Dying Eggs


Submitted by the staff at Childreach

The egg is a common symbol of spring—it represents the return of life after a long winter of dormancy.

Dying eggs with your child is a great activity that can involve the entire family. While

egg-dying kits are available in retail stores, it’s fun to experiment with different materials you can find

in your home. Try some of these methods.

 

Tissue-Paper Dyed Eggs

Materials

• Hard-boiled eggs

• Squares of tissue paper (1 ½ inch squares) in many different bright colours

• Spritzer of water or a bowl of water

Instructions

1. Spritz egg with water/dip egg in water

2. Lay squares of tissue paper, one at a time, around the egg. Experiment with different colour

combinations and overlap them. Spritz with water again if the tissue paper didn’t get wet;

set aside to dry.

3. When the egg dries, the tissue paper will fall off, and the egg will have absorbed colour from

the tissue paper.

 

Natural Dyed Eggs

Instructions

1. Put eggs in a large pan. Fill the pan with water so that it’s about 1/2 inch over the eggs.

2. Add 2 tsp white vinegar unless you will be using onion skins, as these react with the vinegar and

make the eggs a brownish color.

3. Add the natural dye material—see list below for ideas. You will need a fair amount of the dye, for

example 1 cup of cherries, 2 tbsp tumeric, 2 cups of packed onion skins. Have fun experimenting

with the amount of material to add.

4. Bring water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes.

5. Remove the eggs onto a bowl covered with paper towel.

6. If the eggs aren’t as dark as you’d like, remove the paper towel from the bowl and add the cooled

strained liquid you originally used to dye the eggs. Let sit overnight. This may make the egg shells

weak (vinegar weakens the shells). Carefully remove the eggs from the liquid and let sit in the air.

The shells will harden again.

7. When the eggs are dried, rub vegetable oil on with a paper towel for a glossy look.

 

Natural dyes to try:

• Red/pink – Fresh beets, canned cherries or frozen, crushed cranberries (not cranberry sauce or jelly)

• Orange – yellow onion skins

• Light yellow – lemon peels, orange peels or ground cumin

• Golden yellow – ground turmeric

• Light green – spinach

• Blue – red cabbage leaves (pre-boil red cabbage leaves for 30 minutes) or crushed blueberries

• Purple – grape juice

• Also try different berries, coffee grounds, tea, or dandelion flowers.

 

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