Painted Coffee Filter Poppy Craft
If you’re looking for a simple poppy craft for Remembrance Day, Veterans Day or Anzac Day, this one is a beauty!
As November 11th approaches, my toddlers and preschoolers have been making easy poppy crafts for Remembrance Day, and this Painted Coffee Filter Poppy craft is my favourite one yet!
These poppies are very easy to make, and they look so delicate and realistic. I love how the “petals” have that crepe-paper, crinkly look to them, just like real poppy petals do.
Kids of all ages will enjoy this poppy craft, but it’s especially great for toddlers and preschoolers because the process is so simple.
Oh, AND, young children will love the crumpling part. Little hands just love crumpling and uncrumpling stuff. It’s such a fun way to strengthen hand muscles and fine motor skill.
The supply list for our poppies is short so let’s round them up, and get started!
To make our coffee filter poppies, you’ll need:
Supplies
- paper coffee filters (at least 2 per poppy)
- red paint (you can use a variety of shades)
- paint brush
- black button
- green button
- glue
- hair dryer
How to make a painted coffee filter poppy:
Begin by protecting your work surface with a plastic table cloth or newspaper.
You’ll need at least 2 coffee filters per poppy. We made some with 3 filters, but the ones we made with 2 worked well too.
Paint your coffee filters, completely covering one side of the filter with red paint. Feel free to blend a few shades of red on each filter, or to paint each filter a different shade of red. Half the fun of crafting is experimenting with your materials. There’s no “right or wrong” way to craft when you’re working with kids, so let them explore and have fun with the colours.
The next step is to dry the coffee filters with a hair dryer. Your coffee filters will be quite flimsy when wet, but just pick one up, and cup it in your hand (painted side UP), and direct the warm air of the hair dryer into the palm of your hand. Holding it this way will prevent your coffee filter from flying away when you blast it with the dryer.
Next, have your children crumple the dry, painted coffee filters into tight, little balls. They’ll love this part!
Now, uncrumple them (great fine motor exercise), so they’re somewhat smooth, but still wrinkly. Don’t they resemble real poppy petals?
Layer 2 or 3 coffee filters loosely together, and pinch the centre-back of the filters together, giving a little twist to hold bind them together. .
Glue a black button onto the front of each poppy, and top with a smaller green button.
Let dry, and then give your poppies a little fluffing up if needed.
Aren’t they beautiful? What a lovely craft to commemorate Remembrance Day.
You may also like these easy poppy crafts for preschoolers:
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Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She specializes in kids’ crafts and activities, easy recipes, and parenting. She began blogging in 2011, and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe.
