Animal Friendly Easter Eggs to Paint!

Today, I co-hosted an Arts & Crafts event for MOMS Club. I had been trying to figure out what I was going to have for the kids to do for a few weeks. Then the other day, as I was trying to take a nap, I kept thinking (instead of sleeping,) about what we have planned for Easter. I had my Grandma send me some wooden eggs to paint with Carlee, and I all of a sudden thought, why don't I try to make some eggs for the kids to paint?! So I did. It took a few tries to figure out a good method, but in the end it was so easy! (and if something like this already on the net, don't tell me, I feel so crafty coming up with this, and telling me would ruin it. LOL) These eggs are so good for Easter, because not only does it not add to the demand of eggs on this holiday, they aren't wasted (how many kids actually eat their boiled eggs?), AND they can be saved forever! I really wish I had thought of this last year, then I would still have Carlee's first ever Easter egg. :) Hope you enjoy them!

Animal Friendly Easter Egg Keepsakes
Time:
30 minutes from making dough to putting them in the oven without Carlee's help.
45 minutes with Carlee's help. :)

For the salt dough:
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Salt
1/2 Cup Water
Mix well in a bowl and knead until a dough forms.



You also need:
A small piece of plastic wrap
Half of a plastic Easter egg, that is split vertically, not through the fat middle.
A butter knife
A pan
Piece of Sandpaper (optional, but smoothes the edges)
Acrylic Craft Paint, Glitter, Stickers, etc. to decorate
Acrylic Sealant (optional but will make it last longer)

Directions: Preheat oven to 250, for Mineo-ans it's the first setting. Make Salt dough. Take a piece of salt dough that you think will fill the egg (it's okay if it's a little more,) and roll into a smooth ball. Set aside. Hold the plastic egg in one hand and drape the plastic over it. Take the ball of dough and push into the egg. Lay the egg dough side down onto the pan. Push the egg down to squeeze the extra dough out. (You want to squeeze at least a little out, so that you know it completely fills the egg, and that it was pressed against the pan.) Once, you reach the pan with the egg, lift the egg by pulling up on the plastic. (Figuring out how to get the dough out of the egg took me a few attempts, but I told you it turned out to be simple!) Once the egg is removed, take a butter knife and cut around the edge of the egg to get rid of the extra dough. There might be a few lines from the plastic, but if they bother you, you can very gently smooth them out with your finger. Continue to make the eggs until you run out of dough. I got 11 full size eggs, and 1 wimpy one out of one batch of dough. Once they are all on there, bake for 2 hours. Remove and let cool. If you have the sandpaper, sand down the rough edges. Let your kids paint, glitter, sticker them all up, then cover or spray with acrylic sealant. Keep forever to use for Easter decorations, and memories. :)

*Some will look more egglike than others depending on how the dough decides to bake, and if an egg gets air under it before you bake, it might get a little empty pocket on the back, but the kids still love them! Overall, most of mine came out great, I only threw away about 4 eggs out of 3 batches. :)