Dyeing Easter Eggs with Toddlers

top | white jeans | earrings | baby jeans | highchair, baby seat, tray

Dyeing eggs with toddlers can be a total mess, but there are a few methods and strategies to help make it a little easier for their little hands to actually participate in the process! As a former preschool teacher, I’ve learned a few things along the way that helped me set-up a super fun and not super messy egg dying experience for my little guy! Here are 7 tips to help you do the same!

1. Create a safe space. We did our egg dying in our high chair, it made it so the mess was contained and so was Wyatt. But something like a plastic tablecloth or spread out newspapers on a table or hard floor works well too!
2. Think smocks, old shirts or just no clothing. Whether you use food coloring, an egg dye kit, or natural dye, messes will be made and will most likely not be easy to get out of clothing. Make it easy on yourself, make clothing optional. If you are looking for a natural way to dye eggs, HERE is a great guide that teaches you how to use things like beets, spinach, coffee, and purple cabbage to naturally color eggs. 
3. Prep eggs with tape, stickers or rubber bands. Your little one can dip or paint their eggs to their heart’s desire and they’ll still come out looking beautiful. Martha Stewart has a nice tutorial for some stenciled eggs that you can prep for your little one HERE.
4. Use a muffin tin. Putting different colored dye in different compartments of a muffin tin keeps the mess contained and helps prevent accidents like a bowl of dye being flipped. If you do use bowls, make sure they’re not breakable, we used Tupperware.
5. Use a whisk. Just pull the tines apart and pop and egg in, your little one can dip the egg into the dyes without dunking their whole hand in, plus it won’t fly out if they try to throw it!
6. Try Ziploc bags. Wyatt did some “shake-shaking” to color some of his eggs. I put a little dye and a hardboiled egg in a Ziploc and he got to squish the dye around the egg to color it. For this method I also added some oil to the dye. We used this recipe to make our dye and then added a splash of oil into the Ziploc to create a more speckled egg. This can also be fun with washable paint in the bag instead of dye to make it extra squishy. (Word to the wise: if your little one is into chucking everything in sight like mine, this might not be the best method. The mess stays contained in the bag, but Wyatt shook the bag and then immediately threw it right onto the ground.)
7. Try shaving cream. This is my favorite egg dyeing method with toddlers. It makes beautiful marbled eggs that the kids do all on their own while having a really fun sensory experience! You can also try cool whip or whipped cream if your little one likes to put everything in their mouth. Just spray shaving cream on their tray (or a cookie sheet if you’re not using a high chair) and add a few drops of food coloring. Give your tot a straw or spoon to mix the dye around to create a marbled look, and then they can roll their eggs around in it while playing with the shaving cream…they love this sensory experience! I also love that with this method you can use multiple colors without it all turning to brown…for at least a little! When they’re done with an egg, let it dry for about 10 minutes so the dye soaks in, then rinse it clean.

HAVE FUN & HAPPY EASTER!

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