With Easter on its way next weekend, we’ve been seeing eggs, bunnies, and chicks everywhere (not to mention a plethora of goods containing huge amounts of sugar, and even more insidiously lots of high-fructose corn syrup, artificial dyes, unhealthy oils, genetically modified soy, and chemical preservatives).

We avoid bringing unhealthy sweets into our celebrations, including our celebration of the rebirth of the natural world around us in the Spring. A dark chocolate rabbit, some special dried fruits, and perhaps some dark chocolate peanut butter cups or honey sticks are about as close as we get to the candy-filled excess that characterizes most Easter baskets.

Instead, we choose to decorate hard-boiled eggs, an art activity that my 6-year-old loves. This allows us to do something fun, special, and celebratory together. It provides a venue for creativity. And, it fills our refrigerator with the basis for healthy snacks and meals in the week to come.

We made our own dyes using food coloring, vinegar, and water. They are so simple to make.

Homemade Egg Dye Recipe

Food coloring
White vinegar
water

Simply put about a cup of water into a jar or glass, whatever container you want to use for dying your eggs (we use THESE, filled only part way). Make sure there is space at the top, so your container won’t overflow when the dye is displaced by the egg.

Add a tablespoon or two of vinegar to the water.

Add as many drops of food coloring as is required to achieve your desired color (we typically use around 15), and mix well.

Your dyes are now ready to use. Add your hardboiled eggs, and let them sit in the dye until they reach your desired color.

The result was lots of beautiful egg fun.

Happy Spring!