This project requires prep ahead of time from mom. What you’ll need: ribbons, beads, pearls, sequins, Elmer’s glue and a hot glue gun. If you have a Dremel tool, it will be helpful in prepping the eggs.
Prep Eggs
To prepare the eggs, you’ll need to empty the contents without breaking the shell. With the Dremel, you can just drill holes in the top and bottom of the egg, but without a dremel you can use anything sharp – a screw, an ice pick, etc. Gently poke a hole in both the top and the bottom of the egg, then carefully blow the contents out of the egg. You can use a toothpick, skewer, or thin dowel to stir up the yolk so that it will pass through the hole. Try to keep the hole from becoming to large as it will weaken the egg.
Use Elmer’s Glue to Strengthen Egg Wall
Once the egg is emptied, gently rinse out the inside and let it dry, preferably overnight. Put the shells back in the container for safekeeping. The next day, squirt a liberal amount of Elmer’s glue inside the egg. Roll the egg around so that the inside is completely coated with the glue. This will strengthen the shell. Once the glue is dry, the kids can jump in and help.
Go Crazy with Creativity
The eggshells must be handled with care. Even with the glue coating, the shell is still extremely fragile. (Don’t fret if there’s a mishap, though – a lot of times, your hot glue gun will repair the damage well enough that it can be disguised with the ribbons and beads. When decorating the eggs, allow your creativity – and your kids’ – to shine through. Paint the eggs, then take thin strips of ribbon and glue them using a hot glue gun lengthwise onto the egg. Leave extra at the top to form into a bow if you desire. Add beads, pearls and sequins to decorate to your taste.
Allow the eggs to dry and show them off!
If you have very young helpers who want to be involved but you know the eggs will never survive their hands, get a bag of pastel-colored plastic eggs, glue the two halves together and turn them loose with a glue stick and ribbons (smaller beads and sequins would make choking hazards, so avoid them).
The three eggs above the suggestions are spectacular. I thought there would have been instructions how to make them, at least a hint. What is that white substance those designs are made of? I just LOVE those eggs!! I want to make them the moment you reply. Thank you so much.. really, you have made my day.
Deb,
The eggs are dyed and hand painted, but the image itself doesn’t represent my own capabilities. It’s a stock image by Image by anncapictures from https://pixabay.com/.
Art & Home goes into more detail about the history of painted eggs here: https://artandhome.net/hand-painted-easter-eggs/
The point of this article was more about getting creative with your kids, not about capturing the precise image.
Hope you had a great Easter!