Easter is fast approaching, and with it comes the promise of chocolate bunnies, baskets full of goodies, and colorful Easter eggs. There is perhaps no Springtime project kids (and adults) enjoy more than decorating Easter eggs.
Creating beautiful Easter eggs isn’t just fun; it is also educational. In fact, you can use an Easter egg project to teach kids about primary and secondary colors. Read on to find instructions for this activity.
Note: You will need vinegar, food coloring (blue, yellow and red), an egg rack or egg carton and egg spoons for this project.
Educational Easter Egg Project Instructions:
1. Briefly explain to your students what primary and secondary colors are.
2. Take three clear glasses or plastic cups and fill them with water. Using food coloring, color one glass of water red, one blue, and the other yellow. (You will need about 20 drops of food coloring to make a bright color.) Reiterate to students that these are primary colors.
3. To demonstrate color mixing, have a student pour the primary colors (in equal parts) into another clear cup or glass; the three combined primary colors will create a dark brown/black hue. Explain to the students that colors mix together to make other colors.
4. Next, have a student mix equal part blue and yellow water to make green, red and yellow water to make orange, and red and blue water to make violet. Explain that orange, green and violet are secondary colors and are made by mixing primary colors.
5. By now you should have glasses of orange, violet, green, black, red, blue, and yellow water. These are the colors you will use to shade your Easter eggs.
6. Add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to each cup of colored water.
7. Have students take turns dunking one cooled, hard boiled egg into each cup. (It is easiest to place eggs onto an egg spoon before dunking.) Have the students leave eggs in the colored vinegar water for at least 3 minutes before removing them. The longer an egg is in the colored water, the more vibrant the resulting hue will be.
8. Instruct students to remove eggs and gently place them on a wire rack or an egg carton. After the eggs dry, create an Easter egg display or let each student take an egg home.
Coloring Easter eggs is a fun, easy Springtime tradition. It is also an excellent activity for teaching kids about primary and secondary colors and color mixing.
Do you enjoy coloring Easter eggs? What is your favorite childhood memory of Easter egg decorating? Share with us in the comments box below.
Read more Segmation blog posts about art and color:
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