Four easy mess-free ideas for decorating Easter eggs with children

Get creative this weekend without covering the kitchen in paint

Here are some methods for mess-free Easter eggs for children. Hayley Skirka / The National

Painting and dyeing Easter eggs might be a holiday tradition, but it can also be a messy activity if small children are involved. To avoid spilled paint and stained fingers, here are some mess-free ways for children to get involved with Easter egg crafting.

Easy Easter chicks

If you’re pressed for time, space or equipment, this super simple method might be for you. Hard-boil some white eggs and allow them to cool. Give children some markers and let them draw an orange triangle and two black dots on each egg to transform it into an Easter chick, no mess involved.  Colored feathers can also be glued onto the eggs if you’re looking to make the activity last longer.

Bunny eggs

Slightly more advanced, but easy enough for little ones. You’ll need cotton balls, cotton pads, some glue and a marker pen to make Easter egg bunnies. Start by getting children to draw a rabbit face in the middle of an egg (little ones might need some help with this part). Next, cut a cotton pad in half and ask children to glue the top of each half on to the top of the egg for floppy ears. Finish off by gluing one cotton ball on the back of the egg to complete an Easter bunny.

White crayon motifs

Give children hard-boiled eggs and a white crayon and let them draw whatever pattern they want on the egg. While they’re busy, fill a bowl with hot water, half a cup of white vinegar and some food colouring. Once decorating is done, children can lower the egg into this bowl - a tea strainer makes a good tool for this. Leave the egg in the bowl for at least five minutes – the longer you leave it the darker the colour will become - tip: using a clear bowl means children can watch the colour develop. Remove the egg, dry it off and let children admire the pattern they drew in crayon, imprinted on the eggshell.

Tinfoil tie-dye eggs

Slightly messier but great for creative children, this method of egg dyeing uses drops of food colouring, but stays away from big bowls of water that can be easily spilled.

Take a square of tinfoil and place a coffee filter in the middle of it. Children can decorate the filter with droplets of food colouring – it can be as random and colourful as they like. When finished, dip an egg in water then place it in the middle of the filter. Wrap the filter around the egg, and then fold the foil tightly around this. Leave to develop for eight minutes then unwrap for tie-dyed, mess-free Easter eggs.