I hope everyone had a great Easter! The weather was really nice in Denver this weekend, and it's finally starting to feel like spring around our house.
The holidays are so much fun as Beckett becomes more aware and interested, and because he seems to loves art projects, this year I really wanted to help him decorate eggs. But the idea of dying eggs with a one year old seemed crazy, and I wanted to do something that he could really participate in, so I had been brainstorming alternate methods for decorating Easter eggs. That was, until I was in Target last week and happened upon a product that promised a mess-free way to dye eggs. I was a bit skeptical, but it was only $6 so I thought I would give it a try. I couldn't have been more impressed with the results!
Before diving into to our egg dying adventure, we gave Beckett his Easter Basket and let him "hunt" for the plastic Easter eggs that I hid placed in plain sight around the living room. He was much more excited about his basket, and was more interested in collecting the eggs, than I expected him to be. The majority of his Easter Basket goodies came from my new favorite place - the Dollar Spot at Target! He loves Sesame Street, so I picked up a couple of Sesame Street board books, as well as some Sesame Street bathtub books. I also gave him a couple of cute chalk holders for the chalkboard wall in our kitchen (to keep more of the chalk on the wall and less on his hands), and a few new bathtub toys, including his favorite, a wind-up green frog - all for $1 each, what a deal!
After he finished looking at his basket and "hunting" for plastic Easter eggs, we were ready to try dying some real eggs. The product I picked up at Target is called "Spin an Egg" made by Dudley's. Among Beckett's favorite toys right now are two tops that each have buttons that, when pushed, cause the tops to spin. Well, that's exactly how "Spin and Egg" operates - so I knew he would have fun with it!
I wanted to try to put a letter "B" on one of the eggs, so I grabbed out a sticker from my scrapbooking supplies and stuck it on the first egg. Unfortunately, the sticker was very thick and not very pliable, so it wouldn't stick well to the curved egg. I knew the results probably weren't going to be ideal, but we went for it anyway.
We put the egg into the spinner, added about 10 drops of blue and 10 drops of green coloring from the dye packets that came with the kit, and secured the lid in place.
After that, it was Beckett's turn to take over. He had a great time pressing down on the giant button to make the egg spin around and around, and watching the colors spread all over the egg!
When he finally got bored of pushing the button (we let him spin the egg much longer than was really necessary), I removed the lid and used tongs to remove the egg (to avoid smearing the colors with my fingers). It only took a minute to run some cool water over the spinner parts and wipe them clean with a paper towel, and then we were ready to go again. I was impressed at how easily it cleaned up - especially since I knew we would lose Beckett's interest and attention if there was much delay.
For our second egg, I wanted to try wrapping a couple of rubber bands around it in hopes of ending up with some white lines when the egg was complete.
This time we added about 10 drops each of the pink and yellow dyes, secured the lid, and again let Beckett spin the egg to his heart's content.
The coloring of the egg turned out great, but all of that spinning caused the rubber bands to pop off - so we didn't end up with any white lines. Of course, Beckett didn't care about that at all.
Once both eggs were dry (which only took a few minutes), I removed the B sticker from the green egg, and, as I suspected, the seal on the sticker wasn't good enough and we weren't left with much of a "B." I think I'll try this again next year, but instead I'll use my Cricut cutter to cut letters and shapes out of sticky-backed vinyl. The vinyl is so pliable and much stickier, so I think it might produce a better result.
All in all, this was a very quick and easy way to dye Easter eggs that not only allowed a one-year-old to truly participate, but to do so in a completely mess-free manner! Now that, in my opinion, is $6 well spent!
Best of all, we'll be able to use the egg spinner year after year! I opted not to keep what remained of the dye packets for fear they would either spill or dry up - so next year we'll have to mix up our own dye. Some quick Googling tells me the best way to do this is to mix 1/2 cup of room temperature water, 1 tbs. vinegar, and several drops of food coloring (the more drops the more vibrant the color). Seems easy enough.
Was anyone else brave enough to dye eggs with a toddler this Easter? If it turned out to be a mess, the Spin an Egg is most likely on clearance at Target this week - so if you want to plan ahead for next year, I highly suggest you pick one up!
Linked up to: Get Your DIY On - Think SpringLabels: art, DIY, easter, holidays, kids
