Egg Decorating

Decorating your own Easter eggs is a fun way to celebrate Easter. You can decorate your eggs with as simple or fancy designs as you want! If you are decorating blown eggs you can keep them from year to year and build a collection. Younger children may find decorating blown eggs too fragile so it's also fine to decorate hardboiled eggs but be sure to dispose of them after Easter!
How to 'blow' an egg
To blow an egg you need eggs, a needle and a bowl. Using the needle, poke a small hole in the narrow end of the egg, and a slightly larger hole in the other end. Move the pin around to make sure you tear the membrane around the yolk. Now, holding the egg over the bowl, blow through the small hole. The egg will be forced out the larger hole and into the bowl. Then rinse the egg well with water.

Decorating your eggs
Your imagination is your only limitation on how you can decorate your eggs. Use paints, ribbons, sequins, glitter, lace, coloured foil, felt tip pens, fabric scraps, dyes and wax. You can make your egg into people, animals and even vehicles or foods by adding decorations, or draw and paint intricate pictures or patterns onto your egg itself.

Wax Patterns
Use candles to drip wax onto eggs - be careful it is very hot (or use a white candle or wax crayon and draw on the egg). Then dip the egg into some dye, take it out and let it drain.

Dying Eggs

To dye the eggs the put the eggs in a single layer in a saucepan, cover with water. Add about a teaspoon of vinegar. Add the dye and bring water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, then remove the eggs and leave them to dry. If you want your eggs to be a darker shade, cover them with the dye and leave them overnight.

Why not colour your eggs using natural dyes? It's possible to come up with a great number of colors using natural ingredients that can easily be found in almost any kitchen.

Red: Fresh beets or cranberries, frozen raspberries
Orange: Yellow onion skins Light yellow: Orange or lemon peels, carrot tops, celery seed or ground cumin
Yellow: Ground turmeric
Green: Spinach leaves
Blue / purple: Canned blueberries or red cabbage leaves
Brown: Strong brewed coffee