When we think of Easter, we think of bunnies, brunches with family and friends and, of course, the Easter egg in its many fascinating forms! Easter, for the uninitiated, is a festival celebrated across the world to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Easter egg is said to symbolize new life and is therefore considered an essential part of the festival.

Easter in 2022 is even more special since the world is slowly healing from the pandemic. Getting together to spend the long weekend with loved ones will be easier now that we aren’t restricted by social distancing rules and lockdowns. It is also an exciting time for our little ones with a plethora of activities for them to participate in through the holiday! No matter how you choose to celebrate, we have a safe and colorful idea that will make for a memorable Easter activity for the entire family!

Safe Alternative Easter Egg Dyes

Parents are consciously moving towards safe and sustainable alternatives for their children’s everyday needs. In keeping with that, here’s a DIY activity with everyone’s favorite Easter symbol–the Easter egg! If you’ve always bought Easter eggs off-the-shelf, here’s a great activity for the entire family that involves alternative easter egg dyes with natural and chemical-free food colors. In addition to being safe for your children, it makes for a fun bonding experience for them. As a bonus, you also have an opportunity to personalize the Easter eggs the way you like.

So aprons on, parents and kids!

Let’s get to work, shall we?

Ingredients 

Hard-cooked or, simply put, boiled eggs. The eggs could be white or brown. 

Note: White eggs are better for vibrant colors.

Pro-tip: The older the eggs, the easier they are to peel.

1 cup chopped red beets

1 cup blueberries
1 tbsp turmeric powder per cup of water

1 tbsp black tea leaves

1 tbsp white vinegar per cup of water

The acidity balances the pH of the dye-bath creating ideal conditions for egg coloring!

How to make natural dye for Easter eggs: 

• Add water to four saucepans.
• Add chopped red beets, blueberries, turmeric powder, and black tea leaves into separate pans.
• Bring the water to a boil. 
• Turn the heat down and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes. 
• Remove the pans from the heat and let the dyes cool at room temperature. 
• Strain the dyes into mason jars. Pro tip: Leave a few chunks in the strained liquid to get a unique texture on the eggs!
• Stir the vinegar into the dyes. 
• Submerge the eggs in the dyes and refrigerate for about 24-48 hours. 
• Remove and dry the eggs. 
• Gently massage in a little oil to each one and polish with a paper towel. 

And if you’d like to expand your color palette, here are some other ingredients used as natural and alternate easter egg dyes:

• Boiled spinach leaves
• Chili powder (exercise caution, of course)
• Boiled yellow onion skins
• Carrots
• Red wine
• Chamomile tea
• Lemon peels

Image Source: justshortofcrazy.com

You can make separate batches of different colors or one batch of all colors. You can also use decorative items to add effects or decorations to your personalized Easter eggs! And now, you can store, eat, or, better yet, hide them.

Easter Egg Printable 

And, that’s not all! We’ve created an exciting little challenge for an indoor scavenger hunt. Here’s what you need to do:

• Print the Easter Egg Printable PDF
• Cut the eggs in half
• To the kids, give the egg halves with clues in them
• Hide the other half of the eggs at the location the riddle points to
• Let them match the riddle to the answer

The hunt ends with them finding a delicious treat and a beaming sense of victory! 

Print this out for a super fun Easter egg hunt!

Go on, try it out, and let us know how it went! We’d love to see pictures and/or videos of your kids naturally dyeing their Easter eggs, so tag us @playshifu on Instagram and we will feature you in our stories!

Happy Easter!