Easy T-Shirt Craft for Kids

This is a project I first did clear back in 2006 for Alyssa's 6th birthday.  We made penguin shirts at her birthday party with all the kids.  You can see her sporting hers while getting ready to blow out her birthday candles.  This picture makes me a little sad... she's so cute and small!  This little girl is turning 12 in three months!  Sheesh!  Time goes by so quickly! *sniff*

I found a couple of small white t-shirts in with my craft supplies and thought I'd let my niece and nephew have fun designing their own shirts.

Their mom is a little snobby (let's see if she actually reads my blog haha) so I haven't seen them actually wear their shirts since they made them, but they had a ton of fun doing the project!

The first step is letting the kids color on their shirts with crayons.  You can have a set design (like we taught all the kids how to make penguins since penguins were Alyssa's favorite animal and it was a "penguin party") or you can have them freestyle it like Sadie and Brandon did.

Next you cover the designs with wax paper and iron them with a non-steam iron to set the design into the shirt!  That's it!  Alyssa and Caleb wore their penguin shirts for YEARS AND YEARS and the design never bled in the dryer and never wore off.

There are so many possibilities with this idea... You could have everyone make their own shirts for a family reunion, sports team or play cast.  You could make shirts at a birthday party or slumber party (think big shirts to sleep in).  I find iron on transfer books at thrift stores from the days of Tri-Chem painting EVERYTHING... You could iron a design onto the shirts and have the kids color in the design.  Kids love making something they can wear! 

Sadie and Brandon all finished and proud of their shirts!