Desert Sunsets

A few days ago we did a project involving coffee filters. Instead of coloring them with markers and spraying with water, we used droppers and colored water. To make a sunset sky, we used red and yellow water. The kids picked up some water in the dropper and slowly squirted it onto their coffee filter.

It's a good idea to put construction paper under the coffee filter to absorb the water. Otherwise you'd have a huge mess. Once the kids filled up their coffee filter completely, we let them dry. Then I cut off about an inch from the bottom so it would be flat. And I also glued it to white paper. It made the colors brighter than when the coffee filter was by itself. After nap, the kids added cacti and a "ground" that I had cut from black construction paper.

They turned out so pretty because in some spots the red and yellow mixed and made orange. And no two sunsets were alike.

Last year we did this for our Wild West theme, so I had also cut out cowboys and horses!

What a lot of work that was! If you have a Cricut machine, then it would be a breeze. But all I have is my scissors, so I kept it simple this year.

Side note: I think I must have put in a lot more food coloring last year and that's why the Wild West one is so bright. So I guess if you want it extra bright, use lots and lots of food coloring!