Make a Lotus Flower!
As part of the Museum’s Children of the Dragon festival, we are celebrating Vietnamese culture. Did you know the lotus is the national flower of Vietnam? This beautiful flower is our inspiration as we create our own flower out of coffee filters.
MATERIALS
- 4 coffee filters
- Markers: pink and green
- Scissors
- Glue stick
- Water and straw
TRY IT!
- Make a large flower
- Fold the coffee filter in half to make a semi-circle. Fold in half again to make a wide pie slice. Fold in half one last time to make a thin pie slice.
- With your scissors, cut the wide end of the filter into a flower petal shape (see template on page 2).
- Make a medium flower
- Repeat folding process above.
- Trace the large petal shape onto the coffee filter.
- Cut the filter a little smaller than the large petal to make a medium sized flower.
- Make a small flower
- Repeat the process above, tracing the medium flower petal and cutting smaller to make a small flower.
- Color the 3 flowers with a pink marker.
- Color the uncut filter with a green marker.
- Using a straw, drip drops of water onto each coffee filter to help spread the color. Allow time to dry.
- Once dry, glue the center of the large flower on top of the green circle, then the center of the medium flower on top of the large flower. Finally, glue the center of the small flower on top of the medium flower. Gently push up the sides of the flower petals to create volume.
GUIDING QUESTIONS
- Which flower is the largest?
- What colors are you coloring your flower?
- What happens when you add the water to the coffee filter?
LEARNING BEHIND THE PLAY
- Supports science skills such as observation and experimentation
- Develops science and math language such as smaller/bigger, colors, shapes
- Actions such as cutting, coloring and sticking develop fine motor skills
TAKE IT FURTHER
Try cutting different shaped petals. How does the shape of your flower change?