What would dragon eggs look like? As a fan of both Harry Potter and A Game of Thrones, I have been pondering this question for a while. Last Easter my son voiced the question as well, and over the course of a short family discussion, we decided that they must be encrusted with jewels and precious stones from dragon’s treasury. Of course, next we needed to make dragon eggs, just in case a baby dragon might hatch out of one!
UPDATE: Also check our mermaid eggs – with a step-by-step video tutorial!
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We’re very fond of dragons here. We’ve made dragon puppets, a dragon drawing prompt and colouring page, and now we decided to make… a dragon egg!
If you want to make dragon eggs, you’ll need:
- aluminum foil
- air-dry clay (for art projects, my favourite air-dry clay is La Doll Premier; for quick crafts with kids, Crayola Air Dry clay is a good economical alternative)
- liquid watercolours/food colouring
- acrylic beads, jewels and stones; seashells, beach glass and rocks; anything else that might embellish a dragon’s egg
Watch the Video
Later on, we made mermaid eggs, using the same technique, and that time I took a video of the process. Check this tutorial to find it!
How to Make Fantasy Eggs
Step 1: Prepare Clay
You can buy coloured air-dry clay or you can get a big tub of white/natural clay and stain it with watercolours or food colouring. That’s what we did. For a more even finish, mix a few drops of paint into the clay before starting to sculpt. On the picture above you can see how the clay looked before and after staining. However, you can also sculpt with whatever colour you’ve got and paint the surface once the clay is dry. We added more colour at that stage, too.
Step 2: Make the Base
Roll aluminum foil into an egg form to create a base. There are two reasons to start with the base: it saves clay, and, most importantly, it creates a solid core. Without one, it’ll be difficult to keep the egg from shifting its form when you start pushing beads and stones into it. Also, if you want to make a surprise egg and let the receiver “hatch it” to find a miniature toy dragon or something similar inside, wrap the present into aluminum foil at this point.
Step 3: Cover the Base with Clay
Start building the clay layer. It needs to be at least 1/2″ deep, so that you have enough depth to push beads into the clay. Roll it into a circle, then wrap the aluminum egg in it. Cover the opening last.
Air-dry clay usually takes about 24 hours to dry, more or less depending on ambient humidity and how thick the layer is, so you don’t need to hurry. But if you start feeling like it’s getting too dry, you can add water to the surface. If you need to pause, put your work and any leftover clay into a zip-lock bag with a few drops of water. You can also use a brush with water for smoothing the surface when doing final touches.
Step 4: Insert the Beads, Jewels, Etc.
Collect beads, jewels, seashells and other pieces you’re going to use for decorating. Besides acrylic beads, we used beach glass and seashells. After all, there can be different kind of fantasy creatures with eggs – a sea dragon or a mermaid. Strings of imitation pearls also worked well for our eggs.
If you push beads and seashells deep enough into clay, it will stick and stay until the clay dries up. My son was three when we made the eggs, and he didn’t have a problem with jamming those stones right in.
When it came to making eggs with seashells, some of them were too big to stick. No problem – we used them as stamps instead, and added some texture to the clay.
Step 5: Let the Eggs Dry.
Usually 24 hours is enough. If you forget yours for longer, it isn’t a problem. They can be done at this point. This is how ours turned out.
Step 6 (Optional): Accentuate Texture with More Paint
As I mentioned in the beginning, you can also work with clay as it came out of the bag and add colour in the end. We stained our clay, but wanted to add more texture with watercolours. We tried different brush strokes, but my favourite was the texture created by dabbing the clay surface with the tip of the brush to create a uneven polka-dot look.
Not sure what chance we have at hatching a dragon, but we have done our best at creating convincing eggs!
Want a card with simple instructions for when you make the craft? You can print the one below!
How to Make Dragon Eggs
Materials
Instructions
More dragons?
If you have a fondness for dragons, check our other dragon crafts!
Dragon & Princess: free printable card, colouring page & art prompt
More Eggs?
I love painting eggs! We made these dragon eggs together with my son when he was three, so I recommend it as a very easy and kid-friendly craft. When he was two, we made space eggs. And Harry Potter eggs were simply one of my favourites. Plus, they go along well with the dragon theme.
Thanks for reading and come again!
These are beautiful! My kids would love to make them.
Thank you, Kate! I’m sure yours will look amazing!
Around how much would it cost to complete one dragon egg?
I’d say that the cost of clay is the most important factor, and it varies. If you get 300 g of Premier clay ($10), you’ll be able to make about 6-8 eggs. If you get 2.2 lb of Activa clay ($7), you’ll be able to make around 20 eggs. I got 2-3 packs of beads from the local Dollar Store just for the project and used some of the materials we had at home.
So, I’d say the price of one egg is between 50 cents and 2 dollars, depending on the brand of clay. :)
Such a beautiful idea!!!
can’t I use polymer clay you bake?
I considered it, but couldn’t think of how to do it without acrylic beads melting in the oven.
I had a problem with the clay cracking when it was drying and it ended up ruining the egg. How did you prevent this?
It could be the clay. My Premier clay didn’t crack, but I think I had some issues with that in the past. Air-dry clay can be made wet again. You can go over the spot where the egg cracked with a brush and try to fill in the crack. If the crack is too big, you can take some more clay from the package and use that for filling the crack, again, while using a wet brush to smooth it all out. I hope it helps, and it will all work out!
Thank you! My daughter had to sell something at her class store, and saw the picture on Pinterest. It was a great project for an 8 year old (with some supervision!), but she is using food coloring and mixing and shaping all on her own. We had beads, shells and jewels around the house, so we just bought a pack of clay for $8 and made 5 large eggs. Such a fun idea with well written instructions!
Thanks for telling me! It made me very happy to read this.
What sort of paint did you use? We tried food coloring and it is not coloring very well .
Either gel food colouring or liquid watercolours. What kind of problem are you experiencing?
Your Dragon egg is a wonderful idea for a day camp craft hour. I think the kids would have a good time making them!
Thank you for sharing this wonderful idea. You are awesome!