How do you make tie dye face masks with kids? It’s easier than you think!
Tie dyeing is one of our favorite classic summer activities! In fact, it’s on our list of 40+ awesome staycation summer activity ideas!
Tie dyeing doesn’t have to be stressful or hard if you know what you’re doing!
Kids love to find ways to express themselves through what they wear. Colorful creative kid-made masks are so fun!
Tie dye masks and t-shirts are a cool way for kids to show off their creativity and learn a new skill at the same time!
Here’s how to get started tie dyeing masks:
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WHAT YOU NEED:
Prep Ahead:
1. Before you start tie dyeing, you need to decide what style of tie dyed mask you want! My kids wanted spiral and striped designs.
We went to the Tulip YouTube channel to watch some tie dye tutorials and make our selections.
2. Once we figured out what each child wanted to do, we wrapped up each mask with rubber bands based on the instructions. Adults will need to do the twisting of the fabric and then kids can hand you rubber bands to help wrap everything up. Since the masks are so small, they only took a minute or two to wrap up.
3. Next we sprayed water on each rubber banded mask before we started dyeing. You want to make sure the masks are wet!
(This mask used the folded tie dye technique.)
How to tie dye masks:
Masks are much smaller and quicker to make than t-shirts. Because they are smaller, we found that it’s easier to use a paintbrush for tie dying instead of squirting bottles of dye all over. The paintbrushes make it much easier for kids to only get dye where they want it!
1. Set up your dye- Put your dye in small containers and give each child a paint brush.
We used Tulip brand dye that you mix with water and shake. It is really simple and much easier for kids to control than a squeeze bottle.
RELATED: Want to make tie dye t-shirts instead? Here are some cool tie dye t-shirts to make with kids.
We love using our paint cups to hold the dye and keep the containers sturdy.
2. Pick your color- Have kids pick one color to work with at a time to prevent mixing of colors.
Paint one section at a time. We used small brushes so that kids could control where they painted better.
* If you are worried about dyed fingers, you may want to have your kids wear plastic gloves. We don’t mind having colorful hands for a day or two, so we didn’t worry about it since gloves can be hard for young kids to use. The dye was gone after a few hand washes.
3. Remember to rinse- Have the child wash their paint brush in water between each color to make sure the colors don’t mix.
Make sure to paint the mask straps too!
Remind kids to make sure that there aren’t very many white spots and to add more paint to their brush if it is looking “thirsty” and no paint is coming off onto the fabric.
*Make sure kids keep the dye and painted masks on their art trays or cover your table with a tablecloth to protect the surface.
4. Let them soak- Finally, spray the tie dyed masks with water one more time and then place them in a ziploc bag or wrap them in saran wrap and let them sit for 6-8 hours (or overnight). Wrap each tie dyed mask separately so that the colors don’t mix or drip on each other.
The longer the dye sets, the darker the colors. We let ours sit for about 7 hours.
5. Time to rinse! Once the dyed masks have set for several hours, remove them from the ziploc bags, cut off or remove the rubber bands, and rinse out each mask in the sink under cold water until no more dye drips out and the water is clear.
6. Now you’re ready to wash your masks and set the colors. Wash each mask separately to avoid mixing colors or dyeing other items in your washing machine. I ran my washing machine on low (cold) on the hand washing setting with a very small amount of detergent.
*I’ve heard you can soak your tie dye mask in equal parts white vinegar and cold water for 30 minutes after you initially rinse out the dye from your garment. The vinegar helps with colorfastness. We’re going to try that next time!
7. Dry the masks- After you’re done washing the masks, dry them in the dryer and then they’ll be ready to use. My kids loved that the dryer shrunk their masks a little bit and made them fit even better.
Now you’re ready for any summer adventures ahead and have cute colorful tie dyed face masks if you find yourself nearby any people!
One of the best ways to get kids more enthusiastic about wearing masks is to allow them to create their own mask or choose what it looks like.
This tie dye mask craft helped our kids get more excited about wearing masks, which are required for kids over age 2 (in public places) where we live in California.
Have you tie dyed with your kids??
Do your kids have any face masks that they are excited about?
We’d love to hear about your experiences tie dyeing! Share below!
