Natural dyes!

We have had an amazing week in Year 3 following and writing fantastic instructions.

We read a book where the main character discovered that blackberries dyed his hands purple. This got us thinking about what other plants do the same.

 Using the internet we researched and make notes about different fruits and vegetables we could use to naturally dye materials different colours. Miss Walton then went shopping!








Have a look at the pictures below which show the steps we took to make our own dyes. The results were amazing! We predicted before we started what colours each vegetable would give us. None of us guessed that brown onion skins would give us a vivid orange colour!

We had to chop the beetroot and red cabbage. We had to peel off the brown onion skins. Then we had to carefully place the tea bags and turmeric into the water.

The mixtures had to be heated until the liquid boiled. Whilst they were heating, we tied up our material using elastic bands. We checked each others to make sure they were tied securely.

 

After leaving the mixtures over night, the next step was to sieve out the chunky pieces. We only needed to keep the liquid.

Our material in the dye - we left it for 15 minutes.

 

Then we hung them out to dry in the sunshine. When they were dry, we took off the elastic bands to discovered what patterns we had created.

 

These are just a few of the amazing results!