Rice, Cool Whip & Easter Eggs!

Are you looking for a different way to put your food coloring to good use for Easter eggs this year, but want to do something besides the usual dipping?  Then maybe rice and Cool Whip will be just what you need!

That’s what we used this year and both of these were fun techniques that little ones can help with too.  It turns out the most fun part of both of these mediums is mixing the food coloring into them, something that’s interesting and creative for young and old alike.

Once again my grandson was my little helper.  We had a good time mixing our colors and then seeing the final reveal of the colored eggs at the end.  Here’s a closer look at what we did and what we learned. (Well what I learned anyway, he learned that Grandma does fun stuff!)

Method #1:  Shaking Eggs in Colored Rice

 

How to do it:  Place about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of rice in a small plastic container.  Drop in about 6 to 10 drops of food coloring.  Stir the food coloring into the rice with a spoon until it is mixed in. Put a hard boiled egg in the container, put the lid on, and then shake everything around so the colored rice bangs up against the egg and colors it.  The final result should be a pretty colored, speckled looking egg.

What we learned:

1 – Shake the eggs quickly after coloring the rice. To make this method work and create some color, don’t let too much time pass between when you color the rice and start shaking the egg.  The rice needs to still be somewhat freshly wet with the food coloring.  When too much time went by, the rice seemed to absorb all the coloring and not too much came off on the egg.  It’s OK to keep adding a little more food coloring to the rice if needed.

2 – Both liquid food coloring and gel coloring worked.  As long as they were mixed in well, both types worked.

3 – Coloring the rice is the fun part.  I thought the most fun part for kids would be the shaking,  but I think my grandson had more fun with the dripping of the food coloring, the stirring, and the blending of different colors.  That’s really where the creativity happens!

 

Method #2:  Rolling Eggs in Colored Cool Whip

 

How to do it:  Spread some Cool Whip in a baking pan (we used most of our 8 oz package).  Drop several drops of food coloring over a small area of the Cool Whip and swirl it around a bit with a wooden skewer.  (We did four different areas using four different colors).  Place hard boiled eggs in the colored Cool Whip, and then roll them over once so they are coated on all sides.  Let them set for about 15 minutes and then swish them around in a bowl of water to clean them off.  The final result should be a lightly colored egg.

What we learned:

1 – Pastel Colors.   Even after letting our eggs “soak” in this mixture for 15 minutes, we still had very pastel colored eggs.  Pretty, but pastel, so this is not the project if you’re looking for very vibrant colors.

2 – Cool Whip, can I eat it?   Yes, little ones will stick their fingers in there and go yummmm.  Maybe grownups too.  Just sayin’.

3 – Coloring the Cool Whip is the fun part.  Just as in the rice project above, little ones will find the most fun in dripping in the food coloring and swirling it around making combinations and patterns.  Once again, this is where the creativity happens.

Final thoughts on this year’s Easter eggs

Both of these projects were fun and new ways for us to put ordinary food coloring into use for making our Easter eggs.  They were also great ways to give little ones a creative outlet using simple supplies by letting them stir, mix, swirl, and blend colors. Either of these techniques are a nice change of pace from the ordinary dipping and worth giving a try.

Need a few more Easter egg coloring ideas?  Check out these posts from previous years:

Natural Easter Egg Dyes – My Favorite!  Uses natural dying agents such as cabbage, onion skins, and turmeric

Using Crayons on Eggs – super simple for the littlest ones to help with

Coloring Eggs with Kool-Aid – Different flavors make lovely bright colors