Coloring Eggs in the Classroom
Do you color hard boiled eggs in your classroom? I do. We always do a little unit of study on spring and all the signs of the season in nature and the world around us. I do not use any frame of reference to Easter other than it is a holiday that some people celebrate at this time of year. I like to do this activity on our last day before the kids go on spring break as a fun way to end our unit. We always talk about baby animals and baby birds. Eggs inevitably come into the discussion as well.
Do you know how few children are doing this at home with their families? I have such sweet childhood memories of doing this with my mom. When I ask my kinder students if they have done this before, most say no. The few who say yes, have often done it in a preschool or after school care program. That makes me a bit sad. But, it is another reason I do it with my students.
I know what some of you are thinking, "coloring eggs has no academic value". I disagree. I see this as an art activity and art activities have great value in my classroom. We want 21st century students to be creative and think outside the box. We want them to be problem solvers finding unique solutions to difficult challenges. I know all the art teachers in the world will agree that all these characteristics can all be learned through the arts. When I say the arts, I am not talking about a classroom "craftivity" where each child's product looks exactly the same. I am talking about providing the tools and materials for students to make something completely their own. OK, I know we are talking about coloring eggs. Yes, it is a simple activity and will not produce a grand masterpiece. But in kindergarten, it is practice that gets students' creative juices flowing. All these art experiences build on each other and help students see themselves as "creative". And when these art experiences are combined with opportunities to be creative in math, science, and other subjects, we are reaching our goals to help prepare students for a successful future.
OK, thanks for reading my rant on art and why it is still very important in education. Coloring eggs is a very simple art project that is inexpensive and easy to set up. Kids think it is FUN, which is another very important part of kindergarten. I get the color pellets at the dollar store. I got the colored egg cups in the photo at the top from a set years ago and keep them for this activity. They are very handy and if you want to color eggs, it is worth getting them and keeping them for the future. We just use crayons to decorate the eggs before they go into the dye. Make sure you get the eggs out of the fridge for about 30 minutes before you color them. If they are too cold, the condensation and temperature make it hard to use the crayons effectively.
It is hard to see the crayon lines on the eggs, but some of them are super cute! Each child did two and that is the perfect number of eggs to fit into the little baskets they made. I let the eggs dry in the carton just as you see above. I write the child's name on the lid of the carton to keep track of the eggs and then it is easy to put them in the baskets when they are dry and ready to go home.
You can see the eggs with the other goodies in the spring baskets in this shot from above. We also put some cute baby birds and a few treats in there as well. My sweets kiddos were so excited about their spring baskets and the "special" things they made to go in them. That made me feel so happy as we said good-bye for our week off. Happy kids, happy teacher, life if good!
Here is a little FREEBIE for you that I use to do scrambled sight word eggs in my classroom. This is a recording sheet for students to write the words they make and color the egg to match. You will need ten different colors of plastic eggs to put the letters for each word inside. I write my letters on colored paper squares. You can use letter tiles too. This activity is great because you can use it with any word list that is appropriate for your students. I have two complete sets of eggs to make it easier for a small group to accomplish this task at a table. In kindergarten, I find that it works best to have an adult at the table while kids are working. Just click on the image below to go get your freebie. Have fun!
Happy spring!
Happy teaching!
