Decorate Easter eggs with natural dyes
Dyeing eggs with natural ingredients is as an exciting activity for children as any other, allowing them to see and explore different possibilities, experiment with materials, and discover the amazing variety of nature. And of course, who doesn't like experiments with food?
I will show you six simple and exciting food ingredients with which you can make your Easter eggs gorgeous together with children and which, if you don’t have them at home, can be easily purchased in any store.
What do you need to make a natural Easter egg dye?
-
a pot with water (for each color, the size depends on how many eggs you want to dye)
-
food ingredients - onion peels (yellow and red), red cabbage, beetroot (uncooked are the best), blueberries (frozen can be used as well), turmeric, and spinach.
-
white vinegar
6 foods to dye Easter eggs naturally
You can probably try any food to color your eggs, but I will share the products I have tried together with my kids. While preparing all the materials, let the kids guess what color you will get from each of these foods and then compare with the result:
Onion peel. The most traditional coloring of eggs is onion peels to get rich brown, beautiful eggs. For a more effective, brighter tone, mix the peel of the yellow and red onions or attach the peel directly to the egg (see the decorating part below).
Red cabbage. Interesting fact, that you won’t get red eggs from it. You will get a bright blue one. The longer you hold, the bluer the egg will be.
Red beets. Of course, there is not much to think about this one - you will get a red egg. But, in this case, too, the color depends on the duration you hold the egg in the dye. Experiment with a time to get from pink to dark red.
Blueberries. You will get an egg in a beautiful purple tone from pastel to galactic patterns with darker points on it.
Turmeric. When you see the color of turmeric, you’ll know what color your egg will be. An egg in a gentle, pastel-yellow color will be a great addition to your Easter egg basket.
Spinach. That's right, spinach is not only very healthy but can be used to dye eggs. You will get eggs in beautiful, greenish tones.
Dyeing eggs with natural materials
First, boil the white eggs. Yes, I also used to boil the eggs right with the pigment, but in fact, you can paint them simply by keeping them in the finished pigment solution. And, no less importantly, boiled eggs are harder to break, so it will be much easier to entrust the dyeing to children and their little hands.
While the eggs are boiling, prepare all the materials. Cut the cabbage and beetroot. Put the material of the selected color in one pot, pour water (enough to cover the selected number of eggs), and bring it to a boil. When the water starts to boil, cut the fire a little smaller and allow it to simmer for 20-30 minutes. Remove from heat and cool it to room temperature.
Add white vinegar to each color before placing an egg in the color. This is for obtaining a pigment and for a brighter color. The more vinegar you add, the brighter the egg will be.
IMPORTANT! Too much vinegar can start to damage the eggshell. Take into account the proportion of no more than one tablespoon of vinegar per cup of water.
Experiment with time. This will be interesting not only for children. Lay at least three eggs in one dye, keep one for 30 minutes, one for about two hours, and the third one leave overnight. Let children compare all eggs after, see the color tones and find out the differences.
Easter eggs with patterns.
You can dye the eggs both with or without food in the liquid. From my experience, putting an egg in a pot with all the materials in it gives the egg an interesting pattern without any additional attachments needed. But if you want to make a specific pattern use flowers, grass stems, leaves in interesting shapes, herbs, or other materials. Rice, groats, and even pasta will also work!
Attach the selected materials to the moistened egg and secure it with thread, string, or rubber or wrap the egg in a piece of cloth. Nylon tights will also work.
You can also use only rubber or thread to create your patterns. Cover the areas on the eggs you want to leave unpainted. The result will be a variety of grids and stripes. You can use this method to get multi-colored Easter eggs - just cover the areas you don't want to paint and soak in already painted eggs in a liquid of another color!
I hope you found this useful and I have inspired you to try different natural painting materials for painting eggs.
If you are looking for more Easter crafts for kids, check out our Easter sewing craft with free printable and Easter bunny garland crafts to make beautiful Easter decorations at home.
Have a nice craft and Happy Easter!
-Liene