Fit Kids Clubhouse: Clubhouse Easter Eggs, Au' Naturel

When I started Fit Kids Clubhouse part of my mission was, and still is, to impart healthy choices into the minds of all of the Clubhouse Kids. We focus a lot on eating healthy around here. We study vegetables from seeds all the way through to our lunch plate. I enjoy any opportunity I can take to bring new vegetables into the Clubhouse Classroom that we can explore, use, and enjoy. So, when it came time to color eggs for Easter, I could think of only one way to do it.

Online I went, looking for any specific recipes that could be useful. Trust me, there are a lot of them out there. Basically, if anything has color in it you can chop it up, boil it, add a little vinegar, and see what happens. We decided to experiment with a few I was sure would yield us bright, colorful results.

Look at all the beautiful colors you can find right in your produce section (and/or garden). Cabbage, Beets, Spinach, and for some Yellow, Turmeric.

We started with the Cabbage.

The Clubhouse Kids knew that we were going to get colors from veggies to dye our eggs, so they were all about guessing what those colors would be.

"This Cabbage is going to make purple eggs!!"

When we chopped the Cabbage they were a little surprised.

"It's white on the inside!"

We put the chopped cabbage into a pot of cold water. Added about 2-3 tablespoons of Vinegar (the kids did the measuring, so we really can't claim exacts here), and I set the stove to boil it all up.

"You forgot to put eggs in there!"

True. Why not? So we put the raw eggs into the pot. They could all come to a boil together, right? Once they started boiling, I lowered the heat and let it all simmer for about 30 minutes. Then I poured it all into a bowl and let the eggs sit in it while we kept working.

This next pot of color was easy, we just dumped in a bunch of Turmeric, added water, and a splash of vinegar. Again... those are Preschool measurements. We had a nice chat about Turmeric while we prepared this. As "stinky!!" as they all agreed it smelled, we did talk about how good it was for your body when you cook with it. (I must admit, I have never cooked with it, and I googled all of the health info! I do have some left though, so it will get used. It really is so good for you!)

We had some hard boiled eggs on stand by that went into that mixture when it was done boiling.

Oh, and the kids were pretty certain any egg coming out of that would be yellow.

"Can we mix them together?"

Sure. I filled another bowl with the Turmeric mixture and "Cabbage juice" combined and added some hard boiled eggs. The top theories were that those eggs would be Orange, or Purple. We wrote all of our guesses down so we could check them later.

As this Clubhouse Class came to an end the kids made me promise all of the eggs would soak in the fridge overnight with no peeking. Well really they made my Son promise, since they know he has access to the refrigerator after they go home.

Next class knew exactly what veggie they wanted to explore.

"I think it's a red matato."

"What is thatttt?"

A Beet. We laughed about the name, looked it up in the dictionary, talked about how they grow and why they are good for us.

Word of the day: Antioxidants.

They liked that word.

Cut this veggie open and they immediately had a guess as to what color these eggs were going to be.

"RED eggs!!"

Same routine here. Put it in a pot, added some vinegar, and brought to a boil with a few eggs. Then, let simmer and sit with eggs in it.

On to our next veggie, Spinach.

"I'm going to have to eat this to get muscles like my Daddy!"

Popeye, who?

Since we had been smelling everything from Turmeric to Vinegar and hot Cabbage to Beets... we decided to take some time to stop and smell the Spinach.

"Smells like water."

"Does this have those anneoxidents?"

They ripped it up with their hands, put it into a pot of cold water and stirred it all up. Then, of course, a healthy dose of Vinegar.

Spinach mixture went off to boil, eggs included. Then simmer and sit. No big recipe secrets here.

Now time to share some results.

Note that the Cabbage mix, Turmeric mix, and Cab-meric (made that word up, can you tell?) mix, both soaked their eggs overnight.

"IT'S BLUE!! Why is it BLUE?!?"

The first surprise of the day was that the eggs in the Cabbage mixture, that everyone was so sure were going to be purple, were really blue. Luckily, they liked this surprise.

The Turmeric mix was no surprise, as they pulled those eggs out.

"Told ya it was going to be yellow!"

Before we checked on the eggs in the third bowl (the cabbage/turmeric mix) I asked, what color do you think they will be now?

Everyone changed their answer from the day before and answered with a unanimous "GREEN!" .

Why is the whole yellow and blue make green always the easiest color combination to remember? I wonder.

They were, of course, right. Good thing too, because I must admit that the color mixture that was the least impressive was the Spinach mix. The eggs were barely a very faint green. Even after a few hours of sitting I look at them and they are still disappointing. So, if you want some lovely green eggs.. go for the Cab-meric mix. It's lovely.

Did I mention I snuck in a "squishy egg?"

I added a little bit of the beet mixture, and A LOT of Vinegar to a hard boiled egg in a jar. That sat overnight.

When we were unveiling all of our lovely eggs I was quickly discovered...

"It's a squishy egg!!"

They remembered this from our Dental Health using Eggs experiment. I got them good though, they weren't expecting to stumble across a colorful egg, with NO shell :D

So, all in all this was an amazing success and I could not recommend it enough. From the scents (sure some were stinky, but we love using our senses), to all of the conversation about vegetables, eating healthy, and how antioxidants fight the "bad stuff" to keep our bodies strong.

As for the results, see for yourself...

Artificial dyes have nothing on that, don't you agree?

I'll break the recipes down and add more photos on our Facebook Page. We did leave some eggs to soak overnight in the Beet mixture, so I think they will be much more of a vibrant pink tomorrow.. right now, they are pretty pastel. The Clubhouse Kids also decided to combine all of the mixtures together and add a few eggs. They are soaking and should definitely yield interesting results.

So, hit up the produce section and have some fun in the kitchen with your little, and big, kiddos!

Open the windows and turn on the fan when you're boiling that Cabbage though, and don't inhale the Turmeric...

Ms. Liz