In today’s post: This crazy easy egg decorating idea for kids gives you beautiful watercolor Easter eggs using markers and a sandwich bag!
I don’t like dyeing eggs. Well, let me amend that statement: I don’t like dyeing eggs with kids. It’s messy (cups full of DYE? whose idea was that?!?) and it’s actually kind of boring (dunk egg. wait. remove egg. dunk another. wait some more.). So every year I try to come up with a new way to dye eggs that’s both less messy and more fun than dunking eggs in dye. Last year the kids and I colored eggs with tissue paper, and the year before that we used tattoo paper to make floral Easter eggs.
This year we made gorgeous watercolor eggs using markers and sandwich bags! You can mimic the look of painted eggs without the mess.
Watercolor Easter Eggs
Sounds a little weird, right? Yes, you can color eggs with markers and plastic sandwich bags! It’s fun because you get to play with color mixing and it’s easy enough for very young children.
It’s fun to get that watercolor wash look without buying watercolor paint or brushes. You probably have everything you need on hand already. We love how they turned out!
Supplies
This is what you’ll need to make watercolor Easter eggs using markers:
- Crayola Markers: the classic markers work better than washable ones, generic markers also work
- Ziplock sandwich bags: you can reuse one bag for multiple eggs
- Small bowl of Water
- Napkins or paper towels for cleanup
- Hard Boiled Eggs or Craft Eggs
Food Safety
Some of the marker ink may transfer through the shell onto the egg. If you have concerns about the food safety of these eggs, do not eat them. Instead, use white craft eggs for this project. You can usually find a nice set of completely recyclable craft eggs at Walmart for about $2/dozen. Another alternative would be to blow out the insides of the egg so you can then decorate just the shell. Be aware that the shells will be much more delicate with the insides blown out, so you’ll need to be more careful when coloring them.
Video
Here’s a quick video showing how to dye eggs with markers (written instructions follow):
Color on the Bag
Start by coloring on the plastic sandwich bag. Just scribble a few different colors in splotches or stripes on the bag.
Transfer Color to the Egg
Next, dip your egg in water to get it wet, then place it on the bag. Grab the corners of the bag and pull it up and around the egg. The wet surface of the egg turns the marker ink into wet paint.
Smoosh the egg around inside the bag to get color over the entire egg (remember to be very careful if you are using blown out eggs). Then set it back down on the table and open up the bag.
Dry the Egg
At this point, you can leave your colored egg on the bag and let it dry completely, OR you can pick it up with a napkin and dab it dry. We dried ours off with napkins so we didn’t have to wait then set them back in the egg carton. The napkin does absorb a little of the color, but plenty of color will remain on the eggs. You could even use a blow dryer on low to speed the drying process.
Tips + Tricks
You can experiment with different color combinations to get different effects on your eggs. Just remember the colors are going to mix, so stick to colors that will look good together, like pink-purple-blue, or red-orange-yellow. Just two colors together works nicely, as well. The pretty turquoise egg in the photo above came from using blue and green markers. Just be sure to avoid any color combinations that will turn brown once they are mixed (like green + red).
You can also experiment with how you color on the bag. For most of our eggs we just colored in splotches, but for the egg above I colored a row of yellow on top, orange in the middle, and pink at the bottom. It’s such a pretty watercolor effect!
This technique is much tidier than using cups of dye, but you will still want to have paper towels or wipes handy because you’ll end up with some drops of “paint” on the bags that can stain fingers if you touch them. You can use a paper towel to wipe your bag clean and reuse it for each egg, or you can start with a new bag for each egg.
Watercolor Easter Eggs
Supplies
- Eggs see note
- Markers like Crayola
- Plastic Ziptop Bag
- Water
- Paper Towels
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Instructions
- Scribble on the plastic bag with markers, using colors that will blend well.
- Dip the egg in water, then place it on the bag. Pull the sides of the bag up and around the egg.
- Smoosh the egg around inside the bag, allowing the water from the egg to mix with the marker ink to create watercolor designs.
- Allow eggs to dry, dabbing wet spots with napkins.
Tips
More Easter fun:
63 Easter egg fillers that aren’t candy!
17 Easter family traditions to start this year
20 easy Easter crafts for kids
Jennifer says
10000% recommend “dyeing” eggs this way! My girls are 4 & 2 and the thought of filling bowls of staining dye made me cringe, but I wanted to do something with them. It worked perfectly, and my 4 year old had so much fun seeing what colors would mix and turn into. Will be doing this for years to come!
Eveline van Heijst says
What a fun idea.
Kate Flood says
Have you eaten eggs dyed with crayola markers?
Autumn says
I can’t recommend that you do that – you’d have to do your own research and make that choice for yourself. As far as I know crayola markers are non-toxic.
Holly says
Are they safe to eat after they are colored? These are so cute!