Every Wednesday afternoon at three o'clock, I pick up my nephew from preschool. When we get into the car, Oliver always asks, "Aunt Natalie, what's our fun plan for today?!"
Our bit of time together is my favorite. I always pull together a fun, seasonal activity we can enjoy together. On warmer days, we head to the splash pad or down to our neighbor's creek. Spring days have us outside planting seeds & flying kites. On rainy days, in particular, you'll find us inside crafting.
Last year around Easter, I filled little plastic eggs with sour worms & gummy bears. We boiled eggs from the farm & dyed them with the traditional kit found at the big box store. I hid little eggs around the farm & we went on an exciting egg hunt together!
This year, I wanted to dye eggs with more natural, plant-based dyes. Making my own dyes felt a bit daunting (though I am always wildly inspired by my friend, Amy, of Second & Edgemont) so I grabbed the Natural Egg Dye kit from Whole Foods made from fruits, herbs & veggies. It's about $10 & is super simple to use.
It's so important to start with good eggs when dyeing. If you do not have backyard chickens, I'd recommend connecting with your local farmer or grabbing a dozen from the natural foods store. I am particularly impressed with Whole Foods' commitment to sustainable farms & happy chickens. I grabbed a dozen of their 365 Everyday Value white eggs & they worked great mixed with our own farm fresh brown beauties!
Before picking up Oliver, I boiled our eggs & set up our supplies. A bit of parchment & white paper worked well to protect our thrifted farmhouse table. I poured the natural dye colors into mason jars, a wonderful no-waste solution for dyeing. Once we arrived back home, I simply added hot water to each jar & we began dyeing!
There are so many techniques you can try to make your dyed eggs extra special. I love this feathered egg tutorial from 3191 & hope to do this activity with Oliver next year!
This time around, we simply drew on our eggs with crayons. Oliver used every color of the rainbow to make little scribbles on his eggs before plopping them into the dye. I loved using white - the wax prevents color from seeping into the shell so you can draw sweet little patterns on each egg. The possibilities are endless!
Once we were finished, we placed each egg into an old egg carton & admired our handiwork. I've been enjoying boiled eggs for breakfast every morning since!
Such a wonderful afternoon spent with Oliver & an easy, seasonal activity to enjoy with the littles.
I'd love to read your favorite techniques for naturally dyeing eggs! Please share in the comments!
If you're on Instagram, head on over to my account & enter to win Easter goodies from Whole Foods. This blog post was in partnership with Whole Foods Fayetteville & they're graciously gifting a @nataliecreates follower within Northwest Arkansas a bundle of spring goodies!
love,
natalie
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