Summer is a great time to try out tie dye with kids! Follow these easy tips to make it a more enjoyable experience for both you and the kids and to create beautifully colorful pieces you can wear all year long!
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Let’s just get this out of the way right now — I’m not a cool mom who loves messy crafts! I usually stray from them, but as my girls are getting older, I’m learning to trust their skills more as we try new crafts since they love crafting so much! When we got this Just My Style Rainbow Tie Dye kit from our friends at Horizon Group USA I thought we should go big or go home and I invited my nieces over for a rainbow tie bye making crafting session outside!
If you’re looking to give tie dye a try, especially with a group of kids, check out these tips to make it a more fun experience with a colorful outcome!
- Gather your supplies. In addition to the Tie Dye kit, I also used a plastic table cloth to cover the table, plastic bags for the soaking step, water for the bottles and paper towels to soak up any spills. And, of course, you’ll need the shirts themselves! We used these fitted Jumping Beans brand shirts vs the oversized cotton ones you always see for tie dye. A mostly cotton fabric is recommended!
- Check out the instructions prior to having the kids around. Check out the tutorial videos for different tie dye patterns and tie for washing and wearing over on the Horizon Group USA Youtube page prior to the kids being ready to go. It limits the meltdowns in waiting for you to be ready.
- Set up your tie dye activity OUTSIDE! Avoid spills on your carpet! This why this craft is perfect for summer! To keep them out of the direct sun, we did ours on the grass, but under a pop up tent.
- Protection is key! Cover your table with a plastic table cloth (sold separately), cover your hands with the gloves provided when doing the dye steps, and wear smocks to avoid getting the dye on your good clothes.
- Teach one scrunch technique. Prior to this tie dye session, Brielle had one with Girl Scouts where there was a bunch of chaos with the troop leader trying to teach multiple scrunch and dying techniques at the same time. Save yourself the headache and choose one for everyone to follow along step by step. We chose a long design with different color sections broken out with the rubber bands provided. (think of a bubble braid) You can see how we created a tie dye heart pattern here.
- If they’re a planner, help them plan. While the younger kids were winging it, the older two were paying closer attention to their color choices. Brielle was adamant that she wanted hers in rainbow order so she made sure to pay better attention and count out her sections as she dyed it.
- Reinforce the idea of happy accidents! Even with planning, there are still some “accidents” that might happen during tie dye sessions. Some colors might bleed. Some squirts might accidentally happen in the wrong spot. But in the end, it will all be a colorful design they will love so keep it positive and keep up your excitement to see the final design!
After an overnight soak, rinsing and washing, I added a “Kind Kid Club” design using black glitter HTV and my Cricut. You can grab the free SVG cut file your kids wanna join our club! I love this group shot of these happy cousins in their new rainbow tie dye shirts!
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