"Me"shirts
Subject:
Graphics and Digital Photography
Age Level: 6
years old and up
Performance
Standards Information
Conventions, Grammar, and Usage
of the English Language E4a,
E4b
Activity Goals
- To teach children
how to use a digital camera
- To teach children
to use a graphics program
- Use of a digital camera
- How to use a graphic program
- Iron On Transfer Paper
- White Shirts (can be short or long sleeved)
- Iron
- Computer with graphics program
- Color inkjet printer
- Digital Camera
- Floppy Disks
- An idea of what they would like the finished
product would look like
- The rules of the Computer Room.
- Have the children
take turns taking pictures of each other with the
digital camera. It works quicker if you put each
child's picture on a separate floppy disk.
- Have the children
turn on computers and enter the graphics program
that they will be using.
- Have the child
design the background for the T-Shirt first. For
example, on Publisher, you can use auto shapes,
and then use fill effects to color the shapes with
a colorful design.
- Then insert the
disk with the child's photo into the floppy drive,
and have them insert their photo onto the page,
scaling it larger or smaller at the child's preference.
Be sure to keep the proportions scaled on the photo.
- To add to the
design, children can then add their name using Word
Art (if they want to) and/or any Clip Art they might
like. Some children like adding Clip Art with their
favorite sports, or favorite center activity (such
as computers!)
- Have the children
save their design. It's always best to save it using
the child's name as the file name so you know which
shirt belongs to which child.
- When you go to
print the design on the T-Shirt transfer paper,
make sure that the printer properties are set to
give you the mirror image (reverse) of the design.
It will print reversed, so that when it is time
for you to iron it on the T-Shirt, it will come
out correctly.
- After letting
the ink dry for 30 minutes, iron on the design to
the T-Shirt using the instructions included with
the paper.
- What's Your Sign? as well as Mother's Day Frames can be turned into the design for the T-Shirts. Also getting pictures off the Internet, or possibly scanning photos to us add to this activity or substitute the child's photo if a digital camera is not available. Tote bags or any other substitute items can be used in place of shirts.
- Time - this project
takes about an hour to complete
- Number of children
participating in the project. Smaller groups of
about 8 children per session should be the maximum
amount of children participating at one time.
Tips and Hints
- It is
recommended that you print to the T-Shirt paper
when the children are not in the room to avoid any
accidental misprints.
- Leave 30 minutes minimum drying time for the ink
on the transfer paper before ironing it. This will
avoid any ink or photo smudges when you iron.
- It is recommended that an adult do the actual
ironing process.
- T-Shirts that are 100% Cotton work best with this
project. The T-Shirts must be white because you
are using white T-Shirt transfers.
- There are several brands that work best during
the ironing process. They are the Avery as well
as Invent It . These are not the only ones that
you could use but the best results so far were obtained
with these brands.
- When washing the shirts, turn them inside out first. If not, there's a chance that the design might fade or peel in the was