All these years I’ve been trimming 8 1/2 x 11 paper down to a square, then folding it and rounding off the edges to make snowflakes.
For years I’ve been doing this!
And then the other day, Maia grabbed one of our coffee filters (left over from the coffee filter holiday garlands), folded it, and cut out a snowflake.
So quick. So easy. No extra cutting or folding to get it into the right shape because it’s already round. And easy to cut through the layers since it’s lightweight.
Coffee filters make the best snowflakes! Why didn’t I know that? It seems so obvious now. I’ve obviously missed a memo somewhere. So here’s how to make coffee filter snowflakes…
How to Make Coffee Filter Snowflakes
MATERIALS
- White coffee filters, basket style
- Scissors
- Watercolor paint (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Fold
Fold a coffee filter in half and then in half again, creasing the folded edges. You can fold another time or two, but for the little kids this is generally enough.
2. Cut shapes & lines
Use your scissors as you would with a regular paper snowflake and snip triangles, lines, and shapes along all of the edges of your folded coffee filter.
3. Unfold snowflake
Carefully unfold to reveal your coffee filter snowflake design!
4. Paint
If desired, paint with watercolor paint to add some color to your new snowflakes.
We’ve been cutting many, many snowflakes over the past two days.
And since coffee filters take watercolors so well, we’ve been painting some as well. This is as much fun (or more!) as cutting them.
A few dabs from the glue stick to hang our new painted coffee filter snowflakes in the window and we have a winter wonderland inside and out!
Fun times on a snow day!
How about you? Did you enjoy learning how to make coffee filter snowflakes? What are your favorite winter arts and crafts activities?
Pin It For Later
We get a little addicted to snowflake making too. Last year I bought the book, Snowflakes For All Seasons and now we make them all year long!
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=snowflakes+for+all+seasons&tag=googhydr-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=1155552821&ref=pd_sl_4awjuynki3_b
TOTALLY trying it with coffee filters now… THANK YOU!
What a good idea! I especially like how they look painted.
We were planning to decorate our mudroom for our advent activity today. It’s a little room of windows on the back corner of our house, right next to the side street, so pretty visible. I thought we’d do up the windows like a store window display. These will be perfect!
So funny — we did this a few days ago after you posted the garland and I meant to tell you that you inspired it! We only have about 5 in our windows though, must do more, they look beautiful. Also, a good book for inspiration (if you haven’t seen it already) is Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Mary Azarian. We just got it as a gift and it is beautiful as well as really interesting.
If you haven’t already, you must accompany this with a reading of Ezra Jack Keats’ The Snowy Day. When you see it, you’ll know why.
These are just beautiful! I’ve never thought to use coffee filters before. Thanks for the idea!
Very lovely. Looks like fun to make. We will have to try making some, as they will be as close as we will get to seeing snowflakes here in Florida. Thanks for sharing.
Colleen:)
Yes they do!!
Those look great!
Aren’t these beautiful! I love the watercolor versions, so gorgeous. What are you sticking them to your windows with?
Never mind! I should have read the post a bit more carefully, a plain old glue stick, eh? Will that easily dissolve with some windex?
I was just wondering about the glue stick too. Does that come off better than tape? We just installed brand new windows and I won’t be coaxed into using tape to hang our snowflakes up. Does the glue come off easily?
I had the very same aha moment a couple of years ago with the regular sized coffee filters and then last year we ordered some of the large and extra large filters from discount school supply and we really went crazy! Seriously, order some of those large sized ones and see how cool they look on your windows. Thanks for the reminder…I predict a snow flake making session will be in our near future.
Here’s the link for those larger sized filters aka Texas snowflakes :)
http://www.discountschoolsupply.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?product=23299&keyword=texas%20snowflakes&scategoryid=0
Thank goodness for your blog! Of course this is what I should be using!!! We have plans to make these next month. Now if I can only remember….
simply beautiful. i can see why this is such a hit. and how lovely that you don’t have to cut out circle after circle. btw, we froze a wreath last night and my daughter was over the moon excited to tell her dad about it when he got home from work.
Oh I love this! I think that this will go on our list of activities for this week.
Thanks SO much for sharing this! We have been making snowflakes starting from squares for years and haven’t thought of this before either! We even watercolored some filters a couple of weeks ago, so I just tested it out and it is easy for children to do. I’m going to share this tomorrow with my art classes. Thanks again!
The snowflakes look great! We’ll definitely be trying this. My girls are getting some liquid watercolors for Christmas. We’ve never tried them before but I’m inspired by all the cool things I’ve seen you do with them. I see lots of snowflakes going on our windows during Christmas break.
I love this idea! We switched over to brown coffee filters and now have a “ton” of white coffee filters! Thank you for sharing your awesome idea!!
great tip! another one that we’ve discovered…we cut over a shallow box or tub so all the scraps fall in there…it makes clean up a cinch:)
We just did the exact same thing as you, and I kept patting myself on the back for being so clever, haha! I could never keep up with cutting enough circles for my girls to make more snowflakes, and then they couldn’t cut through the paper themselves, so this was such an easy solution. Yours look gorgeous!
wow I finally made a guest appearance on your blog! Loved the snowflake making. Thanks sweetie
How funny! We made died snowflakes the day before you! I love checking out your site for ideas! Maybe it’s finally rubbing off onto me!
Girl, I could kiss you for this post. I was actually googling how to make one because I had no clue and once I did have a clue, they were terrible!! xoxoxoxo you are awesome and i will be on this tonight with the girls.
Thanks for the book recommendation! I’ll have to see if our library has that.
Oooh! I want to see pics!
We love that book! We don’t own it but have checked it out from the library a few times.
That’s one of our favorite books!
Yes, the glue comes off easily!
The glue comes off easily. And tape actually scrapes off pretty easily with a flat razor blade (as my husband demonstrated for me).
We’ll have to try it with different size filters! Thanks. :)
Oh! Glad you tried the ice wreath!
You’re welcome!
Glad you’re going to be giving liquid watercolors a try! Regular watercolors work great for these snowflakes, too, though. That’s what we used and they are nice and subtle.
Good idea! We had three of us cutting and scraps all over the table and floor!
:)
xo back at you! Hope you had fun making snowflakes with the girls!
We all inspire each other!
i’m just curious, is there a reason you chose to use a glue stick instead of oil?
thanks,
kimberly
Beautiful! a fellow blogger mentioned this project and linked to you – can’t wait to try this out with my boys over Christmas vacation!
cheers!
Loved this idea, we ended up doing it ourselves and blogging it (with a link to you of course) – thank you very much – http://bedtimemonsters.blogspot.com/2010/12/things-to-make-coffee-filter-snowflakes.html
These are so pretty! I was searching online yesterday for something to do with the stack of coffee filters we don’t use anymore (new coffee maker)…and this idea did NOT come up! So glad I saw this today!
I loved this project! I posted photos and a tutorial about our own process on my blog (crediting Artful Parent, of course!). :)
http://www.multiplerealitiesblog.com/2012/12/winter-craftiness-with-twin-toddlers-and-a-preschooler.html
Thank you for your continued inspiration, Jean!
Dear Jean,
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Does the glue stick come off easily ?