Thursday, May 13, 2010

And Speaking of Chickens. . .



This Easter season I did something I have been thinking about for a long time.

I dyed eggs.

Without dyes.

Start with this:

Add some vinegar, five 3 year-olds, and let sit for. . .a bit.


Then, you get this:


We used blueberries, tumeric, carrots, spinach, onions, chili peppers, and beets.  My favorite results came from the berries, onions and beets.   Try this site for some instructions to try it on your own.  I really want to try some natural dyes for cake frosting.  Maybe this weekend.  Chris has a birthday coming up. 

The girls loved it (almost as much as I did) and had only slight issues in choosing which eggs to take home.  I am definitely doing this next year, it was way more fun than regular food dye (which is just so. . .predictable!).  Plus, I had little tasting bowls of all the ingredients for the kids to snack on while we dyed each kind.  Well, I skipped the tumeric bowl and hot chili bowl.  I know, so boring.    Next time I want to try orange peel, grass, some flowers (maybe dandelions?  The kids could pick them in the yard. . .if we celebrated Easter in May. . .hmmm) and herbal tea. 

**Oh and a tip:  if using carrots or spinach, you really should boil them.  As per the instructions.  I got bored of boiling stuff.  They didn't really work well.  The carrots were really faint and the raw spinach did nothing. 

4 comments:

Brooke said...

I love it!! HMMM I wonder what that would do to clothing?...That would be fun.

Kris said...

I am probably not going to do this project, but I love that you did it and shared! My girls love the regular food coloring way, mixed a thousand different shades.

Their favorite part?

Dumping all of the colors one by one into the toilet to see the colors swirl as they flush.

But your way? Much more likely to show up in a magazine somewhere! Your photos are gorgeous!

MONSON FAMILY said...

That sounds like a lot of fun to color eggs like that!! Those baby chicks are adorable!! So I bumped into your husband the other day. I totally forgot he worked at Sherwin Williams. I can't believe your going to have your baby soon!! It has been so long since we have seen you guys. Time sure does fly by!! I hope all goes well and you can get as much done on your list as possible! Take care!

April and Jared Fenn said...

how fun! What a great idea and very exciting for the kids! You are a great teacher, I can't wait for Logan to be in your class.