These DIY dragon eggs are a magical craft for kids who love fantasy stories, dragons, and anything that sparkles. Covered in colourful air dry clay and sparkling gems, each egg looks like a tiny treasure from a dragon’s nest — mysterious, glittery, and full of imagination.
These dragon eggs are fun to make for a fantasy-themed craft, birthday party activity, rainy day project, or a pretend play prop. Kids can choose their own dragon egg colours and add different sizes of gems. It’s easy to create a whole collection of shimmering eggs that look like they’re ready to hatch into something amazing!
This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support our website and allows us to keep creating fun, free content.
DIY Dragon Eggs
Materials:
Equipment:
- Baking sheet (optional; or other clean surface)
Watch the step-by-step video tutorial:
Instructions:
Step 1: Find what you need
- Gather your supplies and materials.
Step 2: Mix the clay
- Break off a small ball of air dry clay and condition it by squishing and rolling it in your hands.
- Flatten the clay and add a generous dollop of acrylic paint.
- Fold the paint inside the clay and then work it with your hands to mix the colour in. Continue until the colour is evenly blended.
Step 3: Form your egg
- Flatten the clay again and grab an Easter egg.
- Wrap the clay around the Easter egg until it’s neatly covered.You can dip your finger in water to smooth out any cracks or rough spots.
Step 4: Decorate the egg
- Gather several sizes of rhinestones in colours that match your egg. Besides these stones we also have larger rhinestone stickers we’re going to use.
- Grab one of the largest rhinestones and place it on the egg, pushing it down into the clay. Make sure that the rhinestone is embedded well in the clay, with the edges covered. This will ensure it doesn’t fall off as the clay dries.
- Repeat, adding more large rhinestones around the egg.
- Next add smaller rhinestones around the egg. Again, push them in so they’re embedded in the clay.
- Repeat with some really small rhinestones in an accent colour.With these rhinestones we found it best to use precision tweezers to place the rhinestones and push them in. The narrow tips allow you to seat the rhinestones deep in the clay better than your fingertips.
- Allow to dry for at least 24 hours. Prop the egg up if you can, so air touches the most surface possible. Flip the egg over so the bottom side can dry too.
- Your dragon egg is complete!
Helpful Tips:
- Precision tweezers are a helpful tool for adding the smallest rhinestones. The fine tips make it easier to place each gem neatly without leaving fingernail marks in the clay.
- You can dip your fingers in a little bit of water to smooth the clay as you work. This helps remove nail marks, rough edges, and uneven spots before the clay dries.
What type of egg should I use to make these DIY dragon eggs?
We used dyeable plastic eggs for the base of our DIY dragon eggs, but plastic Easter eggs should work too.
If you don’t have Easter eggs, you can also make an egg shape with aluminum foil. Shape and compress the foil into an egg form, then cover it with clay before decorating.
What’s the best way to colour the clay for these dragon eggs?
We mixed acrylic paint into the clay to create the pastel colours. A good quality acrylic paint usually has more pigment, so you won’t need as much to tint the clay. Start with a small amount of paint, knead it into the clay, and add more if needed.
Tempera paint should also work the same way for colouring the clay. You can even use food colouring or liquid watercolour paint, but wear gloves if you choose either of these, since they can stain your hands.
For a deeper, brighter colour, you can also paint the clay after it dries. Just be careful not to cover the rhinestones while painting.
What can I use to decorate my dragon egg craft?
Flatback rhinestones work really well for decorating these dragon eggs because they press neatly into the clay. You can use different sizes and colours to create a gem-covered egg that looks magical and sparkly. Rhinestone stickers, faceted beads, and acrylic gems will also work.
For a more textured or patterned egg you can press dotting tools or the end of a paintbrush into the clay while it’s still soft. You can create scaley texture marks, dots, or lines in the clay.
How can I make a dragon egg with scales?
To make a scaled dragon egg, one option is to start with a Styrofoam egg and add thumbtacks. Press the thumbtacks into the foam, overlapping them slightly to create a scale effect. Once the egg is covered, paint the thumbtacks in your chosen colour (metallic paint looks awesome).
You can also cut a strip of adhesive craft foam into scale shapes and attach the pieces to an egg base. Overlap the foam scales as you go to create a layered dragon scale look.
Can I make DIY dragon eggs without clay?
Yes, you can make a dragon egg without clay. If you want a similar look, you can use salt dough instead. Salt dough is made with simple pantry ingredients and can be shaped around an egg form and decorated just like the clay.
You can also make one of the scaled dragon egg versions we mentioned above, using thumbtacks or adhesive craft foam instead of clay.
Another option is to use a glue gun to create raised lines or patterns on the egg form. Once the glue dries, paint the whole egg to create a textured dragon egg effect.
These DIY dragon eggs are such a fun way to make something magical with simple craft supplies. The colourful clay, sparkling rhinestones, and different egg shapes give each one its own fantasy-inspired look, whether it feels like it came from an icy dragon cave, a forest nest, or a hidden treasure hoard.
These eggs are easy to customize with different colours, gems, textures, and patterns, so kids can create a whole collection of dragon eggs that look completely unique. Once they’re dry, use them for pretend play, party decorations, fantasy crafts, or display them in your own hoard of magical treasures.
Here’s even more dragon craft ideas:
Now available
Low-Mess Crafts for Kids Book
72 cute and fun crafts that kids and parents alike can enjoy. All with as little mess as possible!
Where to buy:
You can purchase Low-Mess Crafts for Kids from Amazon, or wherever books are sold:
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Books-A-Million | Indiebound | Amazon Canada
Leave a Reply