Decorating eggs is a fun way to celebrate upcoming Easter and spring. There are numerous techniques to display eggs, and every culture or religion has their own unique style. Since I grew up in Germany, my family’s tradition was to celebrate Easter with an Easter egg tree, which involved hanging hollow eggs from pussy willow branches. Any branches would do, but I anticipated the fluffy white blossoms signaling spring. Regardless of your tradition, the process of coloring eggs should be safe, especially if there are kids involved. Eco-kids is a Maine-based family-run business that creates art supplies with natural and non-toxic ingredients like the eco-eggs coloring kit. It contains three natural dyes in orange, blue and purple, as well as a color chart with instructions for creating six colors. In order to formulate yellow, for example, you simply dip your egg for one second into the orange dye mixed with water. Included is also a crayon for enhancing colored eggs and a custom egg dipper. The dyes are made with natural and organic fruit, plant and vegetable extracts from annatto seed, curcumin, purple sweet potato and red cabbage.
Natural dyes are a great alternative to those derived from synthetic or petroleum sources. Not only are they safer for humans, but also for our environment. To give kids or grown-ups even more to play with, you’ll find creature cut-outs under the kit’s exterior wrap or on the company’s website under eco-kids activity sheets. My favorites are bumble bee, frog, and peacock cut-outs. All you have to do is cut them out and glue them onto the colored eggs. And guess what? True to the company’s philosophy, you can even use their eco-glue, made out of all-natural ingredients–it’s handmade from rice flour, water, sugar, citric acid, corn starch, potassium sorbate and rosemary oil. Make sure to check out eco-kids’ how-to video that gives you step-by-step instructions on how to create yellow, blue, orange, and purple eggs. Have a healthy and colorful Easter or spring season!