By ClaireOn

When Easter and springtime roll around, our kids love to dye Easter eggs (who doesn’t?). But this year, we were really inspired to create beautiful eggs after reading Rechenka’s Eggs by Patricia Polacco. While the egg painting technique described in the book is a high art form that can take artisans weeks or months of painstaking work to create, my simplified method allows kids of almost any age to create beautiful eggs in an hour or less. Let’s dive in!

If you don’t own this beautiful book, I highly suggest adding it to your library. I think it’s what all children’s books should strive to be – a captivating story that opens childrens’ eyes to a world they perhaps didn’t know existed. There is so much to be discovered in this book and so many avenues for inspired learning – Russian words, Russian foodways, architecture, geography, nature, art, virtues and more, all set amidst simple story language that kids almost immediately memorize and repeat.

Since it was springtime, though, I focused on art. The story revolves around “psyanky” – an old and high art form originating in Russia where artisans create painted eggs using a time-consuming and highly detailed process of using beeswax to paint eggs in relief. Using a special tool, beeswax is applied in intricate patterns where the artisan does not want the egg to be colored, then applies paint to the rest of the egg. The beeswax resists the paint and when the beeswax is removed, the patterned area remains unpainted. That area can then be painted a different color by applying beeswax to the rest of the egg and then painting the patterns. This process is repeated many times to create the beautiful multi-colored layered effect of pysanky eggs.

As my kids and I read this book (over and over again), they kept asking to make eggs just like the ones in the story. How on earth do you translate a painstaking and intricate high art form into an activity that a 3 and 5 year old could do? Well, I found the answer and I’m sharing this surprisingly simple technique with you!

Step 1 – Color a Design on the Eggs Using a White Wax Crayon

Start with a dozen white or brown hard-boiled eggs. White eggs will have truer colors once they are dyed but the white crayon shows up better on a brown egg. Both ways work great – use whatever you have on hand. Hard boiling the eggs makes the shells firmer so they can withstand having kids color on them and dunk them into bowls!

Have your kids draw any pattern they choose on their eggs using the white wax crayon. Simple shapes and dashed or squiggly lines work well for very young kids. For older kids, perhaps they’d like to try recreating their favorite egg from the book.

Step 2 – Dye The Eggs

Set up as many bowls as the number of colors you plan to use. To keep things simple, we just used 2 colors. Using regular store-bought Easter egg dye or food coloring, follow the label instructions for creating the dye bath. Then, gently lower the eggs into the bowls and let sit until the eggs have turned the color you want. Hint: artificial colors work a lot of faster than natural ones.

(If you’re looking for a natural food coloring that does not contain artificial colors and works great for both egg dyeing and coloring food, I use and love this one.)

Once the eggs are dyed, use a slotted spoon or a fork to remove them from the dye baths and lay them on a paper towel to dry.

Repeat, Repeat…

Once the eggs are dry, repeat Steps 1 and 2 until you have added as much color and design to your eggs as you want (or until you run out of room on the eggs!). Each time we added more design with the crayon, we would dye them in the opposite color of we had used before.

When the eggs are finished and dry, pile them in a bowl or on a plate, add some flowers or greenery from outside and make a pretty centerpiece for your dinner table. It will make an excellent dinner conversation starter and your kids will feel so proud to see their artwork front and center on the table!

Tried it? Liked it? Let me know in the comments!