With summer ending and school starting, whether virtually or in person, there's still time to do a fun end of summer craft with your grandchild. Recently, I was able to travel to California to see my three year old granddaughter. It had been five long months since I was able to see her and realized that both my granddaughter and myself needed this quality time together. A lot of you grandmas are in this same situation because of this virus and I truly hope you can spend time with your grandchildren as well.
One of the many crafting projects we did together was Tie Dye. Before arriving to California, I had asked her what she wanted to tie dye: a dress, a shirt, a sweatshirt, towel – whatever she wanted this Gigi would get. She is a very decisive toddler and immediately picked a sweatshirt. So I did what any good grandma would do: I went to Amazon and ordered the following products I would need to bring out with me.
Here are some tips that I found extremely helpful when we worked on this project:
- Prep your space before sitting down with your grandchild. We sat at the kitchen table & covered it with a large garbage bag (cut down the middle and taped flat to the table)
- The kit I chose had 10 colors in it because I knew I would be creating another two masterpieces when I got back to Colorado with my two other grandchildren. So, I had my granddaughter pick out 5 of the colors she wanted to work with. You actually could use one or two colors but her Gigi thought 5 was also a good number
- Use a cookie tray with the cooling wire rack inside of it to prevent “accidental” spills from going everywhere. The dye stains your hands for a while so be prepared for colorful hands if you do this project "gloveless"
- I put an art “smock” on my granddaughter because of the staining properties. You can also use an old shirt that you don't mind getting stained or use a trash bag with head and arms holes cut out
- You may want to do more than one project as these bottles (especially five) covers lots of things; i.e., we did a sweatshirt, mom’s shirt, another one of her shirts and two flour sack kitchen towels
- On the directions, it says not to soak the colors into your project or the colors could be muddled – try telling that to a 3 year old! It came out great regardless!
- The kit comes with gloves, which were adult size so I just taped her fingers back to the correct size for her precious hands
- There is no wrong or right way to rubber band your creation before adding colors. We did the swirl method of gathering the material from the center and then placing rubber bands horizontally and vertically
- Once done creating, wrap in saran wrap or plastic wrap; set aside for 6-8 hours
- Rinse under cold water until water runs clear and then put into dryer
Here’s a great tutorial I found on primary.com. By the way, I love Primary clothes. They are the best children’s clothes that I have found for my grandchildren for everyday use and are very reasonable. They are lasting quality clothes and are made of Oeko-Tex Standard 100 Fabric. This means if a product is labeled as Oeko-Tex certified it is completely free from harmful chemicals and safe for human use (which is so important for your "little humans").
Honestly, no matter how young or old your grandchildren are, how much tie dye liquid they use or don’t use and the way the rubber bands are placed really doesn’t make a difference. So, relax and enjoy creating their masterpiece together and making a lasting memory of time together! My hope is that when my granddaughter wears her shirt or uses the towel she created, she will remember how much fun she had with her Gigi and her Gigi had with her.
"The Best Thing About Memories.....Is Making Them"
Xoxoxo
Gigi Susie
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