What child doesn’t want to sport a homemade, tie dyed T-shirt!? Heck, I would! You can sport it pretty much anyway; camping, fishing, at the park, riding your bike, to the store and just hanging out at home. Every time your child puts this shirt on, it will bring back memories of the day they tie dyed it with Kool-Aid!
Materials:
- White Cotton T-shirt
- Distilled White Vinegar
- Kool-Aid Packets (vibrant colors work best)
- Rubber Bands
- Rubber Gloves
- Small Bowls
- Iron
- Towel
Mix 1 cup of vinegar with every 2 packets of Kool-Aid in a small bowl. You’ll need a separate bowl for each flavor/color. We tie dyed 4 t shirts with 4 bowls and had a little left over.
Pull, twist and secure T-shirts into your desired design with rubber bands.
Put on rubber gloves, if not your poor hands will be stained for a few days even if you scrub the snot out of them! Also, be cautious of your work surface. The Kool-Aid will stain your work surface. We used out kids table so I wasn’t worried about any spillage.
Dip desired portions (or use dropper) into bowls to saturate the T-shirts full of color. Come on now, get creative!
Keep rubber bands on, lay out to dry in the sun for 6- 8 hours. When fully dried, remove rubber bands and hang up to dry overnight. If you hang them up inside, beware your house will smell like vinegar….I advise you hang them outside 😉
To set the colors, iron your T-shirts on a medium-high setting using a towel between the iron and the T-shirt. Let shirt set for 24 hours before washing so the cotton absorbs all the color. Wash T-shirts separately in cold water for the first time so the dye doesn’t bleed onto others clothes.
This was our first tie dye experience! The kids had a blast being creative and making their own tie dye designs.
This post is part our Summer Fun Activities on a Budget for Kids series. See more of these fun ideas and posts here.
This project does not work. I followed the direction exactly and all the color washed out except just a little. Such a disappointment.
We tried this last week, following your instructions exactly, and unfortunately when I washed the shirts about 90% of the color washed out. So disappointing, especially for the amount of time and effort we put in 🙁
Mine just did the same thing. Wondering what I could do differeny. Kids are disappointed.
This is PERFECT! My 2 year old is having her birthday party this weekend, just family, but there are a whole bunch of us, and it’s a color party! I think we will do this with all the cousins and send them, the shirts, or maybe pillow cases, home in baggies to dry! Thank you for all the summer activity ideas!