These coffee filter planets are a fun, hands-on way to mix art and science using the simplest materials. With just coffee filters, markers, and a little imagination, kids can create swirling, watercolor-style planets that look straight from outer space.
You can use this project to recreate the planets in our solar system or invent entirely new worlds with bold colours and patterns. It’s an easy activity for classrooms, homeschool lessons, or a creative afternoon at home — and it also works perfectly as an Earth Day craft when you focus on our home planet and its beautiful blues and greens.
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How to Make Coffee Filter Planets
Materials:
Equipment:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials
Step 2: Draw planet Earth
- Place a coffee filter on a baking sheet and smooth it out so it’s as flat as possible.
- Draw a rough design of Earth onto the coffee filter using green marker.
- Fill in the green areas with lines or scribbles.
- Then use blue marker to draw the water.
Step 3: Add water to the coffee filter
- Add water to a small glass or bowl and use an eyedropper to pick it up.
- Add drops of water to the coffee filter, starting in the center.
- Allow the water to spread and continue adding a few drops here and there until the coffee filter is saturated. Allow to dry at least 3 hours.
- Your coffee filter planet Earth is complete!
Step 4: Make a coffee filter Jupiter
- You can also make planets that have more lined designs. Add blocks of colour in lines across the coffee filter, or combine colours in one area.
- Then add water to the coffee filter and allow to dry.
- Your coffee filter planet Jupiter is complete!
Helpful Tips:
- Be realistic, get creative, or do both: You can make a planet from our solar system, or have fun inventing your own brand-new world with wild colours and patterns.
- All the same size? Or make to scale: We used large coffee filters and kept our planets the same size for simplicity, but you can also make a “to-scale” set — with a tiny Mercury, and a Jupiter that takes up the whole coffee filter.
Can I make a coffee filter planet if I don’t have an eyedropper?
Yes! If you don’t have an eyedropper, you can add water using a small spoon, or mist the coffee filter with a spray bottle filled with water. Either way works — you just want enough water for the marker ink to spread and blend.
What type of markers do I need to make coffee filter planets?
Use washable markers for this craft. The washable ink is what lets the colour dissolve and spread when you add water, creating that soft, planet-like “watercolor swirl” effect.
What marker colours do I need to create a coffee filter solar system?
You can mix and match depending on the look you want, but here are easy colour combos that work well for each planet:
- Mercury: grey and light blue
- Venus: orange, brown, and yellow
- Earth: blue and green
- Mars: red, orange, and brown
- Jupiter: brown, orange, peach, grey, and yellow
- Saturn: yellow, peach, and brown
- Uranus: light blue and grey
- Neptune: light blue, dark blue, and a bit of purple
These coffee filter planets are a great way to combine creativity with curiosity about space. Each one turns out a little different, which makes the project just as fun to explore as it is to make.
Whether you’re recreating the planets of our solar system or designing entirely new ones, this is an easy, low-pressure craft that encourages experimentation with colour and pattern. Display them on a wall or window, turn them into a mobile, or use them as a starting point for learning more about space — however you use them, they’re sure to spark imagination!
Here’s even more coffee filter craft ideas:
How to Make Coffee Filter Fairies
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