Since Easter is just a week away and I have been too preoccupied to come up with an Easter-themed project to share, I decided it might be fun to try out these two new Easter egg decorating kits by Paas.Paas has introduced five new kits this year . . . Neon, Mini-Monsters, Coloring Creations, Egg-Quarium, and Build-a-Basket. The last two listed are the ones we tried. Since my children are 3, 3, and 6, these two user-friendly kits worked out very well for us.
Paas Build-a-Basket Kit
Paas Egg-Quarium Kit
I had already hard boiled two dozen white eggs the day before. So while my husband dissolved the dye tablets using water and white vinegar as directed on the packages, I started the children on coloring the pop-up Easter baskets in the Build-a-Basket kit. The kit comes with two baskets. Since we have 3 children, I let the twins share one. While the basket was still flattened, each twin colored one side.
It may seem obvious, but it never occurred to me to use colored crayons to decorate Easter eggs. We've always used the clear wax crayons to block out the dye in the past. Using colored crayons allowed our 3yr old twins to doodle with one or more colors on their eggs and their designs stayed put throughout the dying and decorating process.
Having two kits to use not only allowed us to have more eggs for each child to decorate, but there were enough tablets for us to have as much as ten cups of color going at once. This eliminates the feeling of being rushed because there is a line of eggs waiting to have their turn in the dying cups. This works well if you like to leave your eggs in longer for more vivid color results.
I did pop out all 12 circles on the back of each package so we could utilize both boxes as drying stands for our freshly colored eggs. Instead of having the children stare at the eggs, anxiously waiting for them to dry, we stopped to do something else. When we came back to the eggs, they were nice and dry.
The twins really did not seem to have the patience to decorate their eggs completely. They would put two stickers on an egg and move onto another one. Our 6yr old son, however, decorated his eggs with pride. All three children were excited to use the aquarium-themed stickers because we recently added two goldfish to our family.
Here are the results . . .
I really think the ready-to-color baskets were a great idea. If possible, you could have one for each child and make them personalized with their names or initials. The two fish face stickers that came in the Egg-Quarium kit were a huge hit. Next year, I am definitely going to look for a kit with a face-theme as they were my favorite eggs of the bunch.
You can find Paas Easter egg decorating kits and supplies at your local grocery or drug store. They usually retail for just $2.99 to $3.99 per kit. Chances are you will find them on sale the week prior to Easter. Also, don't forget to purchase your white eggs ahead of time so you don't risk their selling out.
For egg coloring tips and tricks and fun Easter-themed crafts, visit PaasEasterEggs.com .
Thank you to Paas for sending us two sample kits free of charge to base this article upon.
