Oh my gosh! This is one of my favorite projects we do every school year! The kids are always so amazed at how their shirts turn out and when they realize they actually created it. It's such a fun memory for everyone.
Now, I'll be the first to admit that tie-dying t-shirts with 20 or more 5-year-old sounds scary. But if you plan everything out and do the prep work ahead of time, it will work out. And having at least one extra pair of hands (I'm so thankful for my classroom assistant) will also help! haha
Usually I have the kids bring in a new white t-shirt in their size and write their name on the collar. I also decide how I'm going to tie the shirts (lots of cute ideas on Pinterest) to get a design and twist and rubber band around them in advance. Once I have the rubber bands on the shirt, I place it in a gallon zip lock bag with the child's name so I know it is their shirt and can be organized when it's time for the real fun. This also allows me to be prepared with a bag to place their shirt after they apply the dye and it's wet.
Some other things I always have are some plastic disposable aprons, gloves, paper towels, and a trash bag handy to help manage the mess and for cleanup. When it is their turn, the kids wear an apron (I try to use it for more than one kid since they usually don't get dirty), gloves, and I always use some sort of container for them to place their shirt in and squirt the dye on it. This helps contain the mess.
Once the shirts are done, I send them home with the kiddos and a sheet of directions for their parents about rinsing and washing the shirt. You can find a copy of the instructions here in my TPT store. I really like for them to be able to take their shirt home and do this part so they get the full experience of the process. In the past, I have done orange and white shirts and painted jack-o-lantern faces on the front. Then, I started doing orange, yellow, and white (think candy corn!) and painting the jack-o-lantern faces on the front with fabric paint once they send them back to school. I always do this in the fall and we wear them on our first field trip of the year, which is usually to a pumpkin patch or farm.
Unfortunately, 2020 had different plans for us. No field trips will be happening anytime soon, but I still wanted the kids to have the fun experience of creating a tie dye shirt. So, we went ahead with the orange and yellow dye, but we didn't paint faces on them so they could wear them anytime. We got to go to school face-to-face for a few weeks, so I was able to do this project just in time for them to take the shirts home and rinse and wash them.
Tie-dying shirts is a fun project to do anytime of year. Any color of dye would be perfect and you can pair your colors to whatever occasion you might be celebrating!
I purchased my dye from Amazon. Here are some links for different colors:
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