Creating T-Shirt Designers
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It is amazing how a little inspiration from Pinterest can turn into a new craft that I want to try with the kids. Then that craft can inspire my daughter, Ariel, to develop her own creation. I love these “light bulb” moments when I can actually watch a child go through the process of taking an idea and finding a way to turn it into reality.
After seeing these bleach art shirts from Something Turquoise, I thought that this would be a great activity to modify for St. Patrick’s Day. I bought 2 plain, green shirts at the store and pulled out my bleach pen from the laundry room.
I slid a piece of poster board inside the shirts to make sure that the bleach didn’t get to the back. I used chalk to help Ariel and Belle see the general shape of a 4-leaf clover. The chalk wasn’t necessary, but it is much easier to brainstorm on the t-shirt ahead of time.
Next, we started tracing with the bleach pen. I explained to my kids that a bleach pen is like a permanent marker, and that they were not allowed to touch the white glue with any part of their body. We did not have any trouble following this rule, but this is one step that an adult can do before hand if you are worried.
Ariel, age 7, did her whole shirt by herself, and it took less than 3 minutes. For Belle, age 5, I stood behind her and watched over as she traced. I helped hold her hand steady for a few parts.
Once they were finished with the bleach pen, I took the cardboard out of the shirt and rinsed the shirts with cool water in the tub. Then I put them into the washing machine with a couple towels that I didn’t mind if bleach discolored.
Afterwards, I let the girls try on their shirts. They loved them!! Ariel was so excited that she could wear her new shirt to school and let her friends know that she created it. As soon as I took this picture she said, “Wait Mom. Can I design my whole shirt?” I wasn’t sure what that meant, so I asked her to explain what she was thinking.
{TIP: Always, always ask kids to explain their thoughts! It is a great way to see their thought process. It helps them learn to verbalize their ideas.I use the phrase, “What makes you say that?” on a daily basis.}
Ariel went on to explain to me that the shirt idea was actually my idea. If she was going to tell her friends that she created her shirt then she wanted to add her own drawing to it. I grabbed a couple t-shirt puffy paints from my craft box, and told her to “design away!”
It took her about a half hour of concentration with her tongue hanging out of her mouth to come up with this new t-shirt design.
But Ariel was very proud of herself!
She loves HER t-shirt creation!!
And I love everything that can’t be shown in this picture (self-esteem, pride, creativity)
I love it too.
even more!
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