Easter Egg Decorating
Easter is this Sunday, which means it's a great time to gather your kids and decorate Easter eggs. The store-bought kits are fast and easy, but if you are looking to try something different, here are some new takes on decorating eggs, most using a store-bought kit as a base:
Rubber Band Eggs
Materials: Hard boiled eggs, egg dyes, rubber bands of different widths
Wrap a rubber band(s) around a hard boiled egg and immerse in egg dye until desired color is achieved. Let dry at least 30 minutes, and remove rubber bands.
Crayon Eggs
Materials: Raw eggs, white vinegar, water, crayons
Boil eggs in enough water to cover by one inch and 2 tsp vinegar.
Carefully remove a hot egg and let cool for ten minutes, keeping the other eggs in the water to remain warm. until you are ready to decorate. Carefully draw on the egg with crayon, and the heat will melt the crayon. Let cool for 30 or so minutes.
Marble Eggs
Materials: Hard boiled eggs, egg dye, vegetable oil
Dissolve all of your egg dyes in small containers and add 1 tbs vegetable oil to each. Dye eggs by completely immersing each egg in the dye of your choice - it will produce a pretty marble effect. After the egg dries, you can dip it in another color dye for a fun combination.
Easter Egg Planters
Materials: Raw egg shells, permanent markers, potting soil, grass seed, toilet paper roll
Crack a raw egg as close to the top as you can, carefully empty out the raw egg and rinse out the shell. Let dry and draw a face (if you want) on the front of the egg. Fill half way with soil, sprinkle with grass seed, and cover with a little more soil. To make a stand for the egg, cut a toilet paper roll in half or so and place the egg on top. You can even decorate the roll with markers and stickers if you want. Sprinkle a little bit of water on the soil every day (very important) and in a few days grass will grow.
Stenciled Eggs
Materials: Hard boiled eggs, egg dyes, stickers (like small hearts, stars, etc. - they should be small enough that a few will fit on an egg)
Place stickers decoratively on eggs and dip in dye until desired color is reached. Let dry at least 30 minutes, then carefully remove stickers.
Naturally-dyed Eggs
Materials: Raw eggs, six small pans, for natural dyes: purple grape juice (purple), spinach leaves (green), cranberries (pink), lemon peel or cumin (yellow), yellow onion skins (orange), blueberries (blue); white vinegar
Add water and one natural dye ingredient to each pan and bring to a boil. Let each pan cool and strain each container so just the natural dye remains. Place several eggs in each pan along with enough water to cover by one inch. Add two teaspoons of vinegar to each pan (note: do not add vinegar to the pan with the onion skin dye). Bring each pan to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 mintes. let eggs sit in pans until they reach desired color, then remove and let dry.