What does it take to tie-dye a shirt? Our video and lesson at Let Grow explain what you’ll need:
1 – Some plain white tees and colorful dyes
2 – Rubber bands
3 – An incredibly cute 5-year-old*
The mom who wrote the accompanying essay just happens to be Tracy Tomasso, the exec director of Let Grow, and as she notes:
This tie-dye project ended up being a perfect lesson in independence and failure. And not just for Fiona—it was good for me, too.
Often when we do things together as parent and child—especially when we’re in the more typical teacher and student role — I find myself struggling to be patient, to give Fiona enough time to work on a new task at her pace. I suspect her flares of frustration on those occasions stem from her sense that I’m getting restless.
When we were learning to tie-dye together, I was no more capable or faster than she. So we naturally operated at the same (slower) speed as we honed our skills. My own inexperience stifled my usual tendency to “take charge.” Here, when our pacing was in sync, the entire experience was a calmer, more enjoyable one.
So take a look and start, um, dyeing. (Aren’t we all, always?)
*Substitutions may work