Permanent Ink Science Shirts

We had one white t-shirt left after making our patriotic shirts, so I went on a mission last night and found this site full of wonderful, sciencey, projects.

I had everything needed for this project already in the house, (which makes this a perfect activity).

We needed:

permanent markers-we had Sharpies and Bic markers-they both worked fine

rubbing alcohol

medicine droppers

a bowl and rubber band to stretch the shirt taunt

pre-washed white t-shirt

Stretch the shirt over the bowl and secure with a rubber band. Use markers to make a design. We did mostly circular designs, using three colors at the most.

Use the medicine dropper to drop about twenty drops of alcohol into the center of the design. Now is the time to discuss the science concepts of solubility, color mixing, and the movement of molecules from one to another. The kids liked seeing how far they could get the colors to spread using more drops of alcohol.
After we spread out the colors, we used the blow-dryer to dry the design. I didn't want the wet marker to get onto the white shirt while we were working on another area. This shirt was easily done by Mark and Grace-on thier own. They are 8 and 6. I was just on hand to help them get the shirt adjusted on the bowl with the rubberbands.
Put the shirt in the dryer on high heat for about 15 minutes to set the ink.

Luke calls this his "crazy shirt".