How to Decorate Easter Eggs

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The tradition of decorating Easter eggs goes back many hundreds of years -- so far, in fact, that no one is exactly sure when it started. What is known is that an egg is the symbol for rebirth and new life in many different cultures.

In the Christian religion, Easter is celebrated as the time of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In more recent years, though, Easter has become as much a secular (not associated with a religion) holiday as a religious one. The coming of springtime brings rebirth and new life to the flowers and trees, and people all over the world celebrate the season by decorating Easter eggs.

In this article you'll find several different ways to decorate Easter eggs, along with a game and even a magic trick. Check out the following pages to get started on these "eggs-cellent" projects!

Smart Egg Trick

Can you train an egg to know when to sink or when to float in a glass of water? Your friends will think you can!

Alphabet Egg Hunt

Find the alphabet eggs -- and then see who can make the most words from their letters.

Earth-Toned Eggs

Making egg dyes from vegetables and fruits will give your Easter eggs an earthy look. Mother Nature-approved!

Green-Haired Eggheads

Let these eggshell people invade your home. What's their secret? Their "hair" is edible!

Easter Eggs

Long before there were commercial egg dyes, people colored their eggs by using onion skins. You can too!

Egg Holders

These baby-chick egg holders proudly show off your Easter eggs. What a nice surprise for Easter guests.

Decorative Painted Eggs

Try your hand at this ancient Chinese tradition. It's a little tricky but worth the effort.

Swirly Colored and Drizzled Eggs

Easter eggs don't have to be plain! A little rubber cement or cooking oil creates swirly colors.

Egg Critter

Is it from another planet? You decide! This egg critter's look can be as wild as your imagination.

Checkered and Plaid Eggs

Checks and plaids are what all the well-dressed eggs are wearing this season. Try this clever way to dress up your eggs!

Easter Egg Sweatshirt

You can decorate Easter eggs -- and use Easter eggs to decorate. Learn how with this project.

Before you color your Easter eggs, teach them a few things -- like how to sink or swim. Learn how to "train" your eggs to follow your instructions. Your friends will be amazed!

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Your friends will think you're an Easter egg trainer when they see this Smart Egg Trick. You can tell them that your eggs are so "eggs-ceptional," they've learned how to sink or float in a glass of water.

What You'll Need:

2 raw eggs

Waterproof markers

Two 8-ounce water glasses

Water

4 tablespoons sugar

Spoon

Bowl

Before performing the trick, decorate 2 raw eggs with waterproof markers. Leave a blank rectangular space on each of your designs so a friend can label the eggs during the trick.

Then fill the glasses with water to about 3/4 inch from the top. Put the sugar in one of the glasses, and mix well. (Remember which glass has the sugar in it, but don't tell anyone about this part!)

When you are ready to perform the trick, tell your friends about your smart eggs. Explain that these eggs can obey written commands. Have a friend use a waterproof marker to label the eggs with the word "sink" on one and the word "float" on the other.

After your friend gives you back the eggs, put the "sink" egg in the plain water, and the "float" egg in the sugar water.

Watch the eggs obey the commands! If friends wonder how you did it, have them break the eggs into a bowl so they can see that there were no tricks inside the eggs!

The fun of an egg hunt doesn't have to end when all the eggs have been found. Find out how you and your friends can combine an egg hunt with a contest of words by using alphabet eggs!

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This Easter, why not have an Alphabet Egg Hunt? You and your friends can use your detective skills to find the "eggs" and then, once the eggs are collected, to find the hidden words. (You'll try to create words from the letters on your alphabet eggs.) The winner is the person who can make the most words. But first ... you'll need to create the eggs.

What You'll Need:

Construction paper

Pencil

Scissors

Markers

Draw lots of eggs on colorful construction paper. You can make them different sizes, anywhere from 2 to 6 inches long. Cut them off the paper.

Decorate one side of the eggs with interesting patterns. Write a letter on the other side.

Make enough eggs to use all the letters of the alphabet, and then make at least three more eggs for each vowel (that is, three for A, three for I, etc.). Make some extra blank eggs. These will be used as "wild" eggs, which means players can decide which letter they want the egg to be.

When you are done creating, ask someone to hide the eggs inside the house or in the yard. Let the hunt -- for eggs and for words -- begin!

When you're ready to color your edible Easter eggs, you don't have to buy egg dye at the store. People have used natural dyes for years to make softly colored, earth-toned eggs. Find out how.

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Try something different this Easter by making earth-toned eggs when you create your own Easter egg dye. People have done this for years instead of buying commercial dye. The shades that come from natural ingredients give your eggs a soft, earthy look.

What You'll Need:

Spinach

Grass

Broccoli

Blueberries

Coffee

Tea

Cranberries

Beets

Tomatoes

Enamel pots

Water

Kitchen knife

Colander

Cheesecloth

Hard-boiled eggs

Vegetable oil

Soft cloth

Wash and chop up the fruits and vegetables. Have an adult help you with the cutting and with boiling the water.

When you have your ingredients ready, put one kind of fruit or vegetable in an enamel pot and fill it with water until your ingredient is completely covered. Boil for 10 minutes or longer, depending on how dark you want your color to be. The longer you boil, the darker the color. Just make sure that you don't boil all the water out!

Strain the ingredients through a colander lined with cheesecloth or a clean rag. (You won't need to do this if you have used tea bags or made your coffee in a machine.)

Once your dye has cooled, dip hard-boiled eggs into the liquid for several minutes. Repeat the process with all the ingredients to have cartons of earth-toned Easter eggs.

You can also make your eggs shine by wiping them with a soft cloth that has a few drops of vegetable oil on it.

Even raw eggs can be used for Easter fun. Ask Mom or Dad to save the eggshell halves when they cook with eggs. You can turn the shells into an "egghead" family that grows green hair. Keep reading to find out how.

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Easter meals can be fun, thanks to some Green-Haired Eggheads! These eggshell people are fun to make -- and later they'll provide nutritious sprouts too. Ask your family to save all their empty eggshell halves for you. You'll keep the whole family giggling -- and saying "Yum!"

What You'll Need:

Empty eggshell halves

Waterproof markers

Cotton balls

Sprout seeds, such as alfalfa, soybean, sunflower, or lentil

Egg carton

Carefully wash and dry the eggshells. Using the markers, draw funny or scary faces on each one. If you wish, write a name on the back of each egghead.

Sprinkle a little water on the cotton balls to dampen them. Press cotton balls into each eggshell until the shells are almost full.

Poke holes in the cotton, and plant a few sprout seeds in each one. Place your eggshell people in an egg carton, and find a sunny window ledge for them to live on.

Make sure to keep the cotton damp. In a few days, the seeds will sprout and your eggshell friends will start to grow green hair.

When the sprouts have grown a few inches, you can give your eggheads a "haircut" and use the sprouts to make green-hair sandwiches for a fun-filled Easter lunch!

Want to learn a new way to color Easter eggs? Look in the pantry. Onion skins create a natural dye that will give your eggs an interesting color. Keep reading.

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This Easter, try an old-fashioned fun way to dye Easter eggs. Using onion skins, you can create a natural dye for your eggs. Thanks, Mother Nature!

What You'll Need:

Cheesecloth

Ruler

Blunt scissors

One dozen eggs

Leafy herbs, such as parsley or coriander

Assorted onion skins (red, brown, white, yellow)

Cotton string

Cut the cheesecloth into 6-inch squares. Take an egg in your hand and place an herb on the egg. Holding the herb in place, wrap a large onion skin around the egg.

Place more herbs around the egg and wrap another onion skin around it. Place the covered egg on a square of cheesecloth. Tightly wrap the cheesecloth around the egg. Tie it closed with a piece of cotton string.

Repeat the process to make more eggs.

Have an adult help you boil the eggs in water for 20 to 30 minutes. Take the eggs out of the water and allow them to cool.

Unwrap the eggs and display them in baskets or egg holders.

If you don't have egg holders (or even if you do), you can make your own out of construction paper. Go to the next page to discover how to create cute baby chicks that will hold your Easter eggs.

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Display your Easter eggs proudly with these cute egg holders. They'll look great on your family's Easter table -- and be a nice surprise for the Easter Bunny!

What You'll Need:

Construction paper

Markers or colored pencils

Ruler

Blunt ­scissors

Transparent tape

For each of your Easter eggs, draw a baby chick on a piece of construction paper. The wings and feet should be strips that extend at least 7 inches long. (You'll use these to hold and wrap around the egg.)

Color in the baby chick's features using markers or colored pencils. Cut out the chick shape. If you want, trim the wing strip so that the edge is scalloped to make "feathers."

Tape the ends of the feet strip together to make a ring. Make sure it's big enough to stand an Easter egg in the ring (but not so big that the egg wobbles).

Tape the ends of the wing strips together to "hug" the egg and hold it in place. What a nice chick!

For really special Easter eggs, try using the shell as a "canvas" and paint a picture on it. This type of decorative painting on eggs has been done for thousands of years -- long before there were Easter eggs. Go to the next page for painting tips.

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Decorative painted eggs are a great addition to your Easter celebration. Paint a portrait, picture, or scene on an egg, and follow in the footsteps of an ancient Chinese tradition.

What You'll Need:

Raw egg

Paper clip

Container

Modeling clay

Watercolors

Paintbrush

Pencil

Before painting the eggshell, remove the egg inside by piercing the shell with a paper clip -- then your painting can last for a long time. First, unbend a paper clip and wash it. Then, carefully make a small opening in the larger end of the egg by gently piercing the shell with the paper clip.

Push the paper clip far enough into the egg to break the yolk inside, and gently stir the clip in the egg so the contents will come out. Pour the egg contents out into a small container and discard.

Make a modeling clay "collar" for the eggshell by rolling the clay into a snake shape. Then flatten it, and form it into an egg-sized circle. Set the eggshell, hole side down (and hidden!), in the clay collar.

Now your "egg canvas" is ready for painting. Paint a picture on the shell using watercolors, or sketch your drawing on the shell with pencil first (don't press too hard!) and then paint.

Even the traditional egg-coloring method of placing eggs in dye can have a new twist -- when you use special ingredients to make swirly and drizzled colors. Find out how to give your eggs this great look.

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Swirly colored and drizzled eggs have interesting patterns that some people think look like marble. However you see it, these eggs will look great on your Easter table. Try these two exciting ways to decorate for Easter.

What You'll Need:

Bowls

Food coloring

Vinegar

Cooking oil

Water

Measuring spoons

Hard-boiled eggs

Large spoon

Paper towels

Modeling clay

Newspaper

Rubber cement

For swirly colored decorations, mix the following together in a small mixing bowl: 1 tablespoon food coloring, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 1 tablespoon cooking oil.

Add 2 cups of water to the bowl, and stir the liquid around quickly until it begins to swirl. Now, using a spoon, quickly dip a hard-boiled egg into the swirling colored liquid and pull it back out again.

Pat the egg dry with a paper towel and then repeat the procedure, this time dipping the egg into a solution of a different color.

For a drizzle-decorated egg, combine 1/2 cup hot water, 1/2 tablespoon food coloring, and 1 teaspoon vinegar. Let the solution cool.

Meanwhile, make a small "collar" out of modeling clay to stand the egg in. To make the collar, roll out a snake shape, flatten it, then form it into a circle that the egg can sit on.

Put the collar on a piece of newspaper. Place the hard-boiled egg on the collar and drizzle it with rubber cement (have an adult help you with the rubber cement, and make sure the room is well ventilated).

Let the rubber cement dry. Then, using a spoon, dip the egg into the dye solution. Remove the egg and pat with a paper towel. Set the egg on the collar. When the dye is dry, rub off the rubber cement.

If you'd like to add a little whimsy to your Easter decorations, keep reading to learn how to create an egg critter that looks like it just arrived from the Planet Egbert.

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This year, Easter morning could bring a visit from the Egg Critter! It's fun to make this crafty creation, and it looks "eggs-tremely" adorable. Below are some suggestions to get you started, but let your imagination run wild!

What You'll Need:

Cool-temp glue gun

White posterboard -- two pieces, 2x3 inches

Orange felt -- two pieces, 2x3 inches

Red felt

2-inch yellow plastic egg

2-inch yellow pom-pom

2 wiggle eyes

Feathers (assorted colors): three 4-inches long, two 2-inches long

Draw a foot shape onto the posterboard and cut it out. Using this as your pattern, draw and cut out another foot from the second piece of posterboard, and then cut two feet from the orange felt.

With an adult's help, glue the felt feet to posterboard feet. Place the feet (felt-side up) on a work surface, about 1/4 inch apart.

Glue the yellow plastic egg to the feet -- this is your critter's body. For the critter's head, glue the pom-pom to top of egg.

Draw and cut out a beak or lips from red felt and then glue it on the lower part of the head. With an adult's help (this can be tricky), glue the wiggle eyes to the head.

For tail feathers, glue the four-inch feathers to lower back of egg. For wings, glue the two-inch feathers to the sides of the body.

Want to decorate more eggs? There are more fun ways to give your eggs an unusual and colorful look. How about a checkered egg, or a plaid egg? Impossible? Read on!

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Whoever heard of an Easter basket with checkered and plaid Easter eggs? Now, you have! Here's a fun and easy project. It may take a little more time than plain colored eggs, but wait until you see the results!

What You'll Need:

Easter egg dye

Hard-boiled eggs

Duct tape

Ruler

Scissors

Mix the egg dye according to directions. Dye each egg a solid color. Use the lightest color first. Take the eggs out of the dye bath, and let them dry.

Cut 1/8-inch-thick strips of duct tape. Put the tape strips on the colored eggs, running some strips top to bottom, and others around the egg. Be sure you leave some eggshell showing.

Place the egg into the medium color dye; let it sit for 20 minutes. Take the egg out, and take off every other strip of tape.

Place the egg into the darkest color; let it sit for 20 minutes. Take the egg out. Remove the last strips of tape.

Experiment with different patterns on the rest of your eggs.

Keep reading to learn about a wearable Easter-egg craft.

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Show off your Easter spirit with an Easter egg sweatshirt you make yourself.

What You'll Need:

Fabric: 8×10 inches multicolored print; 4×10 inches coordinating purple small print; 4×5 inches coordinating pink small print; 4×5 inches coordinating green small print

10×16-inch piece of fusible webbing

Turquoise sweatshirt

2-yard length of jumbo multicolored rickrack

Pink dimensional squeeze paint

Using the pattern you can download here, trace and cut four eggs from the multicolored fabric, two eggs from the purple fabric, one egg from the pink fabric, and one egg from the green fabric. Using the same pattern, trace and cut eight eggs from the fusible webbing.

Lay the fabric eggs on the front of the sweatshirt in different patterns until you find an arrangement you like. Use the fusible webbing to adhere the fabric eggs to the front of the shirt according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Cut seven three-inch lengths of rickrack. Arrange two lengths of rickrack on each of the pink and green eggs, and three lengths of rickrack on one of the purple eggs. Trim the rickrack ends even with the edges of the eggs, and then glue the rickrack on the eggs with washable fabric glue.

Measure the neckline and cuffs of the shirt, and then measure and cut corresponding lengths of rickrack. Glue the rickrack to the neckline and cuffs of the shirt with fabric glue so that the ends meet at the seams of the shirt.

Paint around each egg with the dimensional squeeze paint to cover the edges of the fabric; let dry.

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