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Objective:
Creating fun DIY projects
Skill Development: Creative Expression
Age Minimum: Preschool
Messiness: Medium
Materials
Pre-made Tie-Dye Kits
- Color Splash Easy Tie-Dye Kit ~ this one has the brightest colors we've found
- Jacquard Tie-Dye Kit ~ this is great kit and can dye up to 15 shirts
- Tulip One-Step Kit ~ this is the simplest kit we've found
DIY Tie-Dye shirts
How to Tie-Dye shirts: This is a great summer time activity for all ages! Here is a quick tutorial on how to tie-dye a shirt with a simple technique.
When you try this at home, be sure to tag us and let us know how yours turned out! #how2playtoday @how2playtoday
Step 1: Set out all of your materials. We used a plastic bin from Target and our cookie rack to allow the paint to drip down and not run all over the shirts. Don't forget the rubber gloves!
There are some great kits out there and I'll link there here. We decided to hand pick everything and I've linked those above.
Step 2: The twisting technique. I love the swirl look so we played around with twisting the shirts in different ways. You can use your fingers but we found that using a fork was helpful.
You can have one giant swirl pattern or create many little ones all over. We wanted to avoid the start of the swirl high on the shirt where it will be on the chest area.
Step 3: Secure the shirt with rubber bands. We criss-crossed them around the shirt to help create more of a pattern.
Step 4: Mix the color dye if needed and don't forget the gloves! You don't want our hands stained for the entire summer.
Step 5: The kids can decorate the shirts in so many different ways. We found that if you use 2 or 3 colors, it was best because the kids loved to soak the shirts (and we all know that when every color is used, the products turns a nice shade of Brown).
You can also let the kids know that you don't have to cover every inch with color. Sometimes it's nice to have a little white showing.
Step 6: Wrap the shirts in a plastic bag and let sit for 24 hours before laundering. I placed our plastic bags in the sink in our mud room so no little hands would try to touch.