Let’s celebrate summer by creating tie-dye beach towels, incorporating conversations about the color wheel, rainbow order, mixing, and pigment strength all in the comfort of the backyard. Grab some gloves (and some plastic covering if you aren’t on grass – yikes!) and have some imaginative, colorful fun!
Tie-Dye Beach Towel Materials
This activity works best with the widely available spray tie-dye kits. They dry faster and the application is easier for even the youngest of beach-goers.
Grab white beach or bath towels (the fluffier, the more color-absorbent), lots of duct tape, really warm water for mixing the tie-dye, and the spray kit.
Print out the color wheel as a guide. It is a great visual tool for classifying the spectral wavelengths from red to violet.
Depending on the number of options available in the tie-dye set you’ve purchased, take a look at your color wheel and separate your bottles into primary, secondary, tertiary categories.
Lay your towel out on a flat surface, smoothing it out. Using the tape and moving slowly, spell out your child’s name across the towel.
Next, on a covered surface or grass, put on your gloves and begin mixing up the tie-dye with the warm water. What colors are made from the primary colors? Working from the color wheel, which colors will look best near each other on the towel?
Let the Fun Begin
With those gloves on, let the spraying begin!
Be glad you have on gloves! The bottles can get messy fast.
Pigment strength was brought up: how do we make the color more intense?
It’s perfectly fine to get spray on the tape.
Once the towel is fairly dry, flip it over to be sure to spray the backside! Flip back over and allow to dry completely. Wash the towels separately twice alone in the wash.
Voilà! Monogrammed beach towels created by your color wheel-savvy children.
Enjoy the rest of the summer!
Save it for later!
Summer Tie-Dye Beach Towels