Izzie knew the campers were doing something messy today.
The picnic table was covered with garbage bags.
And Mr. Dunn was wearing an apron and rubber gloves.
"Great!" Izzie thought.
Messy meant fun!
"It looks like Laundry Day," Bobby said.
He pointed to a bucket of water filled with T-shirts.
"Nope," Mr. Dunn said with a smile.
"It's Tie-dyed T-shirt Day!"
Mr. Dunn held up a blue and green T-shirt.
It was tie-dyed and had the words "Kids Central Summer Camp" on it.
"Awesome!" Izzie cried. "I want that shirt!
I'm going to make one exactly like it."
"Grab your aprons and a pair of gloves, campers," said Mr. Dunn.
"You don't want the dye getting on your skin or clothes.
Only on the shirt you're dying!" Mr. Dunn chuckled.
"Start by choosing a T-shirt from the bucket."
Mr. Dunn showed the campers how to wring the water out of the shirts.
"Now we're ready to make our designs," he said.
"Can anyone guess how I made mine?"
Izzie studied his shirt.
She also saw rubber bands on the table.
"You put rubber bands around the T-shirt before you dyed it!" Izzie said.
"The dye couldn't get under the rubber bands.
That's why there are those white stripes!"
Mr. Dunn smiled. "Good thinking, Izzie."
"First twist your shirt," the teacher said.
"Then make sections with rubber bands.
Each rubber band will become a white stripe.
To make a pattern of circles, twist the middle section of the shirt.
Add rubber bands to make rings around your circle."
"I want stripes, just like yours, Mr. Dunn," Izzie said.
"I'm making circles," said Nina.
The boys chose circles too.
"Now it's time to dye.
Carefully squeeze dye onto each section."
Mr. Dunn demonstrated.
"You can use just two colors, or as many as you want," Mr. Dunn said.
Izzie looked at Mr. Dunn's shirt.
It had green stripes at the top and blue ones at the bottom.
Izzie used those colors too.
"Now put the shirts in plastic bags.
The dye needs to soak in for the rest of the day," said Mr. Dunn.
"At home you'll have to hang up the shirts to let them dry."
The kids set their bagged shirts aside.
But Izzie wasn't good at waiting.
She wanted to see her shirt now.
"Can we peek at the shirts, to check our designs?" she asked.
"No." Mr. Dunn shook his head.
"You have to wait, Izzie."
"Waiting is so hard," Izzie thought.
What if she had made a mistake?
What if her shirt didn't come out like Mr. Dunn's?
Finally the teacher announced, "It's time!"
The kids rushed back to their shirts.
Izzie thought the other campers' shirts looked great.
Then she took hers out of the bag.
She gasped. There were only two green stripes and five blue ones.
"Mr. Dunn, it doesn't look like your shirt at all!" she cried.
"It's much better than my shirt," Mr. Dunn said.
"The uneven pattern is beautiful!
You'll see how great it looks when we all wear our shirts on Friday."
Izzie smiled. Now she couldn't wait until Friday!
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