Looking for a different, low-cost way to color Easter eggs? Use natural ingredients from your back yard and kitchen pantry to decorate eggs this season.

Coloring eggs has been a favorite children's pastime for centuries.

Stories about the origins of coloring eggs are as rich and vibrant as today’s dyes. Christian traditions have adopted the egg to symbolize new life, Jesus’ blood coloring a basket of eggs at the foot of the cross, and Mary Magdelene convincing Tiberius Caesar that Jesus did rise from the dead just as sure as the egg she held in her hand turned bright red.

Even before Christianity, eggs were dyed and eaten during spring festivals in ancient Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome, to celebrate the coming of spring.

Today, children celebrate Easter by coloring eggs with bright colors, glitter, marbleized oil paints and intricate designs.

This year, why not try a more natural approach? Take a pass on the Paas, and let the colors of nature decorate your Easter basket, using things in your own backyard, pantry and craft shelves.

Natural Egg Dyes

1. Place eggs in a single layer in a large pot. Add water until eggs are covered and water is about ½-inch over the tops of the eggs. Add 2 teaspoons white vinegar to the pot unless you’re using onion skins. Don’t mix onion skins and vinegar.
2. Add the natural dye material (see list below). If the dye ingredient is to be boiled first, boil it in a small amount of water and add the substance, water and all, to the pot.
3. Bring the pot to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5. If you’re happy with the color, remove the eggs from the pot. If you want a more vivid color, remove the eggs and strain the dye through a coffee filter. Put the filtered dye liquid and the eggs in a jar or back in the pan and let sit overnight. If you want your eggs to have a speckled effect, don't strain the dye before letting sit overnight.
6. The next morning, carefully remove the eggs from the water. (The vinegar will have weakened the eggshells. When they air dry they’ll harden again.)
7. Let air dry.
8. For a glossy look, rub some cooking oil on the eggs with a paper towel.

To get colors, use these natural ingredients:

Lavender - Purple grape juice or violet blossoms plus 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Blue Violet - Red onion skins (boiled)

Blue - Blueberries or red cabbage leaves (boiled)

Green - Spinach leaves

Yellowish Green - Yellow Delicious apple peels (boiled)

Yellow - Lemon peel, orange peel, carrot tops, ground cumin or ground turmeric

Brown - Strong black coffee or black walnut shells

Orange - Yellow onion skins (boiled)

Pink - Cranberries, raspberries or beets

The amounts of the dye materials will depend on how vivid you want the color. For pale, pastel colors, add a small amount. For more vibrant colors with onion skins, use 2 cups; with spices use 4 tablespoons; for the others, use your own judgment.

Do some experimenting yourself. What do you have in your back yard or pantry that might make a dye?

You can decorate your eggs using items around the house.

Decorating with masking tape

Rip small pieces of masking tape and apply to the egg, leaving some parts of the shell uncovered. Dye the egg as usual. When dry, remove the masking tape.

Decorating with onion skins

Wrap the outer skin of an onion around a hard-boiled egg, overlapping to cover the entire egg. Hold the onion skins in place with rubber bands. Hard boil the egg. When unwrapped, the egg will have the color and design of the onion skin.

Markers, paints & stickers

Raid your craft shelf with eggs in mind. The outside of an eggshell, while small, is as smooth and white as a piece of paper. Let the kids paint their hard-boiled eggs with watercolors or tempera paints, decorate them with stickers, or just draw on them with markers. Add markings to make the egg look like a football, a basketball or a soccer ball.

Rubber band wraps

Wrap thick rubber bands around the egg, varying the tightness and placement. Dye as usual. When dry, remove the rubber bands and your egg will have the rubber band pattern on it.

Tissue paper transfers

Dip the egg in water. While it is still wet, apply pieces of brightly colored tissue paper onto the egg. You can wrap one piece of tissue paper around the egg, or you can cut small pieces of different colored tissue and place them on the egg. Brush water onto the papered egg and smooth with your fingers. Set aside to dry. When the egg is dry, peel off the tissue paper. The tissue paper color will have transferred onto the egg.

For more Easter crafts, see:

• Easter Crafts and Activities
• Mexican Easter Egg Activities
• Make a Bunny Jar