How To Dye Easter Eggs With Rice
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Make pretty speckled Easter Eggs and learn how to dye eggs with rice and food coloring! These easy, low mess eggs are so much fun for kids and you likely already have everything you need to make them for Easter!
Table of Contents
Why We Love Making Easter Eggs Dyed With Rice
I have to admit, I was originally a kit person when it came to dying Easter eggs every year. Those darn little kits sure are convenient, but then we tried rice dyed eggs? I already had EVERYTHING I needed right in my pantry… and they are beautiful and speckly! Plus this way is a really mess-free method which is great for with younger kids.
Ingredients To Dye Easter Eggs With Rice
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements and directions below in the recipe card.
Here’s what you need, I bet you already have most of these items too!
- Hard-Boiled Eggs – Use my best tips for making easy-peel hard-boiled eggs every time!
- Food Coloring – primary and/or neon colors both work great! Gel food coloring gives extra vibrant colors but start with half as many drops as you’d use with regular food coloring. You may end up with a color explosion otherwise!
- Rice– Use whatever kind of rice you like, you’ll need about 6-7 cups, or 1/2 cup per color you’d like to use.
- Vinegar- Rolling the hardboiled egg in a little bowl of vinegar before you put it in the bag helps to set the colors so they don’t bleed. (not pictured, mom brain whoops!)
- 6-8 Plastic Zipper Sandwich Bags– Or more if you want to go crazy with the colors. You can also use pretty much any sized bag except the snack-sized bags, they are too small. Using a bigger bag will give you more speckles as the rice and egg have more room to move, I just only had sandwich bags around!
- Measuring cup– For the rice, it doesn’ t have to be exact!
- Tray or plate lined with a paper towel – This is to set your eggs on to let them dry after you finish dying them.
Need a laugh? Check out my BIG list of Easter Jokes for Kids and my big list of Silly Spring Jokes For Kids. Tons of jokes about Easter eggs, bunnies, and even knock-knock jokes to make the whole family giggle!
Why Did My Eggs Stopped Turning Colors And Seem Dry?
The dye does get absorbed into the rice, usually after an egg or two. Simply add a little more food coloring to the rice in the bag- easy peasy!
I highly recommend adding the food coloring to the bag when the egg is not in the bag, or you could end up with big splotches of dye on your egg which kind of take over the egg.
If you love making colorful crafts with your kid, you have to try my DIY sidewalk chalk paint and my super fun Rainbow Melted Crayon Art. You can also make my DIY hand sanitizer from ingredients you have right at home.
How Long Do These Easter Eggs Stay Good?
You can store the colored Easter Eggs in the fridge for about a week, just like any other hardboiled eggs.
Can I Use Apple Cider Vinegar Instead Of White Vinegar For Dying Easter Eggs?
If you use apple cider vinegar it will set the colors on the egg and rice. You may notice a slight brown tint when using Apple Cider Vinegar.
What Should I Do With All The Colorful Leftover Rice?
The rice is so pretty and colorful once you finish dying your eggs, you could also make Easter Egg Dyed Potatoes at the same time with the food coloring.. If you’re going to use the rice, it’s a good idea to lay it out in a tray or on a cookie sheet with a lip for a few hours and let it dry out. Then you can cook it or use it dry in a kid’s sensory bin, or for other arts and crafts.
Easter is such a colorful holiday! Check out this colorful and gooey Easter Peeps S’mores Dips. It only takes two ingredients to make and is one of my favorite Easter desserts!
- Make a sensory bin for your kids full of rainbow rice
- Layer the rice in a jar
- Layer the rice in a vase for a pretty centerpiece
- Make an “Eye Spy” jar, adding a few little toys and craft items to your jar for your kids to find. Seal it tight!
- Use it for crafts! Cut out egg shapes of paper, then let your kids add white glue and colorful rice to make an Easter egg craft, or just a fun swirl!
Other Easter Ideas You Will Love
How To Dye Easter Eggs With Cool Whip
Easter Mini Egg Cookies
Easter Mini Eggs Cookie Cake
Easter Fudge (With Mini Eggs!)
Carrot Patch Cupcakes
Easter Stuffed Carrot Crescent Rolls
How To Dye Easter Eggs With Rice And Food Coloring
Equipment
- 6-8 Plastic zipper sandwich bags
- Measuring cup
- Tray or plate lined with paper towel
- Optional: gloves
Ingredients
- Boiled eggs
- Food coloring primary and neon colors both work great
- 3-4 Cups Dry rice
- 2-3 Teaspoons Vinegar
Instructions
- Open your plastic zipper top bags, one for every color you would like to have!
- Fill each bag with ½ cup of rice
- Add 10-12 drops of food coloring into each bag. Choose one
color per bag, or mix the colors up to see what colors you can create. - Roll the egg in a small bowl of vinegar (1/4 cup works!). This will help to set the colors on both the egg and the rice.
Add one hard-boiled egg to each bag and close bag tightly.- Add about 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar to each bag. This will help to set the colors on both the egg and the rice.
- Gently roll the egg around in the rice using both hands and
cover the egg until colored completely. You can also gently shake the bag but make sure the bag is closed before you shake! - You may find you want more food coloring for certain colors. Simply open the bag and add a few more drops of food coloring. More food coloring will give you brighter eggs, but add food coloring a few drops at a time. A little food coloring goes a long way!
- Remove each egg from bag and set on tray to dry.
- Repeat this process for all remaining eggs. You can reuse used
rice to color the eggs. Just add more drops of food coloring into the bag to
color more eggs!
Video
Notes
- Gel food coloring also gives beautiful vibrant colors but is stronger. Add a little at a time to the bag if you use gel. You may want a spoon or straw to help stir the rice a little if you use gel food coloring.
- Don’t touch the eggs with wet hands! The dye will rub off on your finger when your hands are wet.
- If you are making an egg with more than one color, or a rainbow egg, start with the lightest color first and work to the darkest. Wait to make multicolor eggs at the end, as the colors can start mixing sometimes!
Did You Make This?
I would love to see it! Share your thoughts with me in the comments below!
Did you make these fun rice dyed Easter eggs too? Tell me about how it went in the comments and don’t forget to give this fun idea five stars!
Does this work on the fake eggs that you can buy at Walmart? I plan on dyeing eggs with my students, but do not want to send them home with real eggs!
I have not tried this with fake eggs, I think you would have to use acrylic paint instead of food coloring for it to stick. I haven’t tried paint with this method, you may want to test one first. Let me know how it goes!
Super fun and slightly messy, depending on age/ability of your kids, but fun and so pretty!
With the leftover rice, we made pictures! Made a frame from old cereal box or piece of cardboard, then covered one side with giant clear packing tape. Placed on counter w sticky side up and separated bowls of dried colored rice, from which kids sprinkled images onto the tape. Pressed it all down for good once finished and voila!
This was the easiest and cleanest way I have ever seen to dye eggs. Our eggs turned out beautiful and somehow my 4 and 6 year old boys stayed totally clean!
Thank you!!
You’re very welcome Kristin, I’m so glad the rice method of making eggs worked for you and the kids. Hope they had fun too! -Kristy
Wonderful way to dye eggs with my grandkids.
We did not use vinegar and still had great results.
So glad dyeing eggs with your grandkids this way was fun Karen! -Kristy