Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Easy Easter egg coloring for toddlers

This is not very satisfying for adults because the result is not very exciting but this is probably the easiest way to color eggs with a toddler. This is also good fine motor practice, much more so than the dipping method.
You need tissue paper that bleeds well, I got ours at Michaels and it was called "Bleeding tissue paper" but not all colors bled well, if at all, so you need to experiment.
Pour some water and a little bit of vinegar into several small jars. Use one jar for each color you are using. For best results use similar colors for one egg, for example blue-purple-red, or light green-yellow, etc. We used red-orange-yellow. Tear (and let your child do it too) small pieces of tissue paper, dip them in water and put on the egg (we used blown eggs and I had to make sure Kitten does not squeeze too hard, the girl loves eggs!).

Continue with different colors until the whole egg is covered.

For best results try to tear smaller pieces. Let dry and peel paper off.
(As you can see, my pieces were too big)
Our orange did not bleed at all, so I dyed it with orange food coloring, which eliminated all white spots and did not change red and yellow, which I was very surprised and pleased about. The result is not fantastic beauty-wise but Kitten enjoyed the process very much, which was my goal. I will make the pretty ones when she is asleep.

6 comments:

  1. I think it looks nice! Very delicate :) And maybe you can leave the pieces of paper on some of the eggs and hang them on the trees around your house! :)

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  2. Actually, I was thinking about covering it with Mod-Podge after it dried, instead of peeling paper off, but it needs to be a thinner layer then.

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  3. Mod-podge? *confused* is is a momma jargon?

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  4. :)) No, it is a glue kind of liquid that dries clear, can be used as a finish. Usually used in decoupage.

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  5. decoupage?? Some Tex-mex jargon?? lol :))

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  6. Oh my goodness, you are hopeless! :)) "Decoupage is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf and so on."

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