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Home / Early Learning / Science / Coffee Filter Planets Space Craft for Kids

Coffee Filter Planets Space Craft for Kids

Shared by Mary Catherine 15 Comments

My preschool students love to make these coffee filter planets! They’re just the thing to add to your preschool space theme.

Are you following Fun-A-Day’s Space Theme Pinterest board?

pinnable image of a collage of three pictures of making planet suncatchers with text that reads space craft coffee filter planets

Related: Space Messy Play Ideas

Without fail, whenever we learn about space, the questions my students ask are always amazingly thought-out!

These coffee filter planets are one of my favorite space activities to do with them. Best of all, they’re full of learning.

Table of Contents

  • How to Make Coffee Filter Planets
    • Materials
    • Prep for the Planet Suncatchers
    • Making the Coffee Filter Planets
    • Learning With This Planets Craft
  • Done-for-You Lesson Plans
  • More Space Crafts for Kids

How to Make Coffee Filter Planets

I keep calling this a preschool craft, as it has an end goal in mind. However, it is more of a mix of craftiness and process art.

The children don’t need to make their coffee filter planets the same we did, and they get to explore what happens when water is absorbed by colorful coffee filters.

Check out the process in the attached video!

Materials

One of the best things about these coffee filter planets? You can make them with just a few simple materials!

picture of the materials needed to make the coffee filter planets, including a stack of coffee filters, scissors, markers, and a spray bottle of water

I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

  • Coffee Filters
  • Scissors
  • Paper Plates
  • Markers
  • Spray bottle filled with water
  • Contact paper (optional)

Prep for the Planet Suncatchers

Cut the eight planets out of coffee filters. I did this free-hand, and the planets are obviously not scaled correctly!

I left Jupiter, the largest planet, as an intact coffee filter. Then I cut out the rest of the planets in descending order by size. I wanted to have them sized differently to help the kiddos see how the planets compare to each other.

I like to read a lot of fun planet books to the children before we make coffee filter planets, so they have a basic understanding of the solar system first.

Real photos of the planets are a must, too! This craft is a fun way to extend their knowledge and help them order the planets.

collage of four individual photos of finished planet sun catchers hanging in a window

Related: Glowing Galaxy Water Bin Space Activity

Making the Coffee Filter Planets

My son really enjoyed testing out the coffee filter planets, and he had so many plans for more ideas to teach the preschoolers about space!

Here are the colors we went with for each planet (based on observations made from books and photos):

  • Mercury – gray and brown
  • Venus – yellow and brown
  • Earth – green and blue
  • Mars – red and orange
  • Jupiter – red, brown, orange, and yellow
  • Saturn – brown and yellow
  • Uranus – blue
  • Neptune – blue and purple

Starting with Mercury, have the kids color in the coffee filter planets with markers.

I’ve found it’s best to do this by putting them on individual paper plates.

By using plates, the inevitable maker mess (and the upcoming water mess) is neatly contained!

picture of a hand coloring a coffee filter with a brown maker to look like mercury

Related: Galaxy Slime

Once the coffee filters are colored in, let the children spray water onto them.

It’s best to thoroughly coat the marker drawings with water without totally drowning the coffee filters.

spray bottle of water spraying a coffee filter covered in blue and purple lines to look like neptune

Related: Starry Night Glitter Art for Kids

Remove the coffee filters from the paper plates and place them on a rack to dry. Of course, if you don’t have a rack, no worries! Place them anywhere you have room.

But I’ve found that they definitely dry faster when they’re off of the wet plates.

Once all of the coffee filter planets are dry, put them up in the windows! They make pretty sun catchers, if I do say so myself.

At first, we put them up in the windows with tape, but they didn’t stay as well as we’d hoped.

So we placed the planets on a piece of contact paper that’s taped up in the window, sticky side out. I made sure the planets were labeled too, of course!

four labeled coffee filter planet crafts

Learning With This Planets Craft

Here’s a taste of the early education concepts the coffee filter planets incorporate:

  • Fine motor skills (coloring and using the spray bottle)
  • Science (talking about the planets’ locations and other details)
  • Math (discussing colors, ordering the planets from 1st through 8th, and comparing sizes)
  • Literacy (all of the oral language involved throughout the craft and the words labeling the planets)

(Please note that we didn’t include the dwarf planet Pluto when making our space suncatchers. We generally talk some about Pluto, and I personally love this interactive site from NASA about it! If my preschoolers want to include Pluto when they do this activity, they absolutely can!)

Related: Fizzing Planet Science Experiment

Done-for-You Lesson Plans

Save time and get right to the playful learning with Preschool Teacher 101’s printable lesson plan sets. Each set includes over 30 playful learning activities related to the theme, along with related printables.

Join our waiting list while you’re there, so you can be the first to hear when our membership is open next!

space lesson plans for preschool teachers
Space Lesson Plans
Shape Monster Activities
Circle Time Song Pack

More Space Crafts for Kids

If you and the kids loved the coffee filter planets, here are even more ideas for your preschool space theme:

My Space Book from Powerful Mothering

Rocket Landings Word Families Game from Rainy Day Mum

Space Science Experiments from No Stress Homeschooling

Jupiter’s Moons – Counting by 5s from Capri Plus 3

Literacy Activities in the Kitchen: Rocket Pizza from Growing Book by Book

Learning About the Moon: Making Moon Bread from The Educators’ Spin On It

Space Scene Play Mat from Fun Learning for Kids

Passport to the Planets: A Science Writing Prompt for Kids from Still Playing School

Originally published April 1, 2015. Post updated to include video and more images.

pinnable collage of three images of the making of coffee filter planets, including the finished product, with the text planet suncatchers

Filed Under: Science Tagged With: Coffee Filter Art, Space

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  1. Danielle says

    April 1, 2015 at 10:48 am

    These are gorgeous! My son doesn’t enjoy many crafts, but I know he would love this!

    Reply
    • Mary Catherine says

      April 10, 2015 at 11:06 am

      Thanks, Danielle! My son loved doing it!

      Reply
  2. Cerys says

    April 1, 2015 at 12:03 pm

    I love them they look really beautiful – I now need to source coffee filters in the UK

    Reply
    • Mary Catherine says

      April 10, 2015 at 11:05 am

      Thank you, Cerys! You could also grab some white paper towels, cut them into circles, and try that!

      Reply
  3. Jodie @ Growing Book by Book says

    April 1, 2015 at 5:42 pm

    What a fun idea and perfect for a space themed unit.

    Reply
    • Mary Catherine says

      April 10, 2015 at 11:04 am

      Thank you, Jodie. 🙂 The preschool kiddos were tickled to see them up in the room.

      Reply
  4. Melissa says

    April 1, 2015 at 8:25 pm

    I love the vibrant colors! What a creative way to learn!

    Reply
    • Mary Catherine says

      April 10, 2015 at 11:04 am

      Thanks, Melissa!!!! 🙂 They still make me smile.

      Reply
  5. Natasha says

    April 4, 2015 at 1:11 pm

    This looks fun aND I know my toddler can get in on the action.

    Reply
    • Mary Catherine says

      April 10, 2015 at 10:59 am

      Thanks, Natasha! Yes, I definitely think the littler ones would have fun with it, too.

      Reply
  6. Marissa says

    April 18, 2016 at 6:18 pm

    What a great idea! We’ve done similar for other themes, I can’t believe I never thought of the planets! I’m pinning this and sharing it as part of a space craft round up

    Thanks!

    Reply
  7. Nelia says

    July 22, 2017 at 2:45 am

    Oh, I love these solar system sun catchers. Lovely. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Mary Catherine says

      July 30, 2017 at 1:26 pm

      Thanks so much, Nelia! We’ve had fun with them. 🙂

      Reply
  8. Kathy Arnold says

    June 29, 2019 at 5:06 pm

    Love this hands-on project of comparing planets!

    Reply
    • Mary Catherine says

      June 30, 2019 at 9:31 am

      Thank you, Kathy! Let me know if you try it! 🙂

      Reply
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My name is Mary Catherine, and I love to share meaningful {and fun} learning activities for kiddos! Feel free to browse and stay awhile!

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