science experiment

Create stunning coffee filter sunflowers in two different ways. An easy to do, all-ages craft and science project.

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Although it is early November in Alberta, this coffee filter sunflower craft shows that we are not done with color! The fall season in our area of the world is filled with bright, flamboyant hues. But it goes by quickly, and we often get early snows we are not quite ready for.

Aside from being colorful, this craft is easy for little learners to do. And toddlers can join in too!

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Supplies To Collect

As with many of my craft ideas, the supplies for this project are easy to find. Gather together the following:

coffee filters
non-permanent felt pens in yellow, red, orange, and brown
orange craft foam
yellow, red, and orange fade-resistant cardstock or construction paper
water spray bottle
12-inch x 12-inch white or complementary hued cardstock
glue stick
plastic tub

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Creating The Coffee Filter Sunflower Craft

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Invite little learners to color coffee filters with non-permanent felt pens. If interested, they can color more than one.

Afterward, each child can take a turn spraying their works of art with a few squirts of water. Placing the designs in a plastic tub helps contain the liquid. Everyone will love this color blending phase!

Let the moistened coffee filter canvases dry on a flat surface.

Tip: Children enjoy the squirting phase so much that they are tempted to blast all the color out of their masterpieces. That’s why encouraging your little charges to decorate at least two coffee filters works well. Then they could wet one design with about five squirts of water, and save it to craft a sunflower with. And they could squirt the rest of their designs with as much liquid as they like.

Cut large circles from the orange foam. Ask little learners to use a glue stick or white glue to adhere a circle to the middle of one of their artsy coffee filters.

Next, have everyone glue a stem and two leaves precut from construction paper to a 12-inch x 12-inch piece of cardstock. Children can choose one color or a variety of colors for these sunflower parts. The printable below may be a helpful template.

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Sunflower Pattern DownloadDownload

This printable is for individual or one classroom use only.

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To finish the project off, have them glue on the sunflower head.

This coffee filter sunflower craft looks stunning displayed.

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Bright sunflower art with felt pens and coffee filters.

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Felt pen-decorated coffee filter sunflowers that are easy to make.

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Variation Of This Coffee Filter Sunflower Craft

Steps to creating a sunflower with a scrunched tissue center.

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Instead of a foam center, have children glue brown tissue squares to a large sunflower middle cut from similar colored construction paper. They can scrunch the squares, dip them into white glue, and stick them to the circle. When dry, the crafts can be completed as above.

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More Sunflower Activities:

Activities With Sunflowers

Corn Syrup Paint Sunflowers

Sunflower Seed Sensory Bins

Butterfly Sunflower Paper Craft

[Read more…]

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This felt marker chromatography experiment uses supplies from the kitchen, has quick results, and can be tailored to a variety of topics. Creativity and center play are easily incorporated. And the experiment is super family-friendly.

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Basic Felt Marker Chromatography Experiment

See what colors felt pens are really made up of with this felt pen chromatography experiment.

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The simplest version of this experiment is to draw three filled-in circles with nonpermanent felt pens near the bottom of a section of paper towel.

Add a thin layer of water with 2.5 ml salt stirred into a measuring cup or jar. Place the towel with the colored side down into the container. The water level should sit just below the felt pen colors.

Simply watch what happens!

After the color movement stops, remove the paper towel from the container and let it dry flat. Discuss the color changes/new color results.

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Felt Marker Chromatography Experiment Scary House

Scary house imaginative play with a felt pen experiment chromatogram.

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Although I am not into scary things and don’t do much frightening stuff with my preschool students, this version of the experiment produces a house that bats and spiders might like to inhabit. And here’s where the creative element kicks into high gear.

Draw the outline of a house on a paper towel section with a black nonpermanent felt marker. Trim the edges with scissors. Then add a thin line of black to the bottom of the house with the marker. Pour a little water with a bit of salt added into an ice cream pail. Position the paper towel so it reaches the bottom of the pail but does not slide in. Watch the immediate results. Then check back periodically to note more color changes.

This easy-to-do felt pen chromatography experiment has stunning results.

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When the colors have finished spreading, take the paper towel out of the pail, and dry it flat.

The color on my paper towel chromatogram stopped just short of the top of the house. I decided to wet the top a bit so the color filled in completely. That made the design ready to be a placemat for pumpkins, bats, and spiders.

Try this easy-to-do felt pen chromatography "scary house" experiment. It has possibilities for art and imaginaive play.

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Two Different Marker Chromatography Experiment

Try this easy felt pen chromatography experiment using a permanent and nonpermanent felt pen.

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Using both permanent and nonpermanent black felt markers produces nice results too. For this second version, draw the house on the paper towel with a black permanent marker. Then fill in the thin line of color at the bottom with a nonpermanent felt one. Finish the experiment with the same process as above.

As with the first project, the resulting colors did not spread to the very top of the paper towel house. So I wet the top of this chromatogram too. The color record looks like a house on fire to me, so adding people, pets, firefighters, and orange, black, and clear gems creates another imaginative play invitation.

Sensory and imaginative play with a felt pen experiment chromatogram.

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Firefighter diorama created with a felt pen experiment chromatogram.

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Interpreting The Felt Marker Chromatography Experiment

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines chromatography as “a process in which a chemical mixture carried by a liquid or gas is separated into components as a result of differential distribution of the solutes as they flow around or over a stationary liquid or solid phase.”

Although each felt marker appears to be just one color, the hues are actually made up of different chemicals called pigments. As saltwater seeps up stationary paper towels, the pigments move up with it. New colors appear because some pigments travel faster than others, and certain colors are less soluble and/or adhere to the paper towel more.

Each color-infused paper towel is called a chromatogram, a graphic record of the separation of colors into different pigments by chromatography.

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