Filter Flowers

I have recently become addicted to my new french press (and am still in love with my espresso machine), which leaves me with an abundance of unused coffee filters taking up space in my kitchen cabinet. So I have been thinking of more fun ways to use them up. I used the same idea from my coffee filter butterflies, but this time I made flowers instead. Zel only recently started using markers so they are very exciting for him. We colored the coffee filters but there was no need to cut them for this project. Zel has been talking a lot about colors lately so I used this activity as an opportunity to expand upon his interest in colors. On each coffee filter I drew shapes of the same color and tried to have him point out the ones he knew. He also liked talking about the colors of the marker caps. We then sprayed them all with water and hung them to dry. Once dry, I bunched three together and wrapped a green pipe cleaner around them and left some length at the end for the stem. I tried to put all six with one pipe cleaner but three seemed to be the most it would hold without filters falling our or having to use glue or staples or something else. Now we have lovely flowers in a vase and I don't have to worry about the cat trying to eat them!

Coffee Filter Butterflies

Butterflies are a beautiful part of Spring. I mean, who doesn't love butterflies? My son calls them bees, but pretty much all bugs are bees to him. Butterflies and these rainy, spring days reminded me of this fun art project I used to do with the children at the preschool that I worked at. Our class was called the "Butterflies."

All you need for this project are:

• Coffee filters
• Markers
• Pipe cleaners
• Spray Bottle with Water
• Clothespins
• Scissors (depending on the type of filters you have)

It is pretty simple. Let your child color all over the coffee filter with markers. The more color, the better.

  
If you have the chlorine free type of filter (like me) you should cut it on the diagonal edges so that it opens up and looks like two butterfly wings. If you have a regular coffee filter, then you don't have to cut anything!






Spray the coffee filter all over with water. Use clothespins to hang your filter somewhere that it can dry. After it has dried, choose a pipe cleaner. Fold it in half around the middle of the coffee filter. Then twist it at the top so that it stays on the filter but leave some length on the end for the antennae.

We hung our butterflies on the wall above Zel's play kitchen, but another great way to display them is to hang them from string in the window.