I want to make the Family Fun Solar Shirts for my pre-school class

[triplefigs]

but with a Thanksgiving theme. I think it would be cute to paint the shirts with the kids. I know they'd love it, and they could all pick their own colors. We wear them as a class to our Thanksgiving Feast, along with Indian hats and pasta necklaces. The kids look adorable!

So, any ideas on a shape, design, etc that I could make with the flour/water to spray the fabric paint on top? How would you swirl it, or would you just outline it? And it could be a combination of a design and words.

Thanks!

 

[rumblytumbly]

triplefigs,

Could you have someone help them apply the flour and water paste around their hands and then finish it off to look like a turkey? I think that would be pretty cute but I guess it could also turn into a real mess if they didn't have 1:1 help when tracing their hands...

I'm sure others will have ideas too.

 

[java]

ok the obvious but I am seeing a swirly turkey- tiny swirl for the head, bigger swirl for the body and then just drawn on some feathers.

Or you could do the hands outlined in fabric markers instead of the sun spray paint. and turn that into a turkey.

 

[cmacf1]

I also teach preschool and my co-teacher and I are going to be doing this project for xmas. Don't yet know the design, but we're looking forward to the kids having fun with it. I like the idea of outlining their hands for turkeys, but I will suggest that using craft glue or Elmer's glue is a whole lot less messy. When everything's all dry, just soak the shirts in water and the glue peals right off. VERY easy. I just tried it last week. We will be working one-on-one with each of the kids (we do that with a lot of projects anyway.) Good luck!

 

[asktriplets]

I also teach preschool and my co-teacher and I are going to be doing this project for xmas. Don't yet know the design, but we're looking forward to the kids having fun with it. I like the idea of outlining their hands for turkeys, but I will suggest that using craft glue or Elmer's glue is a whole lot less messy. When everything's all dry, just soak the shirts in water and the glue peals right off. VERY easy. I just tried it last week. We will be working one-on-one with each of the kids (we do that with a lot of projects anyway.) Good luck!

when i tried this project with the glue, it just soaked into the shirt. it was a "practice" shirt, so i painted over the soaked-in glue, thinking maybe it would still work somehow...nope. the paint never actually washed off where the glue had been.

what did i do wrong?

thanks!

 

[cmacf1]

I used Craft glue (specifically Aleene's Tacky Glue.) I actually didn't try Elmer's glue (I saw that others had tried that and it worked.) The tacky glue is pretty thick and didn't sink in at all. I did the swirly heads on two different fabrics: on a 50/50 poly/cotton t-shirt and on a 100% cotton canvas tote bag. Both worked equally well, but it was easier to get the glue off the thicker canvas tote bag. Try tacky glue -- it's really inexpensive! Good luck!

 

[triplefigs]

Thanks. We have lots of the Aleene's Tacky Glue (in the goldish brown bottle?) at school. I think we may try making leaves, pumpkins, etc and the turkey.

 

[cmacf1]

asktriplets -- I'm also on cruisecritic.com and I saw on our trip thread for our cruise (which is January 12th on the Magic) that there's a grandmother whose 4 year old triplets were going on that same cruise. Could that be you? If it is you, my 3 and 5 year old girls will be there too! Let me know!

Cathy

 

[asktriplets]

asktriplets -- I'm also on cruisecritic.com and I saw on our trip thread for our cruise (which is January 12th on the Magic) that there's a grandmother whose 4 year old triplets were going on that same cruise. Could that be you? If it is you, my 3 and 5 year old girls will be there too! Let me know!

Cathy

cathy,
thanks for the aleene's tip! i'll try that.

that's not me on the cruise...i'm a land lover!!!!

have a great time on your cruise!

 

[cmacf1]

cathy,
thanks for the aleene's tip! i'll try that.

that's not me on the cruise...i'm a land lover!!!!

have a great time on your cruise!

Then there are two sets of 4 year old triplets whose parents/grandparents are totally into Disney! My hat's off to you -- my two little ones exhaust me (though they sure are sweet!)

Cathy

 

[triplefigs]

I have 7 year old BBG triplets, so it's not us either!

 

[LittleBlue22]

What great timing for this thread. I was thinking it would be too cold for the solar shirts to take effect since cooler weather is headed our way. But now I have hope to make the same kind of shirts for my preschoolers or family.

What kind of paint should I use? Should I follow the same/similar instructions as the solar shirts?

Thanks

 

[cmacf1]

I used Aleene's craft glue (it's thicker than Elmer's) and allowed that to dry for close to 24 hours. The dye I used was from Miichaels. You can find the dye near where they have the t-shirts (just ask for spray on or paint on fabric dye.) I have used both spray and paint on. With little kids, the paint on would be MUCH easier. With my own children, I have made a Mickey head template and after the glue in the circular pattern has dried, I'll put the template so that they can easily paint a Mickey head using the dye paint I have bought (the most recent stuff I bought was glitter dye and it turned out wonderfully!) For brushes, I used the really really cheap foam brushes. At our preschool, we're so excited about doing these projects!!

by the way, you can use 100% cotton OR 50/50 cotton/poly t-shirts. It works equally well. I forgot to add that you need to let the dye dry for 72 hours (some dyes might be less time.) After that point, you can soak the shirts in water and soon, the glue will be easy to pull off. The kids will probably like doing that too, though it would be pretty messy.

Have fun

 

[LittleBlue22]

I used Aleene's craft glue (it's thicker than Elmer's) and allowed that to dry for close to 24 hours. The dye I used was from Miichaels. You can find the dye near where they have the t-shirts (just ask for spray on or paint on fabric dye.) I have used both spray and paint on. With little kids, the paint on would be MUCH easier. With my own children, I have made a Mickey head template and after the glue in the circular pattern has dried, I'll put the template so that they can easily paint a Mickey head using the dye paint I have bought (the most recent stuff I bought was glitter dye and it turned out wonderfully!) For brushes, I used the really really cheap foam brushes. At our preschool, we're so excited about doing these projects!!

by the way, you can use 100% cotton OR 50/50 cotton/poly t-shirts. It works equally well. I forgot to add that you need to let the dye dry for 72 hours (some dyes might be less time.) After that point, you can soak the shirts in water and soon, the glue will be easy to pull off. The kids will probably like doing that too, though it would be pretty messy.

Have fun

Thanks for the tips. I can't wait to try it now.

 

[cmacf1]

Just looked at my Aleene's glue. It's actually called Tacky Glue, not Craft Glue.