K-Cup Flower Pots

When we had our Earth Day unit, I started saving K-Cups from our Keurig coffee maker. I didn't know what I wanted them for, but I knew I would come up with something. And then I started thinking about Mother's Day and it came to me:

First I cleaned out all the cups. This was very easy to do, although a little bit messy. I waited until I had collected enough before I cleaned them, so they were dry. I think that helped. Also, once you take the filter out, they are basically clean! So first you peel all the foil off the top (if a little bit is left on the rim, that's okay). Then you dump out what you can, and reach in to grab the bottom of the filter. Give it a little tug and it will come right out! So easy! The cups will be clean, but I threw mine in the sink with soapy water anyway. When the cups are dry, you're ready to paint. We used little acrylic paints because I wanted it to be durable and not peel off. (I've never tried painting them with tempera paint, which is what we use at school, but I was afraid it wouldn't last.)

We rinsed really well between colors and even blotted our paintbrushes so we wouldn't get the paint watery. The great thing about turning a K-cup into a flower pot is that it already has a hole in the bottom for drainage!

It's like it's meant to be, people! The kids did a really good job painting them. They found it easiest to shove their fingers inside the cup so they could paint all sides at once.

We didn't paint the bottom or the inside, and some kids painted the rim. They turned out so pretty!

I painted one, too! Mine was a hot chocolate K-cup so it had a little ridge like a real flower pot.

Then I went to our local Ace Hardware store to find some flowers. I decided to get little ones, since these pots are pretty small. They worked out perfectly! I had the kids scoop one spoonful of potting soil into the bottom of their cup, then I put the flowers in and added a little more soil to the top. I wanted to get a picture of this step, but my hands were filthy! We did this out on our playground to avoid getting our classroom dirty.

Didn't they turn out cute? I sent them home today along with our other Mother's Day gift. I think I will keep saving the K-cups. I'm sure I'll find more ways to use them. I searched the internet, expecting to find tons of ideas, but there's not much out there at all! I suppose it's only a matter of time.

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