Currently I'm enjoying a long weekend home with the kids and I wanted to do something... without buying anything new or feeling guilty about using up our stash. Then it hit me... COFFEE FILTER BUTTERFLIES!
Here's what you need:
- coffee filters that can lay flat
- ice cube tray or small bowls
- water
- food coloring
- paint brush (optional)
- drying rack (optional)
- chenille stems/ pipe cleaners
- OPTIONAL tray to contain the watery mess
- OPTIONAL drying rack (I used baking cooling racks)
- OPTIONAL: thread & tape for hanging
- VARIATION: make the bodies with clothespins, color the body with markers, add googly eyes, then clip the chenille stem into the top for antennas
I set the stage by giving each girl a tray (to contain the mess since food coloring stains), an ice cube tray containing a few primary colors (I chose yellow, blue & red), a paint brush, and a few separated coffee filters (they stick together and it's frustrating for wee-ones to separate them). Let them color the filters however they choose (see below) and then once the filters dry, just scrunch the middle, wrap a piper cleaner around it and twirl the ends for antennas. Then I hung them along our windows with white thread and scotch tape.
generous and awesome while toddlers get to create, learn & use up materials
to their hearts' content!