Volcano Eggs: An Awesome Way to Dye Easter Eggs

My cousin Jen is such a fun mom and when I heard about the volcano eggs she made with her preschooler, I knew I had to do the same with Tory. I love how Jen never shies away from a craft or children's activity for fear it might make a mess in her kitchen. She's so creative with her girls. Lauren and Reese are lucky to have her!

I had already purchased a dozen white eggs and the traditional egg coloring kit for Tory and I to do as an activity together but when I saw Jen's volcano eggs, I knew we had to make those instead. While Tory napped yesterday afternoon, I boiled and cooled the eggs and prepped the baking soda paint we'd use for the activity. The baking soda paint was simple to make (I used a tbsp. baking soda, a splash of water and a few drops of food coloring) and I loved how I had all the ingredients already in my pantry. No need to even buy the egg coloring kit at the store. Some of my paints were a little on the runny side and now having done this activity, I'd make the baking soda paint a little thicker next time. I used a cookie sheet to contain any volcanic eruptions and a muffin tin to hold eggs and paints in place for Tory to use.

When Tory woke up from her nap, she was so excited for the special surprise I'd arranged for her.

First, I let Tory paint the eggs in the muffin tin. She loves to paint and probably spent at least 20 minutes coloring the eggs in red, blue, yellow and green. By the way, "dyeing" Easter eggs by painting them like this was way more toddler-friendly than doing it the traditional method. Seriously, it kept Tory highly engaged for at least 20 minutes. She had a ball and the mess was fairly minimal.

I think Tory would've been happy just painting eggs, but oh no - there was more! I slid over a cookie sheet filled with glasses, placed a baking-soda-painted egg inside one and poured a small amount of vinegar into a plastic cup for Tory to handle. I directed her to pour the vinegar onto the egg in the glass and FIZZZ! Up went bubbles inside the glass covering her freshly painted egg. Tory was so impressed!

I wish I knew more about science or chemical reactions or something, so I could've used it as a teaching moment ... but, I don't so we just watched the eggs fizz with lots of ooh's and ahh's together. Now, here's the part about when I do this activity again (which I totally would because it was so much fun!), I would make the baking soda paint thicker to give more pizazz to our fizzing. The thinner paint still fizzed, but not as much. Still, Tory thought it was very cool so mission accomplished in the end.

Tory loved this activity so much, she asked to make "balcanoes" over and over again. I pulled the eggs out of the cups, slapped on some more baking soda paint and re-used the same vinegar to make more volcanoes. In the end, our eggs weren't much than blue blobs but who cares -- we had such a fun time together. Definitely adding this to our Easter line-up of activities every year. Thanks for the idea, Jen!

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