Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Tie Dye Coffee Filter Snowflakes

I’m Melissa and I blog over at The Chocolate Muffin Tree  and I’m excited to be part of this collaboration at PreK and K Sharing.  I am a former Elementary Art teacher who loves creating Art with my 5 year old daughter and sharing it with the world.  I’m excited to inspire more and hope you check out my blog for a ton of Artsy ideas for kids! 

I’m sharing a project that my daughter I did recently to get us in the mood for the winter season: Tie Dye Coffee Filter Snowflakes!  Here is the finished product.



For this project you’ll need:

Coffee Filters
scissors
Water based markers in cool colors (blues. greens, violets)
newspaper
spray bottle with water


To create the snowflake first fold the coffee filter in half.



Then in half again.




If you want (and you think your children can cut through more layers) fold again.




Then cut on all the sides while the coffee filter is folded. We mostly did triangles which are the easiest shape to cut.


Then open up the coffee filter and it should look like a snowflake. Now you are ready to add some color.  Leave white showing and mostly outline the cut holes and go over the folded lines like this.

Lay the decorated snowflake on some newspaper (because the color will go through) and spritz with water from a spray bottle.  Do not over water or the color will completely run out.


After you have sprayed the snowflake,  let it dry for a couple hours.   You can display them on a window with tape or however you would like.


I LOVE this project because it is SUPER EASY and had beautiful results!  If you like this  
idea be sure to check out these:

Click here for Tie Dye Coffee Filter Snowflakes with Heart Shapes
Click here for Tie Dye Coffee Filter Easter Eggs
Click here for Tie Dye Coffee Filter Fall Leaves

Once you start thinking about all of the possibilities for snowflake fun and exploration the opportunities are endless. Here's a whole different concept, which combines simple materials and fine-motor work. The potential is endless: pattern or random it's fun in the making!!


Click here to see the process, more examples and close ups!!
Editor's note: Scott recently addressed coffee filters as snowflakes, but had his unique twist from the point of creative freedom -- the tug between what we as educators have on our agenda + the spirit of the children's vision. He also addressed the 'responsibility' in the clean up process. If by chance you missed his spin, just click back right here. I'm fascinated to see how these two professionals have approached a similar idea and have put their own stamp on the process and outcome. -- Debbie

While I've got my editor's hat on, I added this post to a linky for Thrifty Thursday and TGIF.

6 comments:

  1. These snowflakes turned out GREAT! We also use the coffee filter with kids to talk about how sometimes we have to filter to keep the bad stuff (grounds) out of the good stuff (freshly-brewed java!). It's a powerful metaphor.

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  2. I've tie died coffee filters before, but never as snowflakes. Great idea!!

    Barbara
    Grade ONEderful

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  3. Wonderful snowflakes, Melissa!
    Is the picture of you and C, current, ie. no snow?
    Brenda

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  4. Pinned these! Love them...my daughter will especially love the spray bottle part!! Thanks for linking at Thrifty Thursday!

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  5. Super cute!! We have extra coffee filters around here somewhere.... I think I will use them instead of "waste" paper =-) Thanks for the ideas. Thanks for linking up to TGIF. Happy New Year,
    Beth =-)

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  6. I'm so excited that you're part of PreK + K Sharing, Melissa! I've always enjoyed your posts and creativity at The Chocolate Muffin Tree! The coffee filter and pipe cleaner/bead snowflakes are wonderful. I pinned your post to my Kids' Winter Activities Pinterest board at http://pinterest.com/debchitwood/kids-winter-activities/

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