Crafts Made With Dish Towels

Dish towels are essential for drying dishes and cleaning up kitchen messes. They also are pretty inexpensive to buy and use during craft hour with your children. Children can be creative with these towels and make presents to give to other family members on their birthdays or as holiday presents.

Johnny Appleseed

Give your child a lesson about John Chapman before you create this Johnny Appleseed craft using a dish towel, or you can just read a children's book on Johnny Appleseed first. Give your child a white dish towel and have her lay it flat. Cut an apple in half and give it to your child. Put red paint in a paper plate and have your child dip the apple in to the paper plate. Press the apple onto the fabric. This can be repeated to create a pattern of apples going across the bottom of the dish towel. Hand your child a paintbrush and squeeze some black paint on the paper plate. The child can add a stem to the apple and some seeds in the middle of the apple. If you don't want the seeds to go in the apple, place them on the ground around the apple. Finish with some green paint to add leaves to the apple stems. Wait for the paint to dry before wrapping as a gift.

Dog Toy

Give your child three dish towels or have him pick out three patterned dish towels in the store. Have him take two towels and cut a small strip off of each. (This won't be noticeable when you make the toy.) Roll up the dish towels lengthwise and twist them a bit. Set them next to each other so they are the same height. Have your child tie one of the strips around the top of the three dish towels while you hold them. Ask your child to braid the dish towels. Use the last strip of dish towel to tie the braid together at the end. This toy can be wrapped up for the family dog and given to him on Christmas.

Recipe

Go over family recipes with your child and have her pick her favorite one. You don't want the recipe to be too long, however, because it must fit on the towel. Another idea is to use the recipe of the person you are giving the towel to. Cover up a table with newspaper and have your child lay out a white towel. Fold the towel in to thirds, the way it would hang on a stove handle. The part you'll see is where your child should do the work. Have your child use different colored permanent markers to write out the recipe. Above the recipe, your child can draw a picture of the finished dish, the ingredients or the person who created the recipe. Wait for the ink to dry before wrapping as a gift.

References

• Johnny Appleseed Dish Towel Craft
• 10 Clever Dish Towel Crafts
• Recipe Dish Towel Craft