Whether you have survived 100 days of at-home learning or 100 days at school this is a milestone worth celebrating!  Commemorate the occasion with this quick and easy DIY 100 Sweet Days of School Bubblegum Shirt.

Many elementary schools celebrate the completion of 100 days of school by having their students create customized 100th Day of School shirts. Most of these shirts generally involve attaching 100 of any object to the shirt along with a clever phrase or saying.

When I asked my daughter what she wanted to use to create her 100th day of school shirt she said “Bubblegum!”  Since gluing 100 pieces of bubble gum to a shirt wasn’t ideal I came up with the next best thing, a cute DIY Bubblegum shirt using DecoArt SoSoft paints.

What is the 100th Day of School?

The 100th day of school is literally the 100th day of the school year. Why is it important you ask?  I wondered the same thing so I asked my sister who is a kindergarten teacher why the 100th day of school was such a big deal.  She said that not only is it a milestone, but it is also a great way for them to teach various mathematical concepts using the number 100 in a fun and creative way.

Sounds good to me.  Learning and fun, plus a craft activity…I’m in!

How to Make 100 Day of School Shirt

There are lots of ways you can make a shirt for the 100th day of school.  You can add stickers, glue on plastic toys, or use my favorite method of paint.

Start by choosing something your kids are interested in.  If they love frogs paint a frog on a shirt and glue plastic flies for a “100 Days Flew By” shirt.  My daughter loves bubblegum and is always chewing it, so we decided to use that as our inspiration for her shirt.

I used my Cricut to cut out a gumball machine in iron-on vinyl.  You can also paint the gumball machine directly on the shirt if you don’t have a cutting machine.

Once I had the design cut out and weeded I used the Cricut EasyPress to iron on the design.

Now, it’s time for the fun part.  To add the gumballs to the machine we used the Martha Stewart Sponge Daubers and Decoart SoSoft Fabric paint.

DecoArt SoSoft Fabric Paint is my favorite fabric paint because it is the softest fabric acrylic on the market. It is permanent and requires no heat setting. Once dry, it is extremely soft and flexible to the touch. It adheres to all textiles and will not crack, peel, or harden even after repeated use and washings.

Simply dab the sponge in the SoSoft Fabric paint, place it inside the gumball machine and gently press down.

Continue adding different colors and sizes of gumballs until you have 100 gumballs in your gumball machine.

Here are a few tips to help make sure you get the best results.

• Be sure to place a piece of cardstock or cardboard inside the shirt before you start painting.
• Dab the sp0nge on a paper plate first to get rid of excess paint.
• Use a small, medium, and large sponge and overlap each size to create a full gumball machine.
• Keep a small paintbrush nearby so you can touch up and fill in any areas that need it.

Add a clever punny saying like “It’s Been a Sweet 100 Days of School!” Wear your new DIY t-shirt with pride and celebrate making it through 100 days of school!

Yield: 1

100 Sweet Days of School Bubblegum Shirt

Print

Prep Time 5 minutes

Active Time 15 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Difficulty Easy

Estimated Cost $10

Materials

• White T-shirt
• DecoArt SoSoft Fabric Paint - multiple colors
• Martha Stewart Sponge Daubers
• Paintbrush
• Red Iron-on Vinyl
• Silver Iron-on Vinyl
• Cardstock

Tools

• Cricut Maker
• Cricut EasyPress

Instructions

1. Use Cricut Maker to cut out gumball machine in red and silver iron-on vinyl.
2. Use the Cricut weeding tool to weed the vinyl design.
3. Use the Cricut EasyPress to iron the gumball machine to the middle of the T-shirt.
4. Place a piece of cardstock inside the shirt.
5. Dip the sponge dauber in the SoSoft Fabric paint.
6. Place the sponge inside the gumball machine and gently press down.
7. Continue adding different colors and sizes of gumballs until you have 100.
8. Add a clever saying like "It's Been a Sweet 100 Days of School" to the shirt.

I’d love to hear what you would make with DecoArt SoSoft paint to create your 100 Days of School shirt.