So far, we don't use any formal art curriculum in our school. We use a fraction of our budgeted "school money" to make sure we have a variety of art and craft supplies on hand when inspiration strikes, and either buy art books or check them out of the library for the boys to browse through. Occasionally we splurge on craft kits. This summer we tried the
Jacquard Tie Dye Kit and made some pretty cool t-shirts. I'd seen the kit at the craft store for about $25 and thought it was too expensive, but when I stumbled across it on Amazon.com for much less I bought it on impulse. It sat in the basement for a while until I had enough extra money on hand to get some white cotton t-shirts, which I found in the boys department at Wal-Mart for $5 each. I bought two shirts for each of my kids to dye. I ended up wishing I'd bought more! The boys had a blast, and the shirts came out great:
There was plenty of dye left over in the kit to do more, so I'm going to get some more shirts and let the kids have some more fun. Now that they've seen the finished products, I think they'll have a better idea what they're trying to accomplish while dyeing. Even without really knowing what they were doing, they really enjoyed it and learned a lot about mixing colors. The kit comes with dye in the primary colors, but as you can see the boys quickly figured out how to make orange, green, and purple. They love showing off their shirts, and I like that the money spent on this project ended up paying for a fun afternoon, a great learning experience, and four new shirts that my boys can wear until they outgrow them.
I highly recommend the kit to any family looking for a fun art project. Click on the image below to check it out at Amazon.com; I have yet to find them at a better price.
Note: If you have more than one child, you may want to buy a few extra pairs of latex gloves so nobody tie-dyes their hands!
