DLTK's Crafts for Kids
Inuit Coffee Filter Paper Craft

Contributed by Leanne Guenther

This is a simple cut and paste paper craft that can be done "just for fun" or for an Inuit, winter or arctic theme. The coffee filter is decorated with marker and water to create the fur on the hood.

Materials:

• scissors,
• glue,
• construction paper,
• markers (simple children's markers that are washable),
• water and paintbrush or a spritz bottle

Instructions:

• Draw some "fur colors" on your coffee filter with washable markers. It doesn't have to be entirely colored in, I like just adding stripes or spots.
• Put your filter on something waterproof -- I just use a dinner plate.
• Take a paintbrush and dip it in water. "Paint" some of your lines and spots with the water. You don't have to soak the filter -- the water will spread on its own. Alternatively, you could use a spritz bottle and spritz a bit of water onto your filter.
• Set aside to dry. You can use a blow dryer to speed the process up a bit if you like (we didn't bother).
• Cut a square and two rectangles from a piece of construction paper (one whole piece of paper can be used for these three pieces which are going to be the jacket.
  
  You can just cut these out freehand, or you can draw a couple of rough lines on for the children to follow when they cut.
• Cut a rectangle from another color of construction paper to be the pants (they should be a little narrower than the square you cut, but about the same height). We used blue
• Cut two half circles from this same color to be the mittens -- again, you can roughly draw the shapes out before cutting.
• Cut two oval shapes (or boot shapes) to be the boots.
• Trace a round cup onto a piece of white construction paper (or plain white paper). The cup should be about half the size of your coffee filter.
• Cut out this circle.
• Draw a face onto the circle.
• Assemble your boy (or girl):
  • Glue the thin rectangles to the square (the first pieces you cut) to make a jacket. You can add some buttons with marker, if you like
  • Glue the half circles to the end of each sleeve as mittens.
  • Glue the large rectangle under the jacket (these are the pants). You can draw a line in the center to make two legs.
  • Glue the ovals to the bottom of the pants as boots.
  • Glue the coffee filter to the top of the jacket (the fur edging of the hood).
  • Glue the face into the center of the coffee filter.

A note on fur: I know that some people feel that killing animals for their furs is cruel -- you can easily present this as "fake fur".

Whatever your beliefs, this can be a good opportunity to discuss waste -- in my opinion, there's a difference between aboriginal people's use of a whole animal for survival and people who misuse nature's resources -- wasting much of what they consume. This goes for animal use, land use, water use, etc. Historically, Inuit people used the entirety of any animal they killed -- the bones, the fat, the furs, the meat... no part was wasted.

Rather than talking about what other people should or shouldn't do... discuss with your child what THEY can do to prevent waste. Things like turning off your lights when you aren't using them or not letting the water run when you're brushing your teeth really do make a difference!