Have you ever wanted to create beautiful, naturally dyed eggs, but you’re certain it takes too much time and organization to figure out how to do it, so you never have? Well, Little Round Schoolhouse is here for you! I put off learning how to dye eggs naturally for years. Then, when I started my Children’s Garden program, I wanted to be able to do this craft with the preschool and kindergarteners in my care. Because I had twelve kids and dozens of eggs to consider, I knew I had to find an easy, less complicated way to pull it off! 

Following the instructions in this article, you can easily make naturally dyed eggs for celebrating the spring equinox or Easter, giving you a beautiful and healthy way to celebrate this tradition with your family.

Naturally Dyed Eggs

I thoroughly enjoy dyeing eggs with natural materials. I’m always surprised at what colors we can make with what we find in our kitchen. Your kitchen is full of natural dyes, and you may not even realize it!  

Your children will enjoy experimenting with the many color possibilities. 

Materials:

• Natural dyeing agents (see next section)
• Medium-sized pot
• White vinegar
• Strainer
• Small bowls
• Eggs 
• Large Metal Spoon
• Paper towels or rags
• Drying rack or location

Dye Agents

• Purple: Red cabbage dye: 4 cups of chopped cabbage
• Orange: Turmeric dye: 3 tablespoons of turmeric
• Yellow: Onion-skin dye: 4 cups of onion skins (skins of 10-12 onions)
• Pink/red: Beet dye: 4 cups of chopped beets
• Brown: Coffee dye: 1 quart of strong black coffee 

After you have made the suggested 4-5 dye colors, you can try combining colors to see what you can achieve.

Method:

Before you begin, you must decide whether you will use hollow or hard-boiled eggs. Read through all the instructions first and decide what method you will use. 

If you plan to hard boil your eggs before dyeing, do this while the dye is simmering (Part 1).

This process has two steps: making the dye and dyeing the eggs. 

Part 1: Make the Dye

Basic Dye Recipe

1. Select a dye agent and place it in the pot with one quart of water and two tablespoons of white vinegar. If more water is needed to cover your materials, add two tablespoons of vinegar for each quart of water added.
2. Bring to a boil and lower the heat. 
3. Allow the ingredients to simmer for 30 minutes. 
4. Strain the dye into a bowl and discard the solid ingredients.

Part 2: Dye your eggs

You can use two methods to dye your eggs: cold-dipping or boiling. 

Cold-dip Method:

Cold-dipping produces subtle, translucent shades. It can result in uneven coloring unless the eggs are rotated frequently in the dyebath. 

If you use hard-boiled eggs, hard-boil them first and wait for them to cool before placing them in the dye bath.

For hollow eggs that will last, cold-dip raw eggs and blow them out after dyeing.

Steps:

• Lower eggs into a bowl of cooled dye. Let them soak for as little as 10 seconds or as long as overnight. The longer they soak, the deeper the color. Rotate the eggs frequently to produce an even tone.
• Remove eggs with a metal spoon, pat dry with paper towels or clean rags, and let dry on a wire rack, if possible. I have also set them on a plate or cookie sheet and rotated them every few minutes until dry.

Boil Method:

This method involves boiling raw eggs in the dye bath, resulting in a deeper, more uniform color. 

Steps:

• Set raw eggs in a pot of strained dye.
• Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer. The longer the eggs cook, the deeper and darker the dye. Aim for 15-30 minutes in the heat.

Remember, enjoy the process and don’t be afraid to experiment with different combinations of colors or dye ingredients. 

If you enjoy natural dyeing projects, you might be interested in these crafts from Little Round Schoolhouse:

• Dyeing Silks with Goldenrod
• Dyeing Rainbow Silks with Koolaid (okay, that’s not natural!)  

If you'd like a spring story to go along with your craft, check out the audio episodes from Storytime in the Schoolhouse:

• The Cranky Chicken: A pedagogical story about using our hands in helpful ways (instead of harmful ones)
• Goodbye, Winter, Goodbye (coming soon!)
• Poppy's Fresh Peaches: A story about spring equinox (coming soon!)

Are you interested in learning more nature-based, seasonal crafts and projects to share with your young child? We send a weekly newsletter with songs, stories, crafts, and other creative projects for parents and caregivers of preschool and kindergarten-aged children. Those on our email list tell us they look forward to our newsletter each week. (If something happens and we don’t send it, our inbox fills up with parents asking where it is!)

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