Kid-Made Dish Towels

Post by Contributing Writer Amy

These dish towels make a practical gift for anyone who loves your kids, a wonderful house warming gift, or just a fun addition for your own kitchen!  We made them as Christmas gifts for the great-grandparents.  Since the project uses cookie cutters, you could do any holiday or season you’d like.  I chose a winter theme, so they can be used after Christmas, too.  Here’s what you need:

• White dish towels
• New pencils
• Fabric paint
• Pen
• Scissors
• Cookie cutters of your choice
• Contact paper
• Masking Tape and extra paper or cardboard to put under the towel while stamping are not pictured, but very handy!

1. Choose your cookie cutter and trace onto the back of the contact paper.  For the snowflake, I cut a square of contact paper, then folded and cut like you would a paper snowflake.  Cut out, and peel off the backing.

3. Place your shape on the dish towel and chose paint.  You could do as many colors as you’d like, but two worked the best for us since we each stamped a color.  On our second towel, my daughter suggested taping the towel to the table and it worked really well to keep it steady for her when stamping.  Be sure to spread out the towel and put paper under the towel as paint will bleed through!

4. Using either end of an unsharpened pencil, dip it in the paint and stamp around the shape on the towel.  I did one color while my daughter (age 4) did the other.  We switched pencils and colors whenever she wanted and talked about how much their great-grandparents would love the gift.  It was a good time to chat with her and she sure had a lot to say!

5.  When the majority of edges are covered, you are ready to pull off the contact paper shapes for the big reveal!

Since they made the towels, the girls are very excited to see the great-grandparents open them.  Anywhere we go, people are asking them what’s on their wish list for Christmas.  It’s fun to give them the opportunity to get excited about giving gifts, too.  I’m sure these grandkid made dish towels will be a very well received gift!

Amy is a former reading and third grade teacher as well as a mother to three little girls with big personalities.  She believes joy can always be found in playing, learning, and ice cream.