Eggshell Painting for Kids

One of the great things about 4-H is that it challenges youth to do projects that they may not normally do in their day-to-day life.

So, as Sophia and Olivia have been looking at Pinterest with for ideas, we came across a pin for Paint Filled Eggs on Canvas that led to Growing a Jeweled Rose.

This is a wonderfully fun and easy process-oriented activity for children and young teens, and something that Sophia wanted to do the minute she saw the pin for it.

To make her painting, Sophia used the following items:

Emptied eggshells
Paint (we used acrylic)
Tissue paper
A glue stick
Canvas (you could also use poster board or paper that is taped to a hard surface)

The process for making the painting is:

Use a knife to gently crack the top of the egg shells and make a hole big enough for the yolk and white to pass through. Since we planned on using the contents of the eggs, we made sure that any loose shell fragments were cleared away before emptying the egg.

Rinse the eggshells with warm water and anti-bacterial soap and place them back into the carton to dry.

Fill the eggs with paint.

Once the eggs are filled, seal them using tissue paper and glue. The easy way to do this is to cover one side of a tissue paper square and then gently stick that over each egg opening.

Next, take a canvas and place it upright against a surface that you don't mind if it gets dirty with paint.

And then the fun really begins! Toss an egg towards the canvas and watch it break open and some of the paint come out.

Keep repeating with different colors.

Once you use all the eggs, you can reuse the eggs that have already been tossed since there is paint still left in them.

As you continue working, you can aim for particular areas that need more paint or paint of a different color.

Eventually the canvas will become filled with paint and it's time to decide whether or not to add any more paint.

When the painting is done, bring it inside to dry. We kept it upright so that if paint wanted to continue to drip down the canvas it could.

Sophia enjoyed this project and is happy with how the colors match the walls of her room. Now every time that she looks at the painting on the wall, she can remember the fun she had making it.