Tips for Dyeing Easter Eggs

We look forward to dyeing our own Easter eggs each year. Here are some tips for fun with egg dyeing!

Recipes

Sometimes I need to look up the simplest things online such as how to hard boil eggs, so if there are any others out there like me, here's how to hard boil eggs and make egg dye:

HARD BOILED EGGS

Ingredients:

eggs
cold water
1/2 t. salt
1 T vinegar (optional)

Instructions:
1. Put the eggs in a single layer in a saucepan and cover with at least an inch or two of COLD water (Starting with cold water helps keep the eggs from cracking). Adding a a half teaspoon of salt can prevent cracking and make eggs easier to peel and a tablespoon of vinegar will prevent egg whites from running out of eggs that might crack--but it might also affect the taste if you plan on eating your eggs after you dye them.

2. Bring the eggs to a boil. As soon as water starts to boil, reduce the heat to low on the burner. Let simmer for one minute

3. After one minute, remove pan from heat, cover, and let sit for 10-12 minutes. You can check for doneness by sacrificing one egg and cutting it open. If it isn't done, cook the other eggs a minute or two longer. Depending on your pan and the number of eggs, the cooking time can vary by a couple of minutes.

4. Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and put in a bowl of ice water. Once cooled, strain water from eggs.

EASTER EGG DYE

Ingredients (per color):
1/2 c. hot water
1 t. vinegar
abt. 10 drops food coloring

Instructions:
Boil water and combine 1/2 c. boiling water, 1 t. vinegar and about 10 drops food coloring for each batch of dye.

Tips for Dyeing Eggs

We sometimes pour our dye in different colored cups, but last year, we used an extra large muffin pan for our egg dye and it worked great. We did our egg dyeing outside so I didn't have to worry about staining the carpet. My kids loved dipping the eggs and making their own creations.

For some variations on traditional egg dyeing, you could try some of the following:

• Use a white crayon to draw designs on some eggs before dyeing. Then dye the eggs as normal. When you dye the eggs the wax on the crayon will prevent the dye from sticking to those parts on so will create a fun effect.
• You could also create a similar resistance design by putting masking tape or small stickers on the eggs before dyeing. Then carefully peel off stickers or masking tape when dye is dry and the parts that were covered with stickers will be white.
• Create a tye dye effect by mixing 1 T olive oil with dye and gently rolling the egg in the mixture. Let it dry on a paper towel. Once dry, you can roll it in another color if desired.
• Cover your egg with rubber bands in a striped or criss-cross pattern. Then dye eggs. Take off the rubber bands after dyeing eggs and you will have a striped egg!
• For glittery eggs, first dye the eggs and let them dry. Then, use a paintbrush to apply glue to the egg and sprinkle glitter on top of the glue.
• Consider hard boiling brown eggs instead of white eggs. When you dye them you will have a richer, more earthy set set of colored eggs.

Have fun dyeing eggs and celebrating this holiday...And see all of our Easter ideas here!

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