I can be courageous and kind like Cinderella. Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute. Proverbs 31:8
I can be kind like Captain America. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
Kindness was our focus this week, but fun activities were essential. Kindness Stones, Captain America T-shirts and Cinderella Bandannas.
I will not bore you with all the step by step details of tie-dyeing. Any package of dye you purchase will have instructions. For the star, we used Elmer’s school glue. I read where people used blue glue or tacky glue, but we only had the white stuff, so that’s what we used. We drew a star in the center of the shirt with a thick layer of glue and let it dry completely. (tip – put the shirt in sunshine) We then did a classic bull’s-eye design to get the shield shape. (i put painter’s tape over the areas we wanted to stay white. I knew it wouldn’t stop bleeding dye, but it helped with splashing dye.) When we rinsed the shirt after the dye set over night, we had to scrub the glue off before washing the shirt.
For the second shirt, the boys wanted to try to replicate Cap’s uniform. We did the same thing for the star, then dyed the top half blue and red stripes on the bottom. The glue did not completely block the dye from bleeding through, but I’m happy with how they turned out. The boys were fighting over which one they got to wear, so I’d say they like them too.
Uniform shirt
Shield shirt
We had an extra shirt and a lot of purple dye left, so for fun, we designed our own Infinity Stones shirt. Once again, we used the glue to block the dye from going where we wanted to put the stones. Then, we did a classic spiral design, set overnight, rinsed, and let dry. I then used Sharpie markers for the stone colors and dripped rubbing alcohol on the colors to blend the marker lines. It was an experiment. It didn’t come out perfect, but no tie dye ever does. My Kindergarten Princess was happy to model our “Thanos Shirt.”
Thanos/ Infinity Stones Shirt
I knew Cinderella week would coincide with when we did the Captain America tie dye, so I tried to come up with a tie dye project for the girls. Bandannas to cover our hair while we clean? Sounds good to me. Cinderella does wear one herself, though not as psychedelic as these ones. I did a classic spiral with four colors for the baby princess, but my big girl wanted a heart design. To do that, I folded the cloth in half and drew a half heart in chalk. I pleated and bunched the fabric on the heart line and tied a rubber band around the line very tightly. We added a few bull’s-eye rings and let it sit overnight. The process was harder than I thought, so I was very surprised to see a heart-like shape come out when we rinse the bandanna.
Tie-dyeing was messy and I still have dye under my nails. But it was fun. I love being creative with my kiddos.
The project this week that the kids kept bringing out to do more and more and more; the kindness stones. We live by a lake and the kids kept going back to the water to collect more and more rocks to paint. The idea of kindness stones is to put them out in public places where they will be easily seen by passersby. Hopefully when they see the painted rocks and the encouraging words, it will bring a smile to their face. First, we washed the rocks, then painted them with acrylic paint. Once they dried, we used paint and permanent marker to draw hearts and smiley faces, and write kind words on the rocks. We then put them all around Johnson County, KS. If you find one, let us know! The kids will love hearing about it.
Though Captain America and Cinderella are great, our main role model for kindness is Jesus. We started listening to the book of John (You Version Bible App) this week and had several discussions on the kind acts Jesus did, from sitting and chatting with a Samaritan woman, to healing people. Jesus actively loved people. He didn’t judge, he just showed compassion and even when he was tired, he was kind. I’m looking forward to more conversations with my kids as we continue listening to John.