Greetings !!
School Crafts

Leafy T-shirts

PROJECT:
Making leaf-print T-shirts

GOAL:
To recognize various leaves and enjoy using
them in a craft project

AGES: 5 and up

MATERIALS:
Newspaper
Pressed leaves
Fabric paints (three or four colors will do:
greens/browns for camouflage; reds/golds/oranges
for autumn; lavenders/pinks/blues for fantasy)
Paper plate or piece of cardboard for a "palette"
Paintbrushes
Container of water
Prewashed white or light-colored T-shirt
Small craft sponges (not kitchen sponges)
Damp washcloths or rags (one per child)

Marie Killian, curator of education at the North
Museum of Natural History and Science in
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, devised this T-shirt
project for her Tremendous Trees program. A
blissful follow-up activity for a day in the woods,
it grabs kids' imaginations and comes out looking
great. I tried this with a group of girls and boys,
and loved listening to their conversations as they
worked. They went from dreaming up a game of hide-
and-seek to strategizing a girls-against-boys game
of war to imagining themselves disguised as
chameleons and stick insects.

COLLECTING LEAVES
On your forest foray, collect an assortment of
leaves of different sizes and shapes. Fresh
green leaves work best for this project, but
for the sake of the forest, be sure not to pick
too many from any one tree. You also might
supplement a few forest finds with leaves from
your own backyard. At home, lay the leaves out,
flat and not overlapping, between layers of
newspaper. Set the stack where it won't be
disturbed and place a pile of books on top of
it. Let it sit for about a week, until the
leaves are pressed flat.

SETTING UP:
Cover your work area with newspaper, and set
out the leaves, paints, palette, brushes,
water, sponges and T-shirt. Fold newspaper
inside the body and sleeves of the shirt to
keep paint from seeping through to the back.
Lay the shirt down on the table and smooth
out any wrinkles.

MAKING TEST PRINTS:
Before printing onto the T-shirt, try some
test prints on a piece of newspaper. Choose
a leaf and find its veined side. Wet a
paintbrush and squeeze most of the water
out of it. Pick a color and paint the sponge
with it. The sponge should be coated with
paint but should not be gloppy. Put the brush
back in the container of water.

Dab the painted sponge on the veined side of
the leaf, including the stem. Do not rub back
and forth with the sponge, but press down
repeatedly on the leaf until it is fully
painted. Turn the leaf over, painted side
down, onto the newspaper and gently press down
with your fingers, taking care to get as clear
a print of the stem as possible. Advise the
kids to try to keep their fingers paint-free,
and, when printing the stem, to keep fingers on
the stem only. Pick the leaf up by the stem and
check your print. For the next print, add more
paint if needed, or go lighter. If the print
isn't clear, press down more firmly or take care
not to move the leaf while printing.

PRINTING YOUR T-SHIRT:
Once you like the way the practice prints are
coming out, go ahead with your T-shirt. Arrange
your prints in a pattern or cover the shirt,
overlapping prints in contrasting colors if you
like. As you work, be careful to keep your hands
wiped clean to avoid fingerprints. You can use
the same leaf several times, so long as you keep
printing with the same color. To keep colors from
getting muddy, use only one color per sponge and
rinse brushes before using them to apply a new color.

If you want to print both the back and front of your
shirt, wait to let the painted side dry completely
before flipping it over. When you are done, leave
the newspaper inside the shirt until the paint is
dry. Clean brushes and sponges in warm, soapy water.
These T-shirts can be machine washed, but only after
the paint has been heat set according to the
manufacturer's directions.