Crackin' Eggs

At the end of winter I started saving egg shells to use for planting seeds, but we didn't get to do that this year. Because, well, the kids found my stash and got crackin'. :) Turns out, they really enjoy playing with egg shells. (Just as a note, these shells were thoroughly washed and boiled to avoid any contamination, which I would recommend especially if young ones are playing with them.) So now after every big breakfast we save the egg shells for this activity. I normally set it up when I'm cooking a big dinner and can't keep my eyes on them if they are playing in the living room.. So I set them up at the table with some egg shells and they are completely focused on crushing them into smithereens.
We love our Black and Decker play tools. We got three different sets for the kids for Easter and they use them almost every day. The hammer iis the favourite tool. The big hammer is the most fought-over toy that they own. And they don't fight too often, but it's normally over who gets to use the big hammer. When they first played with the egg shells they used their hands and feet. Munchkin still prefers to use his hands, but Bean loves to use the hammer to smash them.

Munchkin trying to figure out how to crack open the shells using the back of the hammer.

This activity makes Bean so happy. She loves smashing them!

And stabbing them with the screwdriver.

Munchkin got the hang of the hammer..

And of course littered the shells all over the floor..

There are a few activities we want to try in the future using egg shells. I know you can grind them down and add them to paint to add a nice grainy texture. And it would be cool to paint them and roll them around on paper and crush them and see how the paint spreads out. We don't waste the shells though. Once they are done playing with the shells we clean them up and take them outside to add to our compost heap. Food for worms!

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