2 or 3 times.
• I like to squirt right in the center of the filter and then sit and watch the water wick the colours over the filter (this takes 4 or 5 minutes).
• Young children will tend to over wet the filter...  The project still works, but it won't turn out quite as pretty (the colours tend to blend too much if you soak the filter)  To help prevent this, encourage them to squirt it just once in the middle and watch for a bit for so they can see the process unfold.  You can always add more water later if it doesn't get wet all the way to the edge after 5 minutes or so.
• Let dry (this takes about 1/2 an hour, but will take longer if the filter has been soaked by an over-zealous crafter!).
• We found ours turned out mostly green (I think our blue was a bit too light).  After it dried, we coloured some more dark blue in the center and squirted it once with water.
• Optional:  Splatter paint a piece of black construction paper: 
  • Cover your work area with newspaper
  • Dip a toothbrush into white paint and tap it off to get rid of the excess. 
  • Hold it over the black paper and lightly rub the edge of the popsicle stick against the toothbrush to splatter dots of white paint onto the paper.
  • Repeat until your black paper looks like a star filled universe.
  • Set aside to dry
• Glue your earth to a piece of black construction paper (or to a splatter painted piece of black construction paper.