tie dying with kids!

earlier this summer, i bought a couple of tie dye kits, planning for a fun day making t-shirts with the kids.  then i got home and realized i was thinking of letting the kids squirt dye everywhere, i must have lost my mind!  it took me awhile to gain the courage to try it.  after weeks of begging, i relented and we set up a dye station in the kitchen tuesday.

the kits were a 3 pack of sei tumble dye spray bottles, and a 5 pack of tulip one step tie dye kit squirt bottles.  i got one at michael's and the other at walmart.  i bought a few white tees for the kids and rounded up all the old, stained, not so white tees we had in the house, as well as a 3pack of white canvas tote bags.  then we got to work.  before long it looked like a pack of hippies had moved in!  tie dye everywhere, drying in the yard!  this would be a good time to have a clothesline, actually.  (i have been asking for one, maybe this weekend we can get one put up...)

because we were doing this inside, i didn't actually let the kids put the dye on themselves.  i know, mean old momma.  but i've seen my 4 year old with a glue stick, and he doesn't know the meaning of less is more.  i did let them direct me on where to put colors and we even tried a few designs.  i know almost 8 yo emma would have been fine doing it, and maybe even alex, but it was easier to do it myself.  we laid down a huge vinyl tablecloth over the island, and it worked pretty well. 

i didn't get crazy with trying to fold designs or rubber band patterns, although there are lots of videos on you tube on making them.  we did the scrunching method, and tried it on both dry and damp shirts.  the tulip set says to dye dry shirts, but after trying it, we dampened them.  otherwise, the dye runs right off the shirt!

we had a stack of onesies with stains, but after you throw a bunch of colors on them, it gets lost in the mix and they get another shot at life!  i even did a tie dye crib sheet! this really appealed to me - i hate to throw things away that are still functional.  but let's face it, not so white tees and sheets are just plain ewwww.  i LOVE how the crib sheet came out, it's so fun on his toddler bed!

i did some free hand drawing with the squirt bottles towards the end, which was cool.  i even dyed a navy tee, i was surprised at how much the dye shows up on a dark color!  it was sure fun, and i ran out of things to dye before i ran out of ideas!

after they dried, i rinsed them in hot water until it ran clear, then washed them in the machine.  the color catcher i threw in with it was navy blue by the end!  i will still wash these separately for the next time or two, just to be safe. 

how about you?  have you ever tie dyed with kids before?  any tips (or tragedies) to share?