Easy Tie Dye Easter Eggs
Sarah N.
Easter Sunday is fast approaching, and if you’re still in need of a fun and easy Easter craft, I’m here for you!
I love to dye Easter eggs every year, but to be honest, the process is not always easy, or even that fun. I have young kids and dyeing eggs always turns into throwing eggs into jars, liquid dye splashing all over my house, and a pile of muddled brownish eggs rolling around the table.
This year, I tried something different and I will never go back! This new method is easy, foolproof, and results in bright, intensely colored eggs every time. My son even said he LOVED dyeing eggs this way and wants to do it FOREVER.
Here is what you’ll need to tie dye your own Easter eggs-
Supplies:
Hard boiled white eggs (as many as you want to dye)
Bleeding tissue paper
Scissors
Water
Rubber gloves (optional)
Notes before beginning:
You HAVE to have bleeding tissue paper for this project to work. If you don’t know if your paper “bleeds,” hold it under a running faucet until it is wet and then either set it on a paper towel, or leave in your fingers and the color should be running off of it fairly obviously.
I will admit that finding bleeding tissue paper was harder than I first thought it would be, but I discovered that Hobby Lobby’s Assorted Brights Tissue Paper worked perfectly. You can also order this paper from Amazon if you have time to wait for shipping.
Pro tip for boiling eggs perfectly every time: If you have an InstantPot, use the 5-5-5 rule. 5 minutes on manual pressure cook- 5 minutes “cool down” (don’t do anything after the first five minutes are up, just let the pot sit for 5 more minutes)- release pressure and then 5 minutes in an ice bath. They come out perfect every time and the shells are almost always easy to remove for eating!
Method:
1, You’ll need to cut or tear the tissue paper into small pieces. They do not have to be tiny, or uniform. In fact, the more irregular, the better. My son helped me do all the steps, and this provided great scissor skills practice and we talked about what shapes some of the papers looked like.
2, Collect all the paper pieces in bowls or piles.
3, One at a time, wet the eggs thoroughly. We used a squirt bottle, which provided my son with some great hand strengthening exercise, but you can also hold the eggs under the faucet or dip in bowls of water.
4, Gently press tissue paper pieces onto the wet eggs, patting down the edges and adding water where needed. You want the paper to fold and crumple because this makes the interesting lines and texture within the color on the eggs.
Use all one color, or use all different colors. My son and I were able to talk about colors and color mixing while doing this.
Once the paper is all stuck down onto the egg, make sure the entire surface is completely saturated with water. The colors will not bleed as well if the paper is not wet enough.
5, Set the eggs on paper towels to dry. I used a baking sheet with edges so the eggs wouldn’t roll off. I was also able to then move the eggs into the refrigerator to stay cool while they dried. You may not need to do this, but I wanted to wait to finish the project since my kids spent the day at school.
6, When the tissue paper is dry (or pretty close to dry if you’re impatient like me), peel it off and admire the colors that are left behind. My 20 month old daughter was awake by this point and able to help peel the paper off, and this also gave her and my son some great fine motor skills practice.
We absolutely LOVE how the simple tie dye Easter eggs turned out! We keep admiring them, turning them over and over, looking at the fun details left by the folded paper. I’m surprised by how bright the colors turned out (the brighter papers obviously work better, but the pale pastel colors did leave a bit of color on the eggshells).
I hope you get to try this project with your kids, or even without them if you just like having festive, fun Easter eggs at this time of year. Please let me know when you tie dye your own eggs by tagging us in your photos!
And don’t forget, don’t let those hard boiled eggs go to waste! You can still eat them after they’ve been tie dyed! They’ll be good in the fridge for approximately 1 week. I love a craft that doubles as a healthy snack!
