I was looking for an easy craft to make to celebrate the start of Fall. I’ve seen different coffee filter crafts before but never tried them. I thought now would be a great time and it was a total success!

Step 1: Cut out filters

The first step is to print out leaf templates, trace them onto coffee filters and cut them out. I cut out some of the filters in advance for the younger children but the older ones traced/cut the out themselves. If you are using kid scissors make sure they are newer and not dull, the dull ones had a difficult time cutting.

Step 2: Draw a circle

The next step is to draw a circle in the middle of the coffee filter with markers. The marker will bleed through the coffee filter so make sure you have paper or something underneath it. At first we used just one color but then got creative and tried a few different colors. A few of the colorful ones turned brown but some of them made a neat pattern.

Step 3: Fold the coffee filter

Now you want to fold the coffee filter into quarters so that there is a point in the middle of the circle. Your leaf may not be perfectly symmetrical depending on how well the circle was drawn and the shape of the leaf. The important part is to make sure that the point is in the middle of the circle.

Step 4: Dip in water

Here is the fun part where you sneak in some science! Fill a cup up with water and dip just the middle of the circle (do not let the marker hit the water). Let it sit and watch the water flow up the coffee filter. As the water travels up the coffee filter it carries along along the pigments from the markers. You can look up chromatography if you want more of the science behind the process.

Step 5: Let them dry

Let the coffee filters dry over night, I let them dry folded up and unfolded them the following morning. Children made leaves for the library and for home. I put the leaves around the Children’s Department and received many compliments on them.