Back to "Eggs-traordinary" Lesson Plan

"Eggs-ceptional" Art

Subjects

• Arts & Humanities
  --Visual Arts

Grades

• PreK
• K-2
• 3-5
• 6-8
• 9-12

Brief Description

Use egg-based paints to make "eggs-ceptional" eggs for a colorful window display.

Objectives

Students will

• follow directions to make their own paints.
• use paint on paper to make colorful painted eggs.

Keywords

art, egg, Easter, paint

Materials Needed

• glue
• eggs
• food coloring
• white construction paper
• newspaper (or some other material to cover desk surfaces while painting)

If you choose not to have students make their own paints using egg yolks and food coloring, then their paper eggs can be colored using colored chalk or oil pastels (e.g., Craypas).

Lesson Plan

The decorations look great on classroom walls or a bulletin board -- but they make an "eggs-specially" nice display on classroom windows because light shining through them creates a stained-glass effect.

Provide students with a piece of white construction paper and have them cut the paper to create a large oval shape. (For younger students, you might provide the paper pre-cut into an oval shape.) Explain to students that they are going to transform the plain white oval into a colored-egg decoration, and have them think about the design they want to create.

Have students place their white egg-shaped papers on sheets of newspaper, and then have each student use liquid glue to create a design on his or her egg. (Students first might use a pencil to lightly outline the design.) Encourage students to use their imaginations as they create the designs. If they seem "stuck," give them some ideas to get their creative juices flowing. You might suggest, for example, that they include in the their designs

• lines, such as zigzag, wavy, or squiggly lines;
• designs, such as polka dots, stars, hearts, or flowers;
• geometric shapes;
• unique patterns; or
• a combination of the above.

You might even share sample egg patterns such as those seen in the following resources: resource 1, resource 2, resource 3, or resource 4.
Following are some pages of colorful egg clipart that might provide additional ideas for students: clipart resource 1 or clipart resource 2.

Let the glue dry overnight. The next day, the dried glue provides an easy border in which students can paint (or otherwise color) their eggs.

Painting the Eggs With Egg-Yolk Paints
Egg yolk paints are made using egg yolks and food coloring. You might need to help younger students by cracking the eggs and separating the yolks from the whites. Add teaspoon of water for each yolk and mix.

Pour a small amount of the egg-yolk mix into tiny paper cups (such as medicine cups). Or make the lesson "eggs-tra" special by tearing egg cartons into three sections (4 "egg cups" in each section) and pouring a small amount of egg yolk mixture into each cup.

Have students add food coloring to each cup and mix to make colorful paints.

You can add a dimension to this lesson by teaching students how to mix colors to make new colors. See some resources for teaching this "color mixing" concept:

FunBrain's Guess the Color Game
Mixing Colors

Painting Alternatives
If you choose not to paint the paper eggs with egg-yolk paints, students might use one or more of the following:

• watercolor/tempera paints
• colored chalk (wet or dry)
• oil pastels (for example, Craypas)
• sweetened condensed milk with food coloring added
• homemade finger paints
• melted-crayon "stained glass"

Assessment

Assess students' creativity and use of color.

Lesson Plan Source

Education World

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

Click for more egg-themed lessons in this week's Lesson Planning article, Five "Eggs-traordinary" Lesson Plans: Just Add the Eggs!

Don't miss more lessons in a previously published article, Why All the EGGS-citement About EGGS?.

Updated: 04/12/2017