Easter Egg Dyed Potatoes
With the cost of eggs soaring, finding an alternative for your Easter egg hunt this year is a must! Instead of using those boring plastic eggs, why not have some fun with potatoes this year? These colorful dyed potatoes are the perfect budget-friendly alternative to classic Easter eggs. And the best part is that your kids can still have some dying fun without the need to purchase pricey eggs at the grocery store.
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Ingredients
- Baby Delicious White or Yukon Gold Potatoes
- Water Based Food Coloring
- Small Paint Brushes
- Small Bowls optional
- Water optional
- Paper Towels optional
- Rubber Gloves optional
- Hairspray optional
Instructions
Step One: Prepare Your Work Space
- Just like traditional Easter egg dying, coloring potatoes can get a little messy. That’s why it’s a good idea to prepare your work area before you get started. First, set out a few small bowls of water for your kids to use to clean their paint brushes. Then, provide them with some gloves to wear to protect their hands, as well as a few paper towels to clean up messes and spills. You should also cover the surface you’re working on with newspaper or a plastic tablecloth to protect it from the food dye.
Step Two: Paint on the Food Coloring
- Lay out your potatoes on a flat surface and place one drop of food coloring on top of the potato. Use a paint brush to spread the dye around, coating the potato. You can use one single color on each potato or decorate the potatoes with multiple colors. Between each color, be sure to rinse the paint brush off completely.
Step Three: Allow the Potatoes to Dry
- After the potato is fully covered in food coloring, transfer it to a paper towel to dry for at least 10 minutes.
Step Four: Seal with Hair Spray
- To keep the food coloring from smearing or coming off on your hands after the potatoes have dried, try spraying them with hairspray. Give all sides of each potato a light coating of hair spray, then let the spray dry for a few minutes before handling.
Notes
Potato Dying Tips and Tricks
Your kids are going to have a blast painting potatoes for Easter this year! And with the help of these simple tips and tricks, you’ll be able to create some unique memories with your kids – even if you can’t find real eggs for them to dye this Easter.- Stick with water-based food coloring. While gel based food coloring is a great option for adding vibrant color to your baked goods, it doesn’t work well with this craft. That’s because gel food coloring doesn’t dry well, which means your potatoes may still be wet and stick when it’s time to hid them for the Easter Egg hunt. So, before you start painting your potatoes, make sure that you’re using water based dye.
- Don’t peel the potatoes. The skin on the potatoes is what holds the food coloring, which means you should not peel the potatoes before you start dying. Instead, wash the skin and allow the potatoes to dry completely. Then, paint the food coloring directly onto the skin.
- Don’t eat the potatoes if you use hairspray. Although dyed potatoes are perfectly safe to eat after they’re cooked, it’s not a good idea to eat them if you seal the coloring with hairspray. Since hairspray often contains harmful chemicals, the potatoes are not safe for consumption after the spray is added to the skin.