Decorating Ideas

Creative people like the pleasant oval shape of the egg. Jewelers, for example, use the oval when making cameos. Because the egg's unique shape has surprising strength, architects use the egg shape when making arches and moldings. And, for centuries, artists have used the inspiring eggshell itself as a canvas for their art.

People of different cultures all over the world have decorated eggs in many different ways using all kinds of different materials. In addition to food coloring and egg dyes, you can use crayons, felt-tipped pens or paint to make a simple design or a more complicated painting on an eggshell. Or, you can glue things to the shell. You probably have things at home that would work—like small seeds and pasta shapes, sequins, ribbons, lace and scraps of felt. See what you have on hand and use your imagination.

You can decorate just the shell by itself or use the shell as a base to make something else. For instance, you can make an egg person. Draw a funny face on the shell. Then use felt to add a tall hat and ribbons to make a scarf or tie. Or, you can use a broken shell to make a nest. Use clay to make birds and tiny egg shapes to sit in it.

Eggs are often decorated for Easter, but you can decorate eggs any time of year, with any kind of design you like. Professional artists have used eggs to represent the states. If you don't want to make an egg for your state, you could decorate one in red, white and blue for the Fourth of July. Or, how about making an egg person into a pilgrim for Thanksgiving? To make a decorated egg to hang on a mobile, Easter tree or Christmas tree, use a lightweight emptied eggshell.

You can also use decorated eggs as a crafts project or as a table favor or "namecard" at a birthday party. Or, maybe you might like to start a family tradition by making a special egg for Mom or Dad for Mother's or Father's Day. As you grow up and your talents grow, too, the eggs will probably get better and better every year!