Coffee Filter Umbrella

It's another gloomy day here today... lots of rain & flash flood warnings. Not what I want to hear when we're two weeks away from moving. Wouldn't that be my luck?!  But the rain does give us more reason to create a rainy-day craft. Here is what I put together....

Supplies- *Coffee Filters, *Markers, *Construction Paper (White, Blue, Black) *Tape, *Glue, *Scissors

1. Tape the coffee filter to a large piece of paper or cardboard. This helps it lay flat & makes it easier to color on.

2. Using the markers, color as much or as little of the filter as you wish. Both M1 & M2 just scribbled on their filter, I'm not sure how actual drawings would turn out in the end. Just give your child free reign!

 

3. Once the filters are all covered with color, take them outside & place them in the rain for a bit. (The amount of time outside depends on how hard it's actually raining. At our house it was raining quite hard, so we only left them out a few minutes. Long enough to get completely soaked!) M1 got all dressed up in her gear & brought them out. At least we all didn't have to get wet!

4. Bring the wet filters inside & allow them to dry. *They'll dry a lot faster if you take them off the base paper.

5. Cut the filter in half with some dips to make it look like an umbrella & glue it to the blue construction paper.

6. Use the black paper to cut out an umbrella handle & attach it using glue.

7. Use the markers (blue) one more time to create some rain drops around the umbrella. M2 actually used a blue crayon, it was a bit easier for her to hold.

 

And there you have it, two colorful umbrellas made using the rain itself! So cute...

(M1 on the left & M2 on the right)

Enjoy! s.b.