Instead of throwing away clothes that we no longer like or that are stained, we can reuse them. This upcycling is not only planet friendly but also allows us to have original and unusual things in our closet. We can add applications and colourful patches to our clothes or we can decorate them with special dyes and stamps. We will show you below how to do all that.
Goal:
- Showing kids that clothes can be reused.
Time: 30 minutes.
MATERIALS
- Potatoes
- Textile dyes
- Knife
- Old tshirt or pants
Course of the task
First, teacher prepares stamps made of potatoes. To make them you will need to cut the potato in half and carve the pattern. Younger kids can use metal cookie cutters which can be pressed into the potato to get the desired shape. Then you just need to cut around the shape.
Pour the dye onto the flat plate and dab the stamp in the paint. Stamp the potato on the cloth, leaving various patterns on it. Place a piece of paper under the fabric so the paint does not seep through.
Leave the clothes out to dry. To finish the job, iron the pattern (but do not use the steam/water spray feature). To not stain the iron or the iron board place the baking paper underneath.
The post is funded by the Veolia Foundation and is part of an international project carried out in Polish-German collaboration.
The post is a part of the “Preschooler’s Calendar,” which was created as part of a project co-financed by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt in cooperation with Naturschutzzentrum Oberlausitzer Bergland.
