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Coffee Filter Science Experiment

May 14, 2013 by OneMommy

 

Just like cornstarch and water, this is another simple science experiment I remember doing back in elementary school.

Chromatography Experiment

All you need are some coffee filters, colored markers, water, and a little patience and you can explore chromatography!  (Don’t worry, it’s just a big word which basically means you are going to separate the colors.)

I showed the kids how to make colored dots with the markers along the bottom edge of the coffee filter.

coffee filter experiment

 

Then we put just the edge of the filter into a shallow container of water, making sure the marker dots were above the water.  (I had to use some clothes pins to hold the filters onto the edge of the container so they wouldn’t slide to deep into the water.)

Almost immediately you will see the colors start to spread as the filter soaks up water.

 

chromatography experiment
Make sure you keep those marker dots above the water line!

 

If you are patient enough the different colors will spread all the way to the edge of the filter.  This is really pretty if you use several different colored dots!

kids coffee filter experiment

 

Once the color was all the way to the edge, we took the filters out to dry.  If you don’t take them out of the water in time, the color will eventually disappear except for a thin line of color up at the top — like our green one in the picture above.

I think my youngest preschooler could have drawn dots and watched the colors all day.  We had a stove top full of colorful coffee filters when we were finished.

 

coffee filter experiment

 

Once they dry, use your colorful coffee filter experiment to create some beautiful coffee filter crafts!

 

You’ll also like:

  • Hands-On Magnetism Exploration
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  • Fun and Foamy Elephant Toothpaste Experiment
  • How to Make a Rubber Egg

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Science Tagged With: hands on learning, kitchen science

Comments

  1. Mrs. Tucker (Patti) says

    May 15, 2013 at 9:53 am

    Science! I love stuff like this.

  2. Holly says

    May 15, 2013 at 8:15 pm

    What a great science project! Thank you for spreading JOY and sharing at the Oh What a HAPPY Day party.

    Holly at Not Done Growing

    • OneMommy says

      May 17, 2013 at 7:54 am

      Thank YOU for hosting! Have a great week!

  3. Georgina @ Craftulate says

    May 15, 2013 at 11:02 pm

    The colours look so pretty! Thanks for sharing the happiness at Oh What a HAPPY Day Link Party.

  4. OneMommy says

    May 16, 2013 at 10:24 pm

    Oh, I’m betting they’d look great on some windows!

  5. Diana Rambles says

    May 16, 2013 at 10:33 pm

    Very cool activity!!

    • OneMommy says

      May 17, 2013 at 9:41 am

      They definitely enjoyed it!

  6. Victoria B. says

    May 17, 2013 at 8:25 am

    My preschooler loves doing science experiments. I’ll have to remember to pick up some coffee filters for him to try this one. It looks so much fun.

    • OneMommy says

      May 19, 2013 at 11:00 am

      I really think they could have done it until all the filters were gone! This week I’m sharing a couple crafts we did with our filters after they dried.

  7. Jenn says

    May 19, 2013 at 4:39 am

    Really great idea! I am looking forward to trying this with my daughters–thanks for sharing!

    Planting Daffodils

    • OneMommy says

      May 19, 2013 at 11:34 am

      Hope you guys have as much fun as we did!

  8. Lanaya @ Raising Reagan says

    May 19, 2013 at 9:54 am

    These are such fun projects. Reagan and I made something similar a couple months ago. She loves doing this kind of stuff.

    Thank you for linking to Raising Imperfection.
    Please come back Friday to see if you were featured. 🙂

    ¤´¨)
    ¸.•*´
    (¸¤ Lanaya | xoxo
    http://www.raising-reagan.com

  9. Leslie says

    May 19, 2013 at 10:10 am

    Oh what a wonderful activity, simple but fun. I will be saving this for the future for sure!

    Thank you for linking up to Raising Imperfection!
    Make sure to check back on Friday to see if you were featured.
    Leslie
    http://www.violetimperfection.com

    • OneMommy says

      May 19, 2013 at 11:33 am

      Thank you; and thank you for hosting the link up!

  10. OneMommy says

    May 19, 2013 at 11:35 am

    Thank you for the invite; looking forward to checking it out this week!

  11. April @ 100lbCountdown.com says

    May 19, 2013 at 6:02 pm

    I’m definitely looking for summer science projects with my son starting summer vacation on Wednesday (eek!) And I love reusing it!

    • OneMommy says

      May 22, 2013 at 9:08 am

      Wow! Out for summer already! Here they go until the end of the first week of June.

      Hope you have an awesome summer together!

  12. Mum of One says

    May 20, 2013 at 10:42 am

    Ooh I can’t wait to see what you make. Lovely idea. Thanks so much for linking up to the Pin-It Party! Have pinned and will follow now 🙂 http://pinterest.com/jbmumofone/

    • OneMommy says

      May 22, 2013 at 9:06 am

      Thanks for pinning it! Our crafts are up: https://theresjustonemommy.com/2013/05/20/coffee-filter-crafts/ Hope you get a chance to check them out!

      I can’t wait to check out your pinterest boards — always looking for new people to follow!

  13. Sara says

    May 22, 2013 at 4:09 pm

    Great activity, thanks for sharing on craft schooling sunday!

    • OneMommy says

      May 22, 2013 at 4:37 pm

      Thanks for hosting!
      Have a great week!

  14. Carrie says

    May 24, 2013 at 3:26 pm

    Oh, how neat and pretty! Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!!

    • OneMommy says

      May 25, 2013 at 9:10 pm

      Thank you! I think we will be doing these again soon! 🙂

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