Egg Dying

Inspired by Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning. We got out the egg dye and boiled up some eggs. I had visions of lots of color, splashes of colored water everywhere, and messy kids... while we had fun, and the kids enjoyed dying the eggs (I think) they were not really into it. We first talked about the vinegar... smelly, then what did they think was going to happen to the little colored tablet when it hit the vinegar?? Change the water color, go away, and fizz... were some of the answers we got. Then each child got to drop in a tablet. So, far so good :)

We then got to dying some of those eggs!! This little guy was visiting for the morning, and needed a little help... no problem, plenty of hands to help. He was intrigued by the colored water and how it changed his egg to a different color... but beyond that, he wasn't real interested.

I think my friend here was the most interested... he liked dipping the egg, taking it out to check on it, and then dipping again. No, mixing of color though for this group. Just picked a color, and went with it. I gave them crayons for crayon resists, but I don't know why... no one really even tried it. We have done the crayon resist painting on paper before, and we experimented a little today, but again... a flop :)

I also had the Bunny Ear making station set up... I put out some paper, feathers, scissors, glue, stapler, and tape. They had a slow start, but when they figured out what they wanted to do, we got some really cute ears. Thanks to the girls at Irresistible Ideas for Play Based Learning for such a great idea!!

Is he just to cute??

I think that playing outside was the favorite part of our day again... The Bunny Ears came outside with us and there was a lot of hopping about, hiding pretend eggs, as well as becoming Mommy Bunny, Swinging Bunny, and Friend Bunny!! I think expectations can sometimes get the better of me, so I am glad that I didn't let it this time. I allowed the kids to explore as long, and as intent as they wanted, then let them move on when they wanted... I think I will set egg dying out again sometime towards the end of the school year... see what they do then... or, I could set it out with the School Agers, who I know would model the explorations (mess) I was imagining.