Unleash your kid’s inner graphic designer with these 3 easy steps!

This sandpaper printing project is sure to thrill! It is a super simple and a much less messy t-shirt decorating project than painting. Even your littlest scribblers can participate.

Decorating t-shirts with kids is up there on my list of fave activities but it is a lot of set up and the permanent fabric paint is not a product I want to let my 3 year olds go wild with. That’s why this activity is so great, crayons are safe and easy for tiny hands!

Here is what you will need:

Sand paper, the variety pack

Crayola crayons

A white t-shirts

Scissors

Card board

Iron

Here is how it works:

1. Color! My girls are 3 and love to scribble on paper. I originally got the idea for this project from alpha mom the author’s daughter is a little older and able to draw a real picture for transfer but I decided to modify for younger kids. I told Stevie and Celeste to color like normal on the sand paper then I cut heart shapes out of their artwork. The finer the sand paper the less texture your design will have. Be sure to go over their designs or scribbles with a little extra pressure to ensure you have a good amount of crayon ready for transfer.

Discovering the new sensation of crayons on sandpaper was really fun for us.

I went over the scribbles they created to make sure enough color would transfer to the fabric.

I cut heart shapes from the scribbles. Aren’t the beautiful?!

2. Iron! Set the iron to cotton setting. Slide a piece of cardboard inside the shirt so you don’t accidentally transfer to the back side, it does not have to be heavy duty a piece of card stock worked fine for me. Put your design color side down and press the iron for 30 seconds. Peel up a corner to see if your design transferred and iron longer if necessary. After you remove the sandpaper place a couple paper towels on top of your designs and iron again. This helps remove some of the extra wax.

Don’t forget to slip a piece of card board in the t-shirt so your design doesn’t accidentally transfer to the back.

Ta-Da! Peel off the sand paper to reveal your original designs.

3. Marvel at your custom t-shirts! Stevie and Celeste LOVE these shirts and are so proud of their coloring. I planned to wash them separate for the first time but failed and put them in the wash with a full load and dried them normal too. When I discovered my mistake I was so pleasantly surprised to find the design perfectly intact. It hadn’t faded or smeared at all! But I do you think you should wash this project separately the first time just to be safe 🙂 🙂