Colorful Art Flags

Looking for a creative outdoor project to keep the kids busy?  This one was fun.  

I started by ripping up an old sheet into several different sized rectangles.  After I ironed them flat, I wrote the kids names on a few of the flags with washable Elmer's glue. The glue needs to dry for several hours.   This gives a Batik effect where the paint won't soak into the area that has been covered with glue.  You could draw on anything with the glue- maybe some leaf shapes for a fall banner would be nice.  

After your fabric is ready to go, you need to get out your acrylic paints, some containers to hold the paints, and some things to squirt paint with (old medicine syringes, spray bottles, etc).  You could try paint brushes too.  I mixed up the acrylic paint with some water to make it squirt-able.  I would recommend a ratio of 1 part paint to 4 parts water.  I had more water than that and it faded more than I expected as it dried.  

NOTE:  Acrylic paint won't wash off clothes and shoes, so wear something you don't mind ruining.  Also keep in mind that you probably don't want your house or garage siding splashed with a rainbow of colors. :)  We hung our flags up on a clothes-line between two trees out in the grass.  

Now for the fun part.  Encourage the kids to go crazy and squirt colors all over the place.  They will enjoy being able to make a big mess :)

This is what a spray bottle paint job looks like

This is what a squirt paint job looks like :)

You can encourage to kids to fill the whole flag up with color, or you can just let them do whatever they end up doing.  I can't resist being  a bit of a perfectionist, so I encouraged them to cover the whole flag :P

Here are Levi's flags. 

These are Wyatt's flags.

Don't you love all the colors?  Each kids made two flags. One with just paint that we made into flags (a flag for the kids fort maybe?) and one flag with their name to hang up in their bedroom.  I made two flags as well so as to not miss out on the fun. :)

\

After the flags were dry, I sewed up a seam on one end of the fabric to poke a stick into. 

You could get creative and sew your flag into a one-of-a-kind reusable tote bag too.  

After the banners were dry, I put them into the washing machine to soak, and then washed them until all the glue came off.  Next I dried and ironed them.  I also sewed a seam across the top of the name banners and inserted a thin dowel rod and tied on a string to hang it up with.  

This would be one of my flags.  It's hanging on the front door right now.  

So if your a kid or just a kid inside, give it a try- it's fun!