How to Make Coffee Filter Spiderwebs
These coffee filter spiderwebs are so much fun and they’re surprisingly simple to make! They’re similar to the paper spiderwebs we made last year, but the coloured coffee filters take the craft to a whole new level. Plus, they’re a bit more kid friendly since the web is a bit smaller.
You know how much I LOVE coffee filter crafts. Just in the last year we’ve made coffee filter bats, coffee filter butterflies, coffee filter snowflakes and coffee filter dancers. For such an inexpensive craft material it’s crazy how many different things you can make!? My kids absolutely love colouring on the coffee filters and seeing how the different colours blend together!
If you’ve ever made a paper snowflake, you will have no problem making these coffee filter spiderwebs – the process is really similar! Last winter we made some beautiful coffee filter snowflakes that looked incredible! Remembering how well those turned out, I knew I could up the ante on our paper spiderweb game!
We made these on Saturday afternoon while my 9 year old was off at a birthday party. My 4 and 7 year olds were bored at home and wanted to make a craft. Such great timing! We pulled out the coffee filters and they got to work choosing their shades of markers. Their favourite part is colouring the coffee filters and adding the water to see how the colours bleed together. It’s always a surprise what you’re going to end up with!
One of the best parts, was watching my 4 year old little guy make his very own pom pom spider and without any help. He covered his black pom pom with a TON of eyeballs and it actually looked pretty awesome! It’s such an amazing feeling to watch your kids grow and figure things out on their own!? It’s one of the reasons I love making crafts. They’re activities I can do with my kids that are fun, but they also teach them a little something at the same time!
Check out our video for how to make Coffee Filter Spiderwebs:
Check out our other coffee filter crafts for even more inspiration!
How to Make Coffee Filter Spiderwebs:
This craft is so perfect to decorate the house for Halloween! Here’s a list of affiliate links similar to the supplies we used:
- Coffee Filters (we used the 10 to 12 cups size)
- Washable markers
- Water
- An eye dropper or small measuring spoon
I bought the coffee filters at the dollar store. The coffee filter size doesn’t really matter, but we used the larger size meant for 10 to 12 cup coffee makers. You could definitely use the smaller size and make smaller webs to go along with your larger ones.
I recommend giving each child a cookie sheet to colour their coffee filter on. It really helps contain the mess!
Do your best to flatten out the coffee filter before you get started.
We only used one coffee filter, but if you’d like to colour two together at once, it would be a good way to save time if you want to make a bunch of spiderwebs.
You can use any colour combination you like! Here I used a pink and orange combo along with blue and purple.
Whatever colours you end up using, I recommend that you add in some black for good measure. It really helps give the spiderwebs a nice dark colour (rather than having them look pastel and snowflake like).
Since the colours are going to blend together, it really doesn’t matter what you draw onto the coffee filters. Just keep in mind that the more you cover the filter (the less white the better), the bolder the colours will be when you’re done.
If you want to see what happens when you use darker colours and leave almost no white space, check out our coffee filter bats!
Use an eye dropper (a small measuring spoon will also work) to drip water onto the coffee filters.
You want the entire coffee filter to be wet. Just make sure it’s not super soaked or it will take forever to dry!
How to Dry the Coffee Filters:
You have two choices:
1. You can leave them overnight to dry (or longer if they are really wet).
OR
2. You can actually put them into the oven! This is such a great option since it saves soooo much time, but it will only work if your oven will heat to a very low temperature. I ended up drying mine at 115F and it only took about 30 mins. DON’T dry them at a temperature much higher than that, or you could end up with a smokey situation! Keep watch, and take them out as soon as they’re dry to prevent the edges from curling up.
Once they are completely dry – and it’s important that they’re completely dry otherwise your fingers will get very messy – You can fold them into a triangle and make the spider web pattern.
How to Fold the Coffee Filters:
See the photos below:
- Start by folding the coffee filter in half.
- Next, fold that piece in half again.
- Then fold it in half again.
- And finally fold the coffee filter in half one last time.
Basically, just fold the coffee filter in half 4 times until it’s a small triangle like in the photo below on the bottom right:
Next cut out the pieces from your filters to make your webs! Start by cutting a slight, inwards curve on the outside edge. This creates multiple points around the edge and makes it look more web-like.
Make small slightly rounded cuts on the folded side of your filter. Get as close to the other side as you can without cutting the whole way through. Be very careful not to cut the whole way through!
Then, cut away the largest pieces leaving only three thin strips. It should look like the shape in the photo below:
Now you’re ready for the big reveal! Slowly pull your coffee filter web apart to see the shapes you’ve created! Doesn’t it look amazing?!
On a side note, after I opened up my spiderwebs, I ironed them between two sheets of parchment paper using the lowest iron setting, just so they’d lie flat. It makes a big difference!
How to Make the Pom Pom and Pipe Cleaner Spiders
The pom pom and pipe cleaner spiders are really simple to make! And they look realistic enough that they make me a tiny bit uncomfortable. (I really hate spiders).
For the full instructions, head over to our paper spider webs tutorial from last year. The spider tutorial is about 2/3 of the way down in that post.
Don’t these spiders look so real?! You could even hang one on a thread below your web, OR make a bunch and hang them in your front yard from a tree branch or an awning.
These coffee filter spiderwebs are SO EASY to make and they look AWESOME! The pipe cleaner and pom pom spider is so simple, but it really makes this Halloween decoration look amazing! This is such a fun Halloween craft for kids and a simple way to make some spooky Halloween decor!
For even MORE coffee filter craft ideas check out:
Don’t forget to check out our new book Low-Mess Crafts for Kids for 72 fun and simple craft ideas for kids!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books- A- Million | Indiebound | Indigo | Amazon Canada
