Eggs-tra! Eggs-tra! Read all about it!

Last Lenten season, our family was caring for 42 fertile chicken eggs, which hatched into fuzzy chicks over Easter weekend. We had borrowed an incubator that gently rocked the eggs and bathed them in warmth. The last days of their incubation, the chicks' ovular homes rested calmly on the wiry base. As sharp bills cracked the white casings, Joey and Ezra shrieked with delight. Once hatched, dried, and energetic, the chicks provided endless fun for the boys to view, but more importantly, the entire experience gave them firsthand understanding of a chicken's life cycle. Today, some of those chickens are in the freezer (ready to provide our family with nourishment), a few found a home with others interested in raising chickens, yet others have free range over the yard and their own chicken condo in exchange for eggs, and one (Chanticleer, of course) protects the rest.

Although incubating your own fertile eggs may not be what you had in mind for a fun family activity this Spring, there are lots of alternatives. The key is to find something that inspires your family to learn as much as to have fun learning. Two such ideas are: the bounceable egg and all-natural dyes for boiled eggs.

Using a clear glass, an egg, and white vinegar, you can create a bounceable egg. Carefully, place the egg into the glass and cover the egg with vinegar. After allowing the resultant chemical reaction to work for a full day, you can remove the egg and gingerly bounce it. I carefully wiped the film from the outer membrane before letting my boys play with it. You'll notice I also made them bounce the egg in a container, so that when it did break (hey, I have energetic boys after all!), it was a contained mess. This science experiment led to tons of questions and the boys were eager do it again. Maybe your family could experiment with different types of eggs to see if various bird species have differing thicknesses to the outer membranes? Or, maybe your family could work out the chemical formula and consider what other liquids would work for this experiment? There are lots of other ideas - brainstorm how you can use this experiment in your homeschooling adventures and list them in the comments section.

Another grand idea is to make your own dyes for Easter eggs. Research the types of herbs and vegetables that create those glamorous colors you love to splash onto hard-boiled eggs and try them out. For example, beets are great for pinks, and boiled ground turmeric for yellow. For a unique idea, arrange wild violet heads and sprigs of dill, sprinkles of turmeric, and other favorite color-producing bits around a clean raw egg. Wrap the decorated egg with either yellow- or red-onion skins (the former produces a yellowish tint; the latter, a lovely bluish), and then swaddle with a square of simple white cloth, which you hold in place with rubber bands. Once you've mummified several eggs, place them in boiling water and cook for about 12 minutes. Cool them with cold water and carefully unwrap for a dazzling display. Experiment with the recipes and post your favorite results in the comments.

Marvelous egg experiments are sure to delight your children. I know I was just as excited by the results as my boys were. Ah - life-long learning is egg-cellent! I do hope you agree.