Kid-Friendly Egg Fun

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Does your family join in traditional egg decorating with the spring festivities? If so, you’re actually participating in a custom that dates back to many an ancient springtime festival. Customarily looked upon as a symbol of hope and rebirth, the egg is a universal symbol of life—and spring. While colored eggs, bunnies and familiar Easter symbols only gained nationwide popularity in the mid-19th century, there are many ways to celebrate and enjoy this holiday that truly seems “just made for kids.”

Easter is one of my daughter’s favorite holidays—in fact we’ve been known to decorate eggs occasionally even when it’s not Easter! I love Easter because it signals that the long winter is finally over and it’s finally time to reemerge outdoors—from weeding and gardening to regular bike rides. And I’m more than ready. Here are a few ideas that we’ve enjoyed over the years—I hope you and your family find some wonderful ways to welcome springtime and Easter:

Decorate Together: Whether you pick up a package of dip-n-dunk dye or go for the “swab it on” warm eggs, how about picking up a few extra dozen eggs and get into the act yourself too? For the cost of only several dozen (really, they’re a cheap art material), be sure to start with plenty. There’s nothing worse than getting those creative juices flowing only to run out of eggs. Make sure everyone has one dozen of their own—preferably more.

Want to learn more about food dyes? Explore using natural dyes. While we’re all familiar with the traditional onionskin dye bath, the sky’s really the limit here. Several years ago the kids and I took a class and learned how to use anything from red beet juice and turmeric to coffee and cherry pie filling as natural egg colorants. We learned the colors aren’t as dramatic as the dip dyes (you’ll get a more natural-looking egg), and it’s also best to allow extra time for the soak (sometimes 1+hours) for best results.

Hide and Hunt Together: Now, depending upon the ages of your kids, you can adapt this or skip it—but my kids have really enjoyed this (up to about 10 years old): They take all the eggs that were just decorated (when the dye is dry), and conduct an early impromptu egg hunt in the living room. Of course, we usually end up digging out a basket or two and taking turns with the hiding and hunting, repeating as many times as necessary until child (and/or adult) has had his/her fill.

Whip up some Egg-stra Special Treats Together: Yes, all of those eggs you’ve decorated don’t need to just sit forgotten on the refrig shelf and spoil over the next two weeks. Now’s the opportunity to get creative and find ways for everyone in your family to love those eggs in new ways:

• Egg salad with diced garlic dill pickles
• Egg salad with diced red pepper and sweet gherkins
• Chicken salad with diced green onion and hard-boiled egg
• Sliced hard-boiled egg on toast with mayo, salt, pepper and lettuce
• Top a tossed green salad with hard-boiled quarters or slices
• Bite into a plain hard-boiled egg sprinkled with salt and/or pepper
• Top whole grain crackers with slices of egg and a dollop of horseradish sauce with green scallions
• Have your kids make a classic: devilled eggs. Once prepared, they always seems to disappear twice as fast as their straight-up hard-boiled egg cousins

And if, like us, you have a few that don’t get used up in their prime, here’s what we like to do for a final bit of Easter fun: we take them into the backyard for an innovative game of catch—and see how long and how far we can throw them to each other. And finally, after all the laughter and goofiness has worn off, we gather up the shells and remnants to be disposed of in the compost pile—and know that they will help to feed our garden in the coming years.

Happy Spring, everyone!

Serves/Makes: 12 pcs

• 6 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon mild vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish, plus more for garnish, optional
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• paprika, for garnish, optional