Fun Kids Craft
Coffee Filter Butterflies
Using just coffee filters, marker pens and by dripping on water, you can get this tie-dyed effect. Then fold each filter up into little butterfly wings and secure them together with a pipe cleaner.
Quick, easy and beautiful coffee filter butterflies! A great spring butterfly craft to enjoy with the kids.
Summary
Time: 20 minutes
Age: Little kids to Tweens
Difficulty: Intermediate
You will need:
- Coffee filter papers – you need 4 circles for each butterfly
- Washable felt pens
- Pipe cleaners
- Pipette/spray bottle/large paintbrush
- Water
Step 1: Decorate the circles
You need four coffee filter circles for your butterfly.
Split your circles into two pairs of two coffee filters.
Pop each circle neatly one on top of the other so that you have two piles of two.
Decorate the top coffee filter with washable felt pens. Use nice bright colours and have fun making any patterns you like.
Don’t worry if the designs look rough or messy at this stage. They will soon be transformed completely.
Step 2: Drip water all over them!
Now for the really magical bit.
Place the coffee filter circles on a baking tray. Take care not to move the undecorated bottom layers. And drop water all over the surface.
We used a little water bottle pipette but you could use a spray bottle or even a fat paintbrush dipped in water.
Cover the entire circle with water drops.
Then watch the colours start to blend into each other. Once the whole circle is wet, the blank coffee filter underneath will soak up the colours.
You should get two matching pairs of coffee filters.
Step 3: Let them dry
Separate the top and bottom layers of each pair.
Pop the 4 coffee filters onto a piece of kitchen roll to dry.
Step 4: fold each circle
When they are completely dry, concertina each circle.
Fold it one-way and then another into thin folds as shown.
Step 5: Bring the filters together
Now you have four folded ‘wings’.
Bring the top two wings together by overlapping the folds slightly.
Do the same for the bottom pair of wings.
Step 6: Tie the wings together
Fold a pipe cleaner in half.
Wrap it around the centre of the two sets of coffee filters.
Then twist the pipe cleaner so all that all four pieces are held securely in place.
Step 7: Fan out its wings
To finish, fan out the four wing parts.
Curl the ends of the pipe cleaner around to make the butterfly’s ‘antennae’.
Tip for doing this craft with toddlers:
Tying the coffee filters together can be bit too fiddly for young children.
We have some tips for adjusting the above craft so that toddlers can enjoy it too:
- Use two coffee filters instead of four smaller ones.
- Pop the 2 circles together and decorate the top coffee filter, as above. Soak with water, separate and leave your 2 circles to dry.
- Then concertina them and twist a pipe cleaner round the middle.
You will end up with a 2 butterfly wings instead of 4 and it’s a much less fiddly way to join them together.
