A few weeks ago I told my daughter that soon it would be Easter. I should have probably not shared this amazing news so soon because ever since that day my 4 year old has been asking me every morning if today is Easter. She loves everything about Easter: the bunny, the egg hunt and her new favorite activity is dyeing eggs.
For the first 2 years of my daughter’s life I was able to avoid the whole egg dying thing, which was great because the last thing I wanted was her eating eggs that had been dyed with artificial food coloring. However, last year she was really excited about seeing all these dyed eggs and even ate some. I cringed a little and hoped she didn’t eat too much of the artificial dyes.
The problem with artificial food dyes is that they have been linked to hyperactivity and allergic reactions, and some are considered toxic enough to cause cancer. In Europe products that contain food dyes have to be labeled with this warning: “May have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.” The last thing we need is adding things to our kids’ diet that will do more harm than good.
This year I decided we had to dye our own Easter eggs, ones that she could eat without me worrying about what she was eating. I started looking for tutorials on how to dye eggs using veggie scraps but soon scratched that idea because it was a lot more work than I anticipated. I also have a very impatient 4 year old and needed something that would dye the eggs faster.
We use natural food dyes when baking and I knew this could be the perfect solution to dyeing our eggs. I would be able to avoid the artificial flavoring and it would be really easy to make. I actually use two different brands of natural food dyes when baking: India Tree and Color Kitchen. When I was deciding which one to get I ran across two natural food dyes especially made for coloring Easter eggs: the Natural Easter Egg Coloring Kit and the Eco-Eggs Coloring Kit.
I decided to try the Eco-Eggs Coloring Kit because we already have their biodegradable Easter Eggs (I bought ours 4 years ago and they still look like new) and their Eco grass. Both are great so I figured I couldn’t go wrong with their kit.
Dying eggs with natural food dyes is very easy. You just have to prepare the eggs, put them in the colored water, wait a few minutes and pull them out. However, the most common question I get is if the colors are strong or dark enough. That’s why I wanted to show you how our eggs turned out and to show you how easy it was to dye them.
You can use the other natural food dyes I mentioned if you prefer but the Eco-Eggs Coloring Kit comes with some awesome extras, like a natural crayon that the kids can use to make designs on the eggs before they are dyed and grass seed packets.
How to Dye Easter Egg Using Natural Food Coloring
Materials:
- Eco-Eggs Coloring Kit
- 3 glass containers
- 1 1/2 cups hot water
- 1 dozen hard boiled eggs (or however many you need)
Directions:
The kit comes with 3 egg packets. Follow the directions on the package by mixing each packet of natural dye with 1/2 cup of hot water in its own separate container. Stir the dye until it is dissolved. My 4 year old loved doing this.
Use the natural crayon that come comes with the kit to make designs on the eggs. You won’t be able to see what you are drawing, so it’s kind of like a mystery game. The wax coats the egg, and the design doesn’t get colored. This was probably one of my kid’s favorite part of dyeing the eggs.
Add the eggs to the dye cups. The eggs will need to sit in each dye for different times so be sure to follow the color guide card. We left the light yellow in the yellow dye for about 3 seconds and the longest we left an egg in a dye was 20 minutes. The longer you leave it, the darker the color.
Once you like the color of the eggs, remove them and place them back in the carton for safe keeping.
Tip: For lighter pastel colors add an addition 1/2 cup of hot water to each jar.
Clean up is easy with warm soapy water, and the dye easily came off from our skin after washing our hands.
Now you have pretty Easter eggs and ones that your kid can eat! This makes me so happy because you can celebrate traditional holidays without the toxic load that sometimes comes with it.
Look how beautiful our eggs turned out with the cute little designs my kids made:
Aren’t they adorable? Now it’s your turn to dye eggs with your little ones. Don’t forget to tag me on instagram (@mamainstincts) so I can see their beautiful creations.
How to Dye Easter Egg Using Natural Food Coloring Creation
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Jennythevoice says
Me encantó esta idea. I am going to try this 🙂
Carolina says
I’m so happy you liked it! Hope they turn out great!