I've been holding on to these white t-shirts for at least a month, waiting for the perfect project. I didn't want to JUST tie-dye them or JUST paint them, so we held on to them.
Last week I saw something on Pinterest about painting t-shirts on a slip-n-slide. WHAT?! Heck to the yes, let's DO it!
So. We. Did.
What you need:
1. Fabric paint (puff/dimensional paint works best)
2. T-shirts
3. Slip n slide with working water/hose
First, I gathered fabric paint. We've only done this once, however; the puff (dimensional) paint was awesome. I just bought the generic, off-brand paint from Michael's because quality is really a non-issue for this project. However much you think you'll need, I'd get a tube or two more. You end up going through paint very quickly.
Once you've got your paint ready, find some ridiculously cute kids and put them in white t-shirts and underwear. I wouldn't let them wear anything that you don't want permanently painted.
While the ridiculously cute kids pick their first paint color, go ahead and fire up that slip and slide.
The next step is up to you. You can put the paint directly on the slide for subtle coloring, which is how we started out. Hindsight is 20/20, thought and I'd recommend letting the kids slide down and get the shirt damp and then apply the paint directly to the shirts. SO, that being said, let them make a quick run to get their shirts damp.
Once their shirts are damp, splatter paint the shirts front and back. Once you've splattered the shirts, send them back to the slide for more water play.
Have them come back every few minutes for more of a color, or a completely different color.
You can do as little or as much paint as you want. We did a lot of the bold, bright colors so they would show well.
Tip: we found that the colors stayed bolder the less soaked they got. It works beautifully with the slide, but it also worked really well with them just running through the sprinkling water from the sides of the slip and slide. Also, I'd recommend a wider slide if you have multiple kids doing this. There's less chance of a collision that way!
Once you've reached the desired paint/water saturation ratio, don't forget to take a picture!
Remove the shirts and let the kids rinse the excess paint off on the slip n slide.
Lay the shirts out in the sun to dry. Once they are dry, bring them inside. Be sure to read the instructions on the paint bottle, as most brains require you to wait 72 hours before washing the shirts.
This particular project was seriously so much fun. I'd recommend doing the project with kids age 3+. Every one of my kids LOVED this!
Most of the excess paint washed right off the kids' skin. Any paint we couldn't get off with soap and water came off with nail polish remover. Jadie still has quite a bit of paint in her hair because she stayed mostly dry. I'm not terribly stressed; she will just be colorful for a few days! She's pretty much perfect whatever color she is! Stay tuned for pictures of the finished shirts!
