Easter Eggs No One Has to Boil

The other day as our family of four were riding along in the phillips' family station wagon, Isaac inquired, "Mommy, why do we celebrate Easter?"

As I again cursed the hospital for not sending us home with some sort of kiddie question/answer book for these type situations when they handed us over our newborn babies, I searched for the answer.

Because let's be honest, there was no Easter egg hunt on the day Jesus rose from the tomb.

Here at casa de phillips we recognize both religious and secular meanings of holidays, attempting to be mindful of important seasons of the year. We try not to let the fun (Santa Claus) completely overshadow the true meaning of particular days on the calendar (celebrating the joyous birth of our Savior), yet we also strive to let our kids enjoy being a kid (running around like crazy attempting to find plastic eggs stuffed with candy while dressed in expensive church clothes).

In the recognition of the secular celebration of Easter, we made our own batch of Easter eggs on Monday. I am not big on the boiling and dyeing off eggs (mainly because I cannot bring myself to eat a tie-dyed egg nor throw it away), so I thought this craft would be a great replacement (however, I might give in to one of those cute dye kits in Target if Easter does not get here soon...)

For this egg craft, one needs the following materials: *Paper Plates

*Ice cube trays or empty cups/containers

*Food Coloring

*Scissors

*Condensed Milk (yes, milk....stick with me.)

*Paint Brushes

Pour about 1/2 teaspoon of milk into an ice cube tray (these make a great reusable paint container) and mix in a drop of food coloring to make desired color.

Cut the centers of the paper plates into oval egg shapes. Allow children to decorate their eggs with the milk paint. Be sure to NOT use the shiny side of the paper plate, because the paint will not adhere to that side.

Miss E. artfully decorating her eggs

Isaac carefully creating a masterpiece

(I know this picture appears to be edited funny. Isaac had removed his shirt because some of the food coloring used to make his paint was not washable. I did not feel comfortable putting such a picture of him on the Internet. However, I also did not want to leave him out of this post. So, funny editing was my solution.)

Allow the eggs to dry for 24-48 hours. We got a little crafty with ours and sprinkled on some sugar sprinkles while they were still wet.


Once dry, punch holes in the tops, fasten with ribbon, and hang from a desired location. Ours are currently displayed above the kitchen table

This is a really great craft to teach younger children about how primary colors can be mixed together to make secondary colors. Isaac was quite intent on instructing Evelyn on this process. It is also a great craft for younger kids who like to paint because the paint is completely non-toxic (loaded with sugar...but non-toxic). One can also use light corn syrup rather than milk if desired. Just be warned that if allowed to get too hot (by either the direct heat from a light bulb or from the house heater) the corn syrup paint will melt.

Happy crafting!

***

I did answer Isaac's question, telling him that we celebrate Easter for two reasons. The first being that we recognize the death and Resurrection of Christ and the second reason is to eagerly welcome Spring. I did not tell him the Easter bunny was just the result of some sneaky marketing ploy to make money for big businesses. I figured he needed to hold onto some sort of childhood innocence.