Blogger / 5 March, 2026 / Nanny Anita

Different Ways To Dye An Egg

There are so many different ways to dye an egg and over the years I have done a fare few of them.  To make it easier for you have put them all into one post.  Happy dyeing.

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Traditional Dyeing

Mix some food colouring and vinegar, then add the cup of hot water.

Next place the egg into the container so that it is completely covered.

The longer you leave it in, the darker the colour will be.

Tye Dyeing

Mix the food colouring, vinegar, and hot water.

Using a pipette, drip the mixture onto some paper towel.

Wrap the egg up in the paper towel.

Spray the wrapped-up egg with water.

Gentle press the towel on to the egg to help transfer the colour.

Unwrap the egg and leave to dry.

Dyeing an egg with Sharpies

Make sure you do this in a well-ventilated room.

Colour in your egg using sharpies.

Carefully drip the rubbing alcohol onto the egg to make the colours run.

Dyeing and Egg Using Nail Polish

This is also one that needs to be done in a well-ventilated room.

Fill your container up with room temperature water.

Drip your nail polish into the water.  When it has started to spread add another colour.

Use the toothpick to swirl the colours.

Dip and roll the egg in the water.

N.B. You must be quick with this activity or the nail polish will dry in the water.

How to dye edible eggs

Mix together the food colouring and water; you need enough water to completely cover the egg.  Mugs are wonderful for doing this in.

Once your eggs are hard-boiled, crack them all over with a spoon.  DON’T peel them.

Place them in the coloured water and leave them in there for 30-60 mins.  The longer you leave them in the darker the colour will be.

Take them out, peel them, and then eat them.

How to dye an egg using crayons

As soon as your egg has been hard boiled, take it out and hold it with the oven glove.  Then start to decorate it with the wax crayon.  The crayon should start to melt and create a wonderful effect.

Keep the spare eggs in the hot water while you are decorating the others.

Dyeing an egg with Bicarb and Vinegar

First you need to prepare the coloured paste.  Use one tbls of bicarb, 1 tsp of water, and some food colouring to mix into a paste.  You may need to add some extra water if it is too dry.  You do want the colours to be vibrant, otherwise they may wash away when you add the vinegar.

Using a paint brush, brush the paste onto your egg, making sure to cover the whole thing.

Next use the pipette to pipe vinegar over the egg.

Wait for the bicarb and vinegar to stop fizzing, then rinse it under some water and pat it dry.

Dyeing an egg using a silk tie

Start with cut your silk ties/ scarfs up into squares that will completely cover your egg.  If you don’t have any old silk ties or scarfs at home, a charity shop is a good place to look for them.

Place your egg in the middle of your fabric, with the right side of the fabric touching the egg.  Gather the fabric together so that it is tightly wrapped around the egg, then use string or a cable tie to secure it.

Next put the silk covered egg onto a piece of the white cloth like cheese cloth and secure it in place.

Place your eggs into a saucepan and completely cover them with water.

Add about 3 tbls of vinegar (I just guess-timated) and it to the boil.

Simmer for about 20 minutes, then take the eggs out.

Leave them to cool and then carefully undo all the wrapping.

You need to leave them to dry after this on a piece of kitchen towel.  If you start to handle it too much the print starts to come off. Once they have completely dried this won’t happen.

How to dye an egg using coloured rice

The wonderful thing about this activity is that you can involve really little ones in it as all they need to do is shake something, plus you will have lots of coloured rice to use in sensory play afterwards!

Add the food colouring to each of the bags or rice.

Before adding the eggs to the bag shake them to evenly cover the rice with colour.  That way we wouldn’t get massive clumps of food dye on them.

Finally add the eggs to the bags and shake them until they looked covered.  Of course, you can put the eggs into multiple bags to get a multi coloured egg.

How to dye an egg using oil and water

For the first dye you will need to submerge an egg into a cup of water, food colouring, and vinegar.  The longer you leave it in there the more vivid the colour will be.

Take it out and leave it to dry.

Make up a cup of water, food colouring, and oil.  Before adding the egg give it a good mix.

Don’t submerge the egg in this second cup, instead dunk it a couple of times until you are happy with the pattern it creates on the egg.

If you enjoyed these different ways to dye an egg, be sure to check out my gold foil decorated eggs and fingerprinted eggs.

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