Colorful Coffee Filter Butterfly Craft
What do you think of when you think about butterflies? My guess is that you think of beautiful colorful wings! In this craft, your child will make a set of their own colorful butterfly wings to hang in a window or simply enjoy.
Little M. absolutely loves mixing water
and using her eye dropper and plastic syringe (I saved both of these
from her baby vitamins). Today, we broke out the coffee filters, and
made some butterflies with colored water. We also observed what
happens when you mix two primary colors. She was especially
delighted by the purple (her favorite color, hands down).
This activity gives children the
opportunity to practice their fine motor skills as well as learning
about the science of color. It is also a very calm soothing process
art activity that is nice for when everybody needs a few minutes of
quiet.
What You Will Need to Make This Butterfly Craft:
- a few coffee filters (at least three)
- paper plates, (We used 4, one for each color combination and one for the finished products to dry)
- paper towels
- small amounts of water in 2 bowls
- food coloring in red, blue, and yellow
- eye dropper and/or syringes
- pipe cleaners
Setting Up for the Butterfly Activity
You will need to lay out one of the
coffee filters on a paper plate (just to keep the water from going
everywhere once you begin the activity). Ask your child to choose
two primary colors. Put two or three drops of each color into the
bowls
Coloring the Coffee Filters
Let your child experiment with the
bowls of water. M. had just as much fun injecting the water into the
other bowl as she did pouring it onto the coffee filter! If the
coffee filter gets really saturated, simply pour the water back into
one of the bowls (or a third bowl set out for this purpose if you
really want to keep the colors distinct).
When your child is done, place the
finished coffee filter onto the other paper plate to dry. Place a
paper towel in between each coffee filter.
When the water runs out, or your child
is done with the colors they chose, ask them if they would like to
repeat the activity with other colors. We did this three times in a
row: blue and red, yellow and red, and finally yellow and blue. She
really enjoyed seeing the colors transform into something new!
Finishing the Butterfly Project
To finish the butterflies, simply
scrunch the coffee filter in the middle (kind of like an accordion),
and wrap a pipe cleaner around with the ends on top. Twist the top
of the pipe cleaner to secure it in place. The ends are now the
butterfly's antennae. Position them in a way that you like. Fan out
the sides of the coffee filter, these are now your wings. Viola!
Looking for More Butterfly Themed Activities?
Check out the Butterfly Letter
Craft and the DIY Butterfly Dress Up Wings that I posed
earlier this week.
Make The Project Yours
This project is fairly adaptable to
different children's needs. If the eyedropper or syringe prove to be
too challenging, you could offer your child a plastic spoon (a small
baby spoon or ice cream sample spoon would be excellent for this) to
pour the water onto the coffee filter. Alternately, you could
provide your child with markers, and let them color the coffee filter
and spray it with water!
If you enjoyed this activity, please
share or comment. I'd love to hear from you! If you are interested
in more crafts like this check out the Paper Plate Umbrella
Craft, Found Object Wind Chime, and the Seed
Collage. Thank you for taking the time to read this article!
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