Natural Dyeing and Tea Party!

The following year we did the same thing…only we extended it to a “Tea Tasting” party and we dyed YARN instead of eggs.

Dear Teachers,

Every spring this is my favorite class activity! I wanted to share it with you because “my kids” enjoy it so much…

When I was a child I used to think bunnies and flowers and eggs were all about Easter. Then I moved to the Middle East. In Egypt, every year, Christians and Muslims celebrate spring together using the themes of flowers, bunnies and eggs! In Iran, the New Year falls on the first day of spring every year and is a national holiday. They celebrate by creating nature tables of springtime items such as wheat grassgrown in little pots, goldfish swimming in small bowls, shiny coins, colored eggs and flowers. Two years ago I visited Iran during No-Ruz (the new year) and was amazed at the variety of nature tables I saw at all the hotels, restaurants and homes! Now, when I plan my April crafts I don’t limit the bunnies, flowers and eggs to Easter Sunday but I celebrate all month with these spring crafts – you might even find me dyeing eggs in May! One of my favorite crafts is called “The Spring Tea Party”

The general idea of the craft is that the children all get to make their
own herbal tea and THEN dye some eggs with that same tea! You can make
this a little silly if you want by making invitations for the eggs and
inviting them to the tea party. Or you can make this event completely
sacred and solemn. It is your choice what to do with the event. However,
here is the basic formula:

Spring Tea Party

Supplies Needed:

Rosehips tea (Pink Dye)
Blackberry tea (Purple Dye)
Cinnamon Tea (Orange/Brownish Dye)
Chamomile Tea (Green Dye)
Lavender Flower Tea (Blue Dye)
Turmeric Spice Tea (Yellow Dye)

SEE-THROUGH Tea Pots or Glass Jars or French Coffee Press

Boiled Eggs

Tea Strainer

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Boil a pot of water

2. You will need a spoon of herb for each cup of water you put in the
pots, jars or coffee press so calculate how many spoons of herbs you
will be putting into the pots and divide this by the children you are
working with so each child can spoon the same amount of herbs into the
pots.

3. Teacher or parent should then pour the boiling water over the herbs
and let steep for ten minutes.

4. At this point the children can pour some tea to drink. Use small cups
so that they may “taste” a little of each one. Have sugar, honey and
milk available for them to add to the tea if they like. Depending on
which container you use you may need to strain the tea through a
strainer to pour it out and the children may need some help. But
don’t strain the tea and THEN serve it because we are going to leave
the herbs in the “pot” for the dying later!

5. After the tea-tasting party is over you can add boiling water to the
herbs in the pots again if there is not enough water left in them. The
pots should be at least ? full. You can also add more herbs for a
deeper dye.

6. Have the children drop the eggs into the tea pots – one at a time.
This usually results in giggles. Leave the eggs over-night. In the
morning you will have colored eggs! You do not need to use vinegar.

7. The next morning show the kids what happens when the eggs “drink the
tea” too!

Enjoy!