A smashing twist on Easter egg hunts

Coloring eggs at Easter usually is followed by peeling and eating the hard-boiled contents. Tasty, but not exactly fun. What if, instead, you and your friends ran around the yard and smashed colored eggs over one another's heads? Egg-cellent, right?

Before you run this idea by Mom and Dad, let us explain. The eggs aren't hard-boiled; they're filled with confetti. Known as cascarones (pronounced cass-kuh-ROH-nays), these eggs have a long history. They may date to Marco Polo's travels to China in the 14th century. The idea spread to Mexico in the 19th century and more recently to the American Southwest.

At traditional cascarones parties, the eggs are hidden. Once found, they are crushed over the heads of partygoers. Getting an egg broken over your head is supposed to mean good luck. It also means confetti pieces stuck in your hair, but that's a small price to pay for the added Easter egg-citement.

Materials:

- Sturdy pin or a pointed-tip bottle or can opener

- 12 uncooked eggs in their carton (or more, if desired)

- Bowl

- Toothpick

- Straw

- Bleach

- Something to color the eggs (dye, marker pens and watercolors work best)

- Multicolored paper confetti

- Small funnel (optional)

- White glue

- Colored tissue paper, cut into 1-inch-square blocks (1 or 2 for each egg)

Steps:

With a pin or pointed can opener, poke a tiny hole in one end of an egg. (You might need a parent's help to do this.) Hold the egg over a bowl. Then poke a hole about the size of a dime in the other end. Insert the toothpick partway into the larger hole, and break the yolk. Cover the tiny hole with a straw, and blow until all of the egg's contents come out through the big hole and fall into the bowl. Refrigerate the liquid eggs to make scrambled eggs later.

Have a parent rinse the inside of the egg with a mixture of 1 teaspoon liquid chlorine bleach per half cup of water. Let it dry. Repeat with the other eggs.

Color the eggshells. (Before using dye, ask a parent for help.) The shells are fragile, so be careful not to crush them.

When the decorations are dry, return the eggs to the carton with the big hole in each egg facing up. Now, carefully fill each egg half-full with confetti. Using a small funnel makes this easier.

Rub a bit of glue around the edge of each large hole, and cover the hole with a piece of tissue paper. Smooth the paper to cover the entire hole. If confetti is leaking from the egg's tiny hole, cover that as well.

Let the eggs dry, and they're ready to hide!