Coffee Filter Art

 

When we first moved to the US, there were a few things that I was particularly excited to have easy access to, and that I’ll seriously need to stock up on before we go back.

Among those things are white coffee filters! Seems simple but in Germany, coffee filters are brown and folded up. You can still do fun things with them but white coffee filters are definitely way more fun.

To try them out, I set E up with some liquid watercolors, an eye dropper, paintbrush and some sheets of newspaper to protect the table from the paint, and let her do some very simple coffee filter art!

 

(E was 2 years and 9 months old.)

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Materials for Coffee Filter Art:

• Coffee filters.
• Liquid watercolors.
• Eye dropper.
• Paintbrush(es).
• Container for the watercolors.
• Newspaper or tray to catch the overflow of paint.

 

 

 

E started out just dropping blue and purple watercolors on top of her first coffee filter.

 

 

For the second one, she alternated painting with a paintbrush

 

 

and using the eye dropper, turning the coffee filter over several times in between.

 

 

She was very particular about where each brushstroke and each drop of watercolors went!

The watercolors didn’t mix and looked really pretty and intense on the backdrop of the white coffee filters.

 

 

And then, before I knew it, E grabbed the first coffee filter and crumpled it in her hands – I guess it was all process art to her 😉

 

 

A week later, E asked to do coffee filter art again, and this time, she used red, yellow and gold watercolors. She placed a greater focus on painting than dropping this time.

 

 

In this activity, the gold watercolors really had a chance to shine {no pun intended 😉 }. I’m always trying to find a good use for the gold and silver watercolors because they are so pretty in theory {and in the bottle} but can be quite underwhelming in practice when they’re mixed with other substances, like in this Quick Bath Paint. Turns out using it plain for actual painting on a white background works very well! I guess sometimes, thinking INSIDE the box has its advantages 😉

 

 

 

 

Have you tried coffee filter art? Tell me all about it in the comments below!

 

 

 

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