I don't usually dye eggs most years - unless my kids really beg. But this year, we tried the easy baking soda with food coloring method we had heard about. It was so fun, like an art project and science project all rolled together.  I used my favorite hard boiled egg method to prep and cool the eggs before we colored them. It's so fun to see how they look after being creatively painted! Enjoy! 

Baking Soda-Vinegar Dyed Easter Eggs!

They were very serious about their egg painting. 

Baking Soda-Vinegar Dyed Easter Eggs

Note: You can make as many colors as you like. Make the following mixture for each color. 

In a small bowl, mix together: 

1 Tbsp baking soda

1-2 tsp water, to desired consistency

food coloring paste, as desired (I recommend the food coloring paste vs liquid food dyes)

Repeat, as desired, until you have a selection of colors.  We aimed for bright colors, but you can use less food coloring paste for softer, more pastel colors. Your final colored eggs will be much lighter than your dye mixes. 

Mixing together 6 bowls of baking soda and food coloring paste (with a bit of water) to paint the eggs!

Place each hard-boiled egg in a metal muffin tin.  Use the q-tips (or brushes) to paint the eggs, as desired. (You can use proper paint brushes, but we used q-tips for easy clean-up.)  Avoid overlapped colors too much so you don't end up with a muddy brown look.  

The food coloring mixtures and hard-boiled eggs, ready for painting with Q-tips (or brushes).

The very serious egg painters at work.

The final eggs, ready for the vinegar to be added!  We had stripes, polka dots, tie-dye style, swirls. 

Reaction time! (Baking soda - painted on your eggs - and vinegar when poured on top will react in an acid-base reaction and bubble.) Once you've painted your eggs, spoon or gently pour overtop each egg to create the mini volcano science experiment reaction (fun!):

~2-3 Tbsp white vinegar

Rotate gently, as needed, to make sure all the vinegar and baking soda has finished reacting/bubbling.  

The reaction after gently spooning the vinegar over the eggs. You can just add the vinegar quickly, but we think it's more fun to do one egg at a time. 

Gently pat dry the eggs.  I like to give them a little rinse under cold water and pat dry again just in case anything didn't fully neutralize during the reaction (aka, remove any excess vinegar or baking soda).  Store leftover eggs in the refrigerator before peeling and eating. Enjoy! 

Pretty dyed eggs! Yay!

Baking Soda-Vinegar Dyed Easter Eggs by Successfully Gluten Free!