How to make faux mosiac eggs using abalone shell tiles . . .

These egg when finished are quite heavy; they
should be displayed in baskets or in vignettes,
not on egg trees.

        Traditional mosaic eggs made from plastic manufactured eggs, grout, and tiny mosaic Mother of Pearl pieces from Michael's. These crushed tiles have been sold at Michael's for over 10-12 years and come in many colors depending upon the year. 

Supply List:

• large plastic egg forms for the local hobby store or dollar store
• crushed abalone shell tile
• wood glue or tacky white glue or hot glue if you prefer
• tile grout, white
• Mod Podge

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. When adhering the tiles to the egg shell rough up the surface of the egg with sandpaper and then glue on the tiles using a strong bonding glue. I believe that I used wood glue for these eggs. 
2. After the crushed shell has dried, smear on a tile grout and then use a soft damp sponge to wash away excess grout.
3. Let the grout harden overnight. Crafters may also use wooden eggs to replace the plastic ones if they wish.
4. Seal the grout with a thin layer of Mod Podge or something like it.

How to craft mosaic Easter eggs using egg shells?

Photo of the egg membrane being separated 

from the shell.

        First you will need to collect egg shells for this craft and the number of those egg shells will depend upon your love of the craft. I collected only enough to demonstrate the process. In order to keep your kitchen clean and bacteria at a minimum, soak the left over shells in a vinegar solution. One cup of boiling water, plus two tablespoons of any type of vinegar will suffice for a gentle soak. This will also help loosen the membrane from the inner shell. The membrane should be removed for several reasons, the first being that it will help keep the egg shells from developing an unfortunate odor and the second being that the shells will adhere better when glued to another shell's surface. Above is a photo of the membrane being separated from the shell.

        After the shells have been dried, break them up and soak them in dying solutions. I chose to do this with food coloring. This is the traditional recipe which includes a few drops of food coloring combined together with the ratio of vinegar and water that I have mentioned above.

Broken egg shells soaking in the vinegar solution.

        After draining and drying the shells on a paper towel, you may then glue these to either hard boiled eggs or eggs that have been hollowed out and cleaned in advance. I used white school glue for this process and then covered the surface of my sample eggs with Mod Podge. You could also paint a layer of clear nail polish over the eggs if you have no other alternatives on hand.

How the mosaic process turns out after gluing the mosiac
egg shell pieces directly onto whole eggs. These eggs are
hollowed out, but you could use edible hard boiled eggs 
for this technique as well.

 Easter by Marjorie Goldwasser, (8 yrs. old)
The grass is turning oh, so green.
Everywhere new buds are seen.
The Easter bunny is on his way,
To bring us eggs on Easter day.

Craft a very hungry caterpillar...

Caterpillar cut from crayon resist paper and leaf cut from construction papers

      Above is a caterpillar craft that I taught during my student teaching. Kindergartener's spent the first day of this project coloring abstract shapes, line and colors onto white paper with crayons. Then they painted with watercolors on top of their crayon designs.

      On the second day, students then traced around giant leaf stencils and cut them out of green construction paper. Then they cut elliptical shapes from their decorated papers and assembled these onto their "leaf frames" with paste. The last step was to add eyes and line details to their caterpillars and leaves with a black magic marker. 

Supply List:

• a large sheet of green construction paper for the leaf cut-out
• white construction paper for the wax resist process
• brilliant crayons
• tempera paint or watercolors
• a green marker

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. To make the caterpillar of many colors, color stripes on the white construction paper. Leave  space between the stripes without color.
2. Then use watery paints to layer over the wax crayon to fill in the parts of the uncolored areas. 
3. Cut out many oval shapes from this paper to make the caterpillar.
4. Glue the ovals together to shape the insect's pudgy body.
5. Add eyeballs and nose.
6. Cut a giant green leaf from the construction paper. 
7. Use a green magic marker to make veins in the leaf and cut out a few holes where the caterpillar has nibbled away at the leaf!
8. Add some prickly hairs growing from the top of the caterpillar's back if you wish.

 "Two girls A.R. and G.H., ages 9 and 11, took my puppet workshop. After graduating from the advance level they performed The Very Hungry Caterpillar all on their own without any help. A.R. plays the caterpillar and the butterfly. G.H. handled all the props. They did this video in one take, I am so proud of them!" from hagley productions

Paint and Design a Giant Egg With Watercolors

         This giant, bright colored Easter egg was painted using a soft camel hair brush dipped in watercolor paint. First the student used a black marker to draw her whimsical butterfly, fish and flowers. Then she painted in her picture with bright, festive colors. I have discovered that very young students produce marvelous watercolor paintings but grow apprehensive about the resulting finished product as they age. This is because the younger an art student is, the less inhibited they are about "how" their artwork looks. Their inhibitions are the unfortunate result of growing old, I'm afraid...

watercolor painted egg

Supply List:

• giant sheet of white construction paper
• watercolor set
• a soft camel hair brush among several other sizes to try
• one black permanent ink marker
• pictures of fish, birds and flowers to work from

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Cut white butcher paper or construction paper into large egg shapes. The teacher may wish to do this step in advance or not depending upon the age of the students.
2. Give the student black permanent ink markers to draw with. You may want to cover their tables with newsprint for this step and also give them aprons. Some young students get a little enthusiastic about using these markers where they shouldn't so keep an eye on the process to avoid disasters!
3. Teachers can hand pictures of what students can draw on their eggs around the room too. Things like insects, birds, symbols of Easter etc...
4. After drawing with permanent pens, collect these.
5. Now give each student a watercolor set and a small jar of water plus several kinds of paint brushes to fill in all of the white areas.

Sponge Paint a Giant Easter Egg!

This egg painted with sponges.

     This giant Easter Egg sponge painting requires young students to use unconventional tools in the act of painting. Sponges are easy for little hands to manipulate and these hold all kinds of sticky, messy paints made from inexpensive mixtures that kindergarten teachers can quickly shake together without investing large sums of cash in a art project. Small children do not generally produce art that will be kept forever by anyone other than their parents so, it is important to use materials that may be expendable but also fun to work with. The key to developing student performance in art is repetition and inexpensive materials ensure that the activity is repeated frequently.

Supply List:

• one large sheet of pastel colored construction paper
• tempera paints mixed in pastel colors 
• simple sponges cut into geometric shapes
• cover tables with paper wherever this activity takes place
• give young students aprons to where
• each student should have at least several trays of paint to dip sponges in while they work

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Precut large egg shapes from pastel shades of construction paper.
2. Mix tempera paints for students in advance
3. Set up large tables for young ones to work at. Cover the surfaces with newsprint; perhaps, even the floors. Put paint trays within reach of painting activity.
4. Children my dip sponges into the paints and print the shapes on their paper Easter eggs. 
5. Encourage them to fill the areas, make patterns, and try different paint colors!

This video, from Nuttin' but preschool, demonstrates an excellent step-by-step process for making homemade "tempera" paints. However, if you are an artist, you know that actual tempera paints used by professionals include an egg binder. So here is an old recipe for high school students.