Use the egg as a mini canvas with these fun Easter egg ideas for kids.
I included a bunch in my Artful Year book, both new ideas as well as some of our older faves, but there are others floating around in my head that didn’t make it into the book. This is one of those.
Drawing in frames.
I have a bit of a thing for frames. You may remember the DIY frame wallpaper we did last year. Or the various creative drawing prompts we’ve done with frames. Frames seem to inspire kids more than just a plain piece of paper. Or, in this case, an egg. They provide a good balance of open-ended inspiration within a defined space.
Easter Egg Ideas for Kids
MATERIALS
- White eggs, hardboiled
- A new set of 80s glam Sharpie markers—an impulse purchase inspired by Rachelle from Tinkerlab (any permanent marker would work, of course)
- Plastic placemats (ours are from IKEA) or something else to protect the table
- Silicone ice cube molds (optional—an impromptu idea for holding the eggs in place; you could also use egg cartons or muffin tins)
- Individual cups to keep eggs from rolling around as the child draws (optional)
- Kool-Aid + white vinegar for dyeing the eggs (or use food coloring or any commercial kit)
- Tongs
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Draw frames on eggs.
To begin with, I drew a variety of frames on hard boiled eggs using a black sharpie. I did this ahead of time, in order to have everything set up as an after school activity.
2. Let kids draw inside frames.
Maia, Stella, and Daphne all drew pictures inside of the frames using the Sharpies.
Here’s a bunny drawing.
And a spring scene with a bird, flowers, and a nest with eggs in a tree branch (by Stella).
Besides drawing within the egg frames, the girls also colored some of the frames.
All in all, the results were quite different from the many times I have set out plain white eggs (no frames) and markers or crayons.
3. Dye Eggs
The next day, we dyed the eggs around the frames with a Kool-Aid dye. Maia poured the powder into tea cups and bowls, then we added hot water and 2 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar to each cup of powder (talk about a fruity smell!).
We used tongs to dip the eggs into the Kool-Aid dye to keep the dye around the frame rather than inside where the drawings were.
Luckily the Kool-Aid dye was intense and worked quickly so we didn’t have to hold the eggs in place for long.
We were quite pleased with how the eggs turned out!
Some of our new frame Easter eggs have joined the rest of our decorated eggs in a big wire fruit bowl on our dining table. We also nestled a few eggs in the makeshift yarn nest (loose yarn piled in a small basket) on our spring nature table.
We combined 3 different Easter egg ideas for kids
- Drawing on Easter eggs
- Dyeing Easter eggs with Kool-Aid
- Using frames as a creative drawing prompt
What other Easter egg ideas could you combine?
MORE EASTER ARTS & CRAFTS IDEAS AND ACTIVITIES
31 Easter Crafts for Kids (+ Art Projects, Easter Activities & More!)
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13 Comments
Kathy
March 23, 2013 at 12:13 pmI have been wanting to try Kool Aid egg dye this year, but someone told me it rubs off on hands and clothes easily. Did you find this to be the case?
louise
March 24, 2013 at 1:57 amThis is a great idea! I love the frames! We are going to do super hero eggs, but we might have to do some of these too!
Dena
March 24, 2013 at 10:53 amHi Jean,
It’s a rainy weekend here so we’ve been making the tissue paper eggs, sharpie eggs, and her easter basket. We did your bunny ears last week and some coffee filter flowers. Inspired by all your prompts, I drew eggs on the chalkboard for her to decorate this morning. She gets really frustrated when she can’t draw something she wants to draw, in this case some clouds, so I am going to give the Monart method a try. I don’t like when something fun turns so upsetting, but it’s bound to happen. Tomorrow her cousins are coming over and I am doing eggs with them and the pretzel snack!!
I was going to make your shortcake muffins but I think you are missing the amount of milk in the ingredients list. No big deal, I just figure you would want to know.
Thanks again for the inspiration and ideas!
Jean Van't Hul
March 24, 2013 at 7:42 pmKathy — once the eggs are dry it doesn’t seem to rub off at all. But the wet dye itself will definitely stain your fingers if you don’t use a spoon or tongs.
Jean Van't Hul
March 24, 2013 at 7:44 pmBy the way, I just wanted to add to make sure to add 1-2 tablespoons of the white vinegar to each dye color. This helps set the dye. Perhaps the person who said it rubs off on hands and clothes easily didn’t add the vinegar?
Jean Van't Hul
March 24, 2013 at 7:44 pmOooh! How are you doing the superhero eggs?
Jean Van't Hul
March 24, 2013 at 7:46 pmAwesome, Dena! Sounds like you and your daughter are doing a lot of fun spring/Easter crafts!! Good luck with the Monart drawing method — I hope it works for you.
Jean Van't Hul
March 24, 2013 at 7:48 pmOh my goodness! You’re totally right about the shortcake muffins! Darn! I left the milk off the ingredients list! I think it’s one cup, but I’ll double check…
holly-jo
March 26, 2013 at 3:19 pmno one likes u
Jessica @ Play Trains!
March 27, 2013 at 5:15 amWow, those look so cool! My son loves my Sharpies, so he’d enjoy this. Pinning.
Nancy
December 29, 2013 at 8:58 pmYou can also use Kool-Aid to dye wool or silk (protein based fibers), but I haven’t tried it with cotton (cellulous fibers.) I used it over 20 years ago to dye some fleece for a felting project and it has hardly faded at all. Kool-Aid is great for dying, but is not something that I buy for my kids to drink.
rosemary
March 22, 2014 at 1:40 pmI love this idea- I run a day care with children under 3 and so I’m not sure about using the sharpies- would regular markers work?
Jean Van't Hul
March 22, 2014 at 4:05 pmI probably wouldn’t use Sharpies in a day care setting with toddlers. Washable markers would smear easily, though. How about trying oil pastels?