Make a t-shirt: Painting shamrocks with peppers

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This was originally posted last year (3/15/13), but it is almost St. Patricks Day, so it is time to do this again!  (Do it early and get a lot of use out of it before St. Patricks Day)

Our kids LOVE this activity!  We have made one for the last two years and we will probably make them for years to come.  It is a fun, cheap activity!

Painting shamrocks with peppers:
I take one of their plain t-shirts (usually an older one that I don’t want them to wear anymore, since you will be painting on it… If it has stains, you can just paint over the stains!  No need to throw it out- just use it for this art project!  Any color t-shirt will be great, as long as you can pick the right color paint.) and an old pepper (off of the day-old produce rack, or one that is in your refrigerator that you STILL have not used!)

PS- if you need to buy a new shirt, check Michaels or Hobby Lobby and use a 40% off coupon (you can print it or get it on your smart phone).

Before you begin, be sure to prepare the area.  I have a tablecloth that I use for all art projects.  It is kept in my play-doh box (see pictures here).  I also have them wear aprons that I keep (easily accessible) in my pantry.  I then get out my art supplies, which are organized and ready to go.  (see how I organize my kids art supplies).  I get out the paint and paper plates (makes clean-up easier!).   Once you have all of this set, you are ready to begin…

First- find your old t-shirt. (Any color will work!)
HINT: If you are using a light colored t-shirt, you can use dark green paint.  If you are using a dark-colored t-shirt, you will want to go with LIGHT green paint (make your own with white + green) or even just white.

Step 1: Put the paint onto the paper plate or painting tray (you will use this to dip your pepper in the paint) *Be sure that you have something under the plate because it could leak through onto your table, which is why we use a table cloth.
* You will want to make sure that this paint will not wash off of clothes, because you will be washing this in the washer after they wear them.

Step 2: Cut the pepper in half:

Step 3: Dip it in the paint

Step 4: Press the pepper onto the t-shirt
You can make any pattern or creation!  I just let my child do whatever he wanted and he loved it!
We also wrote helped him to write his name with a paint-brush and stencils.

Step 5: After the front dries, paint the back!
You could also do this on paper to make a card or a picture.

See more craft ideas  or check out this post on Free indoor activities