Dying Easter eggs is such a fun thing to do with your kids at home. It’s a great time to sit at the table together and talk and have fun.
It’s almost like a science experiment. You put in something white and it comes out colored. Kinda like that white sock I put in the wash with my brand new red shirt. Oy! 🙂
But if you want them to look extra cute, try this modern twist on a classic favorite and create yourself some DIY speckled art dying eggs with RICE!
Literally, it couldn’t be easier and the design is GOR-geous!
Super Easy Speckled Art Dying Eggs With Rice
Whether you are looking for fun Easter craft ideas to do with your kids or hosting your family and friend’s Easter egg hunt, these speckled eggs will be a huge hit with everybody! You can let your little ones get as creative as they want when mixing the colors too!
And if you want a more natural approach to dying eggs, I have those directions below as well! 🙂
Supplies:
- Boiled eggs
- Food coloring (primary and/or neon colors)
- Bag of Uncooked White rice
- 6-8 Plastic zipper sandwich bags
- Measuring cup
- Tray or plate lined with paper towel
- Optional: gloves
Food coloring alternatives:
Use Kool Aid and mix with a tiny bit of water.
Directions:
Open each bag. Fill each bag with ½ cup of rice.
Add 10-12 drops of food coloring into each bag. Choose one color per bag, or mix and shake the colors up to see what colors you can create.
Add one egg to each bag. Close bag well.
Gently roll the egg around in the rice (be careful not to touch the bag with your fingers on the egg while it’s wet or it’ll smudge the design) and cover the egg until colored completely.
If you need to add more food coloring to the bag, open the bag, add desired amount of drops in. More drops = brighter color.
Remove each egg from bag and set on tray to dry.
Repeat this process for all remaining eggs. You can reuse used rice to color the eggs. Just add more drops of food coloring into the bag to color more eggs.
Tip: Save the colored rice for sensory play!
Want a more natural egg dying process?…
Color Eggs Naturally:
To color eggs, mix 1/2 cup of hot boiling water (be careful the water doesn’t splash and burn you) with 1 tsp white vinegar and food coloring. Start with about 5 drops of each color food coloring and up the amount to make the color richer/darker. You can use a bowl or a coffee cup to mix this. I usually use styrofoam coffee cups (8 oz size). Drop the eggs into the color bath and let the egg soak for 3-5 mins.
You can also use natural ingredients to color your eggs. Several ways you can color them are:
Bluish-Gray: Mix l cup frozen blueberries with l cup water, bring to room temperature, and remove blueberries.
Blue: Cut 1/4 head of red cabbage into chunks and add to 4 cups boiling water. Stir in 2 Tbsp. vinegar. Let cool to room temperature and remove cabbage with a slotted spoon.
Faint Green-Yellow: Peel the skin from 6 yellow apples. Simmer in 1-1/2 cups water for 20 minutes; strain. OR Add 2 tsp. white vinegar. Simmer 4 oz. chopped fennel tops in 1-1/2 cups of water for 20 minutes; strain.
Orange: Take the skin of 6 yellow onions and simmer in 2 cups water for 15 minutes; strain. Add 3 tsp.
white vinegar.
Faint Red-Orange: Stir 2 Tbsp. Paprika into 1 cup boiling water; add 2 tsp. white vinegar.
Rich/dark yellow: Simmer 4 oz. chopped carrot tops in 1-1/2 cups water for 15 minutes; strain. Add 2 tsp.
white vinegar.
Mustard-yellow: Stir 2 Tbsp. Turmeric into 1 cup boiling water; add 2 tsp. white vinegar.
Pale yellow: Chop 4 oz. Goldenrod and simmer in 2 cups water for 20 minutes; strain. Add 2 tsp. white vinegar. Faint yellow: Simmer the peels of 6 oranges in 1-1/2 cups water for 20 minutes; strain. Add 2 tsp. vinegar.
Brown-Gold: Simmer 2 Tbsp. Dill Seed in l cup water for 15 minutes; strain. Add 2 tsp. white vinegar.
Brown: Add 1 tablespoon vinegar to 1 cup strong coffee.
Faint pink: Chop 4 oz. Amaranth Flowers and simmer in 2 cups water; strain. Add 2 tsp. white vinegar.
Dark pink: Cut 1 medium beet into chunks and add to 4 cups boiling water. Stir in 2 Tbsp. vinegar and let cool to room temperature; remove beets.
Lavender: Mix l cup grape juice and 1 tablespoon vinegar.
Different ways to use your speckled eggs:
Think there’s not much you can do with a few colorful Easter eggs? Think again! Here are some creative ways to use these easily dyed speckled eggs…
Host and Easter Egg Hunt
You may be thinking, “Hmm, how exactly do you hide REAL eggs with nothing inside them?” Good question!
Assign different colors for different prizes! For example:
- Blue eggs = 1 piece of candy
- Yellow eggs = chocolate bunny
- Red eggs = stickers
- Green eggs = a small toy
OR you can base it off how many eggs each child collects (this seems to make my kids mad though because they are different age groups so it’s easier for one and harder for the other). First place prize, second, third, etc. Everyone gets something though of course!
Invite your family and friends over for an Easter Egg Hunt like no other. 🙂
Share the Resurrection Story
Have you seen the colorful bracelets that share the resurrection story of Jesus? You can do that with these eggs!
Let your kids dye each egg representing a color of the story (see below) and then share the Resurrection story using each egg color!
- Yellow – God’s love
- Black – our sin
- Red – the blood Jesus shed for us
- White – Jesus washing away our sin, making us clean
- Green – continuing to grow in our relationship with Him
Spend Quality Time as a Family
This is such a fun activity to do as a family, no matter the ages of your kids.
Pick a Saturday or Sunday, set aside an afternoon and dig in! Have lunch together (egg salad anyone?!), gather the supplies and enjoy this fun-filled activity together.
