I've been thinking a lot lately about Easter egg ideas for kids. I included a bunch in my spring crafts eBook, both new ideas as well as some of our older faves, but there are others floating around in my head that didn't make it into the book. This is one of those.

Drawing in frames.

I have a bit of a thing for frames. You may remember the DIY frame wallpaper we did last year. Or the various creative drawing prompts we've done with frames.

Frames provide a good balance of open-ended inspiration within a defined space. They sometimes seem to inspire kids more than just a plain piece of paper. Or, in this case, an egg.

The materials & set-up for this Easter egg idea:

• White eggs, hard-boiled
• A new set of '80s glam Sharpie markers -- an impulse purchase inspired by Rachelle from Tinkerlab (any permanent marker would work, of course)
• Cheap plastic place mats to protect the table (from Ikea)
• Silicone ice cube molds (an impromptu idea for holding the eggs in place -- you could also use egg cartons or muffin tins)
• Individual cups to keep eggs from rolling around as the child draws
• Kool-Aid + white vinegar for dyeing the eggs (or use food coloring or any commercial kit)
• Tongs

To begin with, I drew a variety of frames on hard-boiled eggs using a black sharpie. I did this ahead of time, in order to have everything set up as an after school activity.

Maia, Stella, and Daphne all drew pictures inside of the frames using the Sharpies.

Here's a bunny drawing.

And a spring scene with a bird, flowers, and a nest with eggs in a tree branch (by Stella).

Besides drawing within the egg frames, the girls also colored in some of the frames.

All in all, the results were quite different from the many times I have set out plain white eggs (no frames) and markers or crayons.

The next day, we dyed the eggs around the frames with a Kool-Aid dye. Maia poured the powder into tea cups and bowls, then we added hot water and 2 tablespoons of distilled white vinegar to each cup of powder (talk about a fruity smell!).

We used tongs to dip the eggs into the Kool-Aid dye to keep the dye around the frame rather than inside where the drawings were.

Luckily the dye was intense and worked quickly so we didn't have to hold the eggs in place for long.

We were quite pleased with how the eggs turned out!

Some of our new frame Easter eggs have joined the rest of our decorated eggs in a big wire fruit bowl on our dining table. We also nestled a few eggs in the makeshift yarn nest (loose yarn piled in a small basket) on our spring nature table.

How about you? Are you decorating and dyeing Easter eggs with your kids yet? What methods are you using?

Jean Van't Hul
The Artful Parent
ArtfulParent.com