It is that time again and adding color to hard-boiled eggs is a great family tradition. My family enjoys this tradition the most. The great thing about dyeing Easter eggs is that the whole family has the opportunity to get involved and be creative.
There are many ways to dye eggs. Families can opt for buying kits in the store or do some creative eggs the old fashion way. There are endless methods for dyeing eggs. Here are just a few ways in which we create our masterpieces every season.
The Basics
I usually tape down newspaper to the table so that clean up time is a breeze. It is important to put old smocks or t-shirts on in case of messes. Then comes the fun part for me: boiling the eggs. This is probably the easiest task as well as the easiest to mess up. Simply place the eggs in a saucepan side by side. Do not stack the eggs. Fill the pan with water to about two inches over the eggs. Bring the water to boil. After 12 minutes, remove the eggs and submerge in cool water so you can touch them.
This is probably the most well known method to dyeing eggs. You can use the store bought tablets or place a few drops in a mixture of water and one teaspoon of vinegar per cup of water. This is fun because you can also teach kids about mixing colors.
I used to feel bad because I felt like my youngest was always getting left out until I saw this great suggestion for young toddlers and preschoolers. Take a water bottle or water gun depending the level of your child and let them shoot the dye on the egg. Or let them take a toothbrush and brush the egg with dye. Also another suggestion is to let them splatter the egg with paint using a paintbrush.
This can be done two ways. You can dye the egg then place stickers of you favorite character or Easter stickers on the egg. The second way is to put stickers on before you dye the egg, then remove the stickers after the egg is dry. This is a great way to make polka dotted eggs.
Got some old cheap crayons lying around? Why not use them to make some artistic masterpieces. Draw flowers, designs, etc. in crayon. Then dip the egg in dye. The dye will not go through the crayons. This is a great way to write names on the eggs.
Painting Eggs
You can always dye eggs then use tempra paint to add some artistic looks. The more advanced or older kids can use paint brushes while the young kids can use fingerprints. They can fingerprint bugs on the egg, caterpillars, jelly beans, etc.
These are obviously just a few suggestions. The possibilities of Easter egg dyeing techniques are endless! Feel free to add extra suggestions in the comment section.
