Get creative with coffee filters! This fun and simple art project helps us learn how important leaves are, what they do, and about different types of leaves. Bring “parts of a plant” to life with this easy demonstration about veins and water.

What you’ll need:

• Coffee filters

• Markers

• Scissors

• Pencil

• Cup with about 1 inch of water

Directions:

1. Give each child 3-4 coffee filters, stacked on top of each other. Assist children in carefully drawing the outline of a lettuce or cabbage leaf with a pencil, or draw beforehand for younger children.

2. Have children use green, yellow, and purple markers to make 2-3 thick, doughnut like rings in the middle of the leaf. For younger children, draw a circle in the middle, and assist them with tracing it a few times to make it thicker.

3. Ensure the inside of the circle is not filled in to leave room for the color to travel up the “leaf”.

4. Fold the leaf 3 times (in half, in half, and in half again) making a point in the middle of the circle. Help children carefully dip their leaf into the cup of water so that only the white tip of the circle touches.

5. The water should start to travel up the coffee filter leaf and spread the ink quickly.

6. Discuss comparisons to a real leaf and it’s veins “drinking” the water. Discuss before and after.

HOW DO LEAVES WORK?

Leaves are very important! Leaves provide food and air to help a plant stay healthy and grow. Leaves “breathe” in carbon dioxide and “breathe” out oxygen. Leaves also release excess water, just like sweating. They have veins (just like us) to move water up and down the leaf.

DISCUSSION:

Edible leaves vs non-edible leaves: discuss the difference between leaves we eat and those we do not eat. Examples: Trees leaves. Lettuce. Leaves on flowers. Do leaves grow above or below the ground? Do leaves come in different colors? Can leaf color change? What do leaves need to help a plant stay alive? Sunlight? Water? Fresh air?

Can you find the parts of leaf on an edible leaf? On a leaf from outside? Use the picture below!