Friday, August 19, 2011

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!

9 comments:

Melissa said...

I love the final result - they look just fantastic! The cowboy scene my favourite! Another great idea I will have to try out. Thanks for the inspiration Betsy!

Betsy said...

You're welcome!

Anonymous said...

Boy those sure are beautiful. Anytime you can make a sunset it is hard to take your eyes away. Good job Bets!
nanc

Betsy said...

Thanks, Nanc! And thank you for supporting me and my blog. I appreciate you checking it out now and then!

Unknown said...

We did a version of this without the food coloring today in an after school program. I fell in love with it and had to check it out. I'm so glad I did; this is a great activity. My kids will definitely be doing this before the year is out.
-Sandra

Betsy said...

Thank you, Leslie! That means a lot to me. I'm glad people are still finding it helpful after all these years!

Brenda's Card Corner said...

I found your card on Pinterest and cased it! I would love for you to check out my blog post. Thanks for the inspiration and the sunset tutorial!

Brenda
http://brendascardcorner.blogspot.com/2016/10/qkr-stampede-challenge-214-wild-west.html

Unknown said...

Can you share your cactus and cowboy pattern with us

Betsy said...

I do have the templates. You can e-mail me at tippytoecrafts@gmail.com and I can send them to you. Or you can google images and find some that way.