Colour Mixing Coffee Filter Art

Colour mixing on coffee filters is a really fun art process. Kids can see for themselves all the different colours that can be made by mixing 2 (or more) colours together. It is fascinating to watch as the paint spreads and is absorbed by the coffee filters. Using jumbo eye droppers makes this a simple colour mixing activity for toddlers and preschoolers that also has the bonus of working on fine motor skills.

See how to turn coffee filters into butterflies by clicking here

Colour Mixing Coffee Filter Art

Colour mixing supplies

• Large coffee filters (UK link / US link)
• Watered-down paint or ink (we used watered-down liquid acrylic paint (UK link/ US link)
• A jar for each colour
• Eye droppers (we used jumbo eye droppers (UK link/ US link)

How to mix colours on coffee filters

Pour watered-down paint or ink in the 3 primary colours, red, yellow and blue to small jars. Add an eye dropper to each jar of paint. We love using jumbo eye droppers, but regular-sized eye droppers will also work for this colour-mixing activity.

Take your first color and use the jumbo eye dropper to squirt a little onto your coffee filter. Then choose a second colour and squirt it near to the first on your coffee filter. What secondary colours can you make?

It is fascinating to see all the different variations and shades of a colour you can create.

I would advise using several coffee filters together to absorb all the paint. If you want to have an easy clean up it might be a good idea to do this colour mixing activity on a tray.

Once you have finished making your coloured coffee filters have fun experimenting with mixing the coloured paints together by tipping the coloured jars of paint together.

We love this art process and once dried the coloured coffee filters can be used to create lots of fun coffee filter crafts like coffee filter butterflies, coffee filter snowflakes, coffee filter flowers or even a coffee filter heart craft

 

If you enjoyed this colour mixing activity using coffee filters then you might also like to do some color mixing for kids using paint as you create a cute monster craft. You can also learn more about primary and secondary colours by learning how to make a color wheel using our turtle template or by creating a colour wheel art project using tissue paper.