With Earth Day just around the corner, I thought the boys would enjoy making a “stained glass” earth out of coffee filters (just as we have done with Bob & Larry, butterflies, and pumpkins!
As we were making these, I thought it would be a great opportunity to reaffirm to the boys how God created the Earth and everything in it. It also made me think of the old Bible school song, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” My original plan was to just create the “stained glass” Earth, but I thought some handprints holding it would also be cute!
Here’s what you’ll need: white coffee filters, green & blue markers, contact paper or a laminator, a spray bottle with water, black construction paper, scissors, and clear tape to secure it to your window.
1. Lay one coffee filter onto a wipeable surface and let your child begin using their markers to color it. Encourage your child to fill in as much as he/she can with the marker as the colors will be darker and more vibrant with the more color you put on there.
Big Brother working hard!
Little Brother was finished after about 2 minutes, so I finished his for him.
Here is Big Brother with his ‘Earth’!
2. Use a water bottle to spray each coffee filter very lightly until each part is just slightly wet.
4. Let dry. It will probably take 1-2 hours to dry completely.
5. In the meantime, trace your child’s hand (and part of his/her arm) on a piece of black construction paper.
6. When the coffee filter is dry, laminate both it and the handprints. If you don’t have a laminator, sandwich each between 2 pieces of clear contact paper.
7. Use clear masking tape (doubled over) to secure either just the Earth or the Earth and the hands to your window!
He really does have the whole world in his hands!
Literature Link:
He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands by Kadir Nelson
I love this!!
Oh Jenae, definitely making this with my kiddos! It’s beautiful!! And I love how you tied it in with He’s Got the Whole World!!
Oh I just adore this!!! If I end up trying it I will post about it, and link back to you! Great share- thanks!!
Great project. I used to make coffee filter fish with my kids, but that was a long time ago. Wish I had a little person around here to make this Earth with.
This is amazing. I love how you incorporated Earth Day while keeping the focus on our Creator.
This looks like a fun project. We also have the book you linked and my 2yr-old LOVES it.
What a great project. I love how you used his hands to hold up the world. I’ll look up this book. Thanks!
I love this! What a fantastic Earth Day project! I pinned it: http://pinterest.com/pin/91690542383712304/
We love this! We posted it with 2 links to your blog. Please let us know if this is not acceptable to you and we will take it down. http://www.teachertime123.com/2012/04/coffee-filter-stained-glass-earth-art-project-for-earth-day/
Thanks,
Kelly
I love this happy earth day everyone
We tried it – not very successfully, thought. The coffee filter we bought was “unbleached”, hence brown. So we used kitchen towels. Laminating went well, but not cutting – our Earth fell apart, OMG :-( It was still a fun project. Thanks for the idea!
Sorry it didn’t work for you. I should have prefaced you need to use a white coffee filter.
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We tried it today and it came out beautifully. My toddler loves markers, so it was doubly fun for her :) And even though she didn’t color from end to end, spraying the water made it all look as if she had meant it to be that way :). I laminated the earth and two hands together in one pouch and cut a hole on top and hung on the window.
Hi,
It’s a very easy craft art for children. about to Earth Day.
My children are too old for this but I have just pinned this to my Pinterest for possible use in church toddler groups. Some lovely ideas here!
I will be making this with my kiddos today, for Earth Day! I think this would be perfect for a Sunday School Lesson! Love it! I am also featuring it on my blog, today!
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We used this craft as part of a fun day learning about Earth day today. My children and their friends loved it—and the craft turned out wonderfully. I just wanted to thank you for the great idea. We even sang the song before we finished!
Hi I love your craft but think I will not laminate so it’s more environmentally friendly?