It's become a tradition for the kids to decorate t-shirts when our extended family gets together for the big 4th of July parade and fireworks. One year the grandkids all got to ride in the parade in a wagon my father-in-law pulled on his newly restored tractor! We will miss attending this large gathering this year but may just have to keep the t-shirt tradition alive! Below is the shirt design from last year (which followed the fun handprint flag shirt the year before. You can check out the instructions for those tshirts here). Below are the instructions for the fireworks shirts. Happy Fourth!
What you need:
Shirts - red, white or blue work great!
Fabric paint - acrylic paint may also be used if mixed with a fabric medium or set with a blow dryer or iron
Paper plates or other surface that can serve as a paint palette.
Cardboard cut to fit between the front and back of each shirt (so the paint doesn't seep through while painting or drying)
Pipe Cleaners
Scissors to trim pipe cleaners
What to do:
Twist 4-5 pipe cleaners into a firework shape, crimping in the middle to hold together. You can make a loop for your finger in the middle or simply hold at the point they are crimped together. We trimmed ours to the size we liked before twisting, but you can do that after creating your shape as well. We made a few sets of these as we layered colors of paints for our fireworks. Reserve at least one pipe cleaner firework shape for each paint color.
Dip pipe cleaner shape into one color of paint and then onto the shirt in multiple locations. We simply used paper plates for our paint palettes.
Repeat with additional paint colors until you've achieved the look you like.
Let dry - overnight is best! Don't forget to check the paint manufacturer’s directions for laundering.
This activity works great set up outside on a picnic table. We have used large ziploc bags to hold our paint palettes so they could be re-used throughout the afternoon as kids stop between playing games to create their shirts. Tshirt painting is a fun, easy project that has turned into a tradition for our family on the Fourth of July. It's fun to see the kids come back each year in the shirts they've made the year prior (if they still fit)!
