Dye Eggs with Onion Skins

What You Need:

• Onion skins (from both a red and yellow onion)
• Two medium sauce pans
• White eggs
• Panty hose
• Twist ties
• Leaves or flowers

What You Do:

1. Place the hard skins from the red and yellow onion into separate sauce pans. Fill each pan with about three inches of water or enough to cover the eggs once they are added. Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer the onion skins for about five minutes. Remove the pans from the heat and let the water sit overnight. The water will become your dye.
2. Help your child cut several pieces of panty hose about six inches square.
3. Have him choose leaves and flowers to make a print on the eggs. Once he's collected a few, have him dip the leaves and flowers in water and wrap them around the eggs. Next, wrap the panty hose around the eggs to hold the leaves in place. Use a twist tie to keep the pantyhose around the eggs.
4. Because the onion skins have steeped overnight, their natural colors have created a dye. Remove the skins from the pans and place half your eggs in one dye and half in the other.
5. Put the pans on the stove and bring them almost to a boil. Quickly reduce heat and let the eggs simmer for 30 minutes. Don't let them boil because it will cause them to bang around and possibly break.
6. Remove the pans from the heat and let the eggs cool. Unwrap the eggs and dry them off. What you'll find is naturally dyed eggs. The yellow onion dye should create yellow- or gold-colored eggs. The red onion dye should create pink- or red-colored eggs.

To add some learning to the mix, have your child think about why and how the process worked. Why didn't the dye color the whole egg? Which dyes were stronger or darker, and why? Experiment with adding more onion skins to create a darker dye, or steep other naturally colorful plants and fruits like marigolds, beets, kale or red cabbage. What plants do your child think might create a good dye?