Earlier this year, we made coffee filter hearts and coffee filter eggs. They each only took a few minutes to make, the technique was a lot of fun, and they looked great in our window!
For Independence Day {the last one we’ll be spending in the US}, we decided to make some Red, White, and Blue Coffee Filter Stars. We used a different technique than with the eggs and hearts, but the stars were still done within minutes, and we loved how vibrant the colors turned out!
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(E was 4 years and 7 months old.)
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Materials for Red, White, and Blue Coffee Filter Stars
- White coffee filters. {Paper towels are an alternative if you don’t have white coffee filters.}
- Red and blue liquid watercolors.
- Paintbrush. {You could use an eye dropper instead.}
- Bowls or cups for the watercolors.
- Cookie sheet or tray to work on.
- Scissors.
- Star template (optional).
I used the star template I linked above to cut out several coffee filter stars at once. The template fit my white circular coffee filters, but you could definitely just freehand your stars.
E poured red and blue liquid watercolors into applesauce cups, placed the white stars on a cookie sheet, and started painting with her paintbrush.
She wasn’t too much into the idea of leaving some areas white – here she was pointing out that she DID leave some white 🙂
The coffee filters absorb the colors and make them spread, but interestingly, there was pretty much no mixing of the blue and red. I had wondered if everything was going to turn purple before E started painting and was surprised that the color scheme worked out so well without taking any extra precautions.
When we’d made coffee filter decorations before, we had let them dry on paper towels. However, I’ve recently read in this leaf suncatcher post from Fun at Home with Kids that the colors are more vibrant if you let your coffee filters dry on a non-absorbing surface. So this time, we just let them dry right on the cookie sheet.
They didn’t take long to dry at all, and we were able to hang them in our window with sticky tape within about 20 minutes.
No doubt – the colors were very vibrant! {This may also have to do with using liquid watercolors rather than markers, of course.}
Have you made decorations for the 4th of July? What’s your favorite coffee filter craft? Leave a comment below!
Here are some more activities for the 4th of July (or other patriotic holidays):
Red, White, and Blue Water Sensory Bin
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