Dusty Tree Soap : August 2014

Here is a fun activity to do with the kids when it is raining. You can google Elmer's glue batik for more specifics, but here is a quick post on what we did. I bought some plain white fabric - we did two separate 1 yard each panels. Lay it out on some cardboard backed with waxed paper. A table works too, just somewhere that it won't be disturbed while the glue dries (overnight). Take your gel Elmer's glue and squeeze the glue out into whatever design you prefer. You could sketch an elaborate picture onto the fabric and use the glue to draw it or do as we did and free form glue all over the place. I did this with a 3 and 5 year old so some spots were heavy with puddles of glue. I just made sure I helped them move their bottles of glue around. ..most were swirly lines and dots. As I mentioned above...let this dry. Now comes the fun part...paint! Get lots of acrylic paints and water them down. Use this to paint your entire fabric panel. Let it dry overnight. This was our first time making something like this and I can tell that it is real important that you water down your paint. Our fabric is somewhat stiff since we should have used more water. When your paint is entirely dry put your fabric in a basin filled with warm soapy water. Let it sit for 20-30 minutes to wash away the glue. (scrubbing is fine...the pigments in the acrylic paint has stained your fabric so you will not wash the paint away) After I did this, I felt like it was still a bit slimy with glue so I tossed ours in the washing machine set to a gentle cycle and cold water. I even tossed them in the dryer. I backed ours with fleece for a small lap throw and have plans on making some neat designed fabric for bags. It is really fun and engaging for creative kids. Mine got the biggest kick out of making a painting on fabric that can be used for something useful. We gifted these lap blankets to their Grandpa and Papa as birthday presents.