After seeing the shaving cream method on social media, I decided to try it and see if it would be an appropriate art activity for elementary students.
Materials Needed:
hard boiled eggs
cookie sheet
shaving cream
food coloring
toothpicks
plastic gloves (optional but highly recommended)
paper towels
Begin by spraying some shaving cream on a cookie sheet and spreading it out (we covered our cookie sheet with foil for easier clean-up).
Add drops of food coloring to the shaving cream. I used regular food coloring (blue, yellow, green, red), however it was recommended to use neon food coloring.
Take a toothpick and swirl the colors around in the shaving cream.
The directions I followed recommended putting a plastic baggie on your hand to protect it from getting food coloring stains. The eggs were hard to handle wearing the baggie and I would highly recommend using plastic gloves instead. Take a hard boiled egg and roll it around in the shaving cream.
The directions I followed stated to set the eggs on a paper plate to dry for 5 minutes. I discovered that laying them on their side results in a bare spot where the egg touches the plate. I would recommend placing them in a drying rack from an egg coloring kit or in an egg carton so they stand up to dry.
After 5 minutes, wipe off shaving cream. WIPE OFF CAREFULLY AND GENTLY – if you rub too hard the dye rubs off! It was better to gently dab it off.
My directions then stated to rinse the egg with water; however, when I did this the swirled design rinsed off! I would recommend skipping this step – it did not seem necessary.
These are pictures of the eggs that were gently wiped with a paper towel and not rinsed.
This egg dyeing method was quite messy, but it did produce nice looking eggs with a swirled appearance. Plastic gloves are highly recommended!
