How To Clean Egg Shells For Crafts

Tip: Egg Shell Uses

Donna
Gold Post Medal for All Time! 555 Posts

October 20, 2014

egg shells in aluminum pan on top of toaster I want to share some things you can use egg shells for. First, I rinse my shells (after cracking them open for meals) and place them on an aluminum pan on top of my toaster.

Push down the toaster knob and let the heat come up and dry the shells in the pan.

Then I crush them up and use them mixed into my birdseed in my bird feeders (or in poultry feed, if you raise any poultry or even for pet birds). Birds NEED the calcium for their digestive processing in their gizzards and to produce their own eggs!

I also crush them up in potting soil for my flower pots or in my flower/garden beds for the natural calcium boost it gives them when it breaks down.

Or don't crush up the shells after you crack them open. Instead, add a few teaspoons of soil into each 1/2 egg shell and drop in a seed or two for some indoor plants/flowers. Great project for children to do!

Tip: Egg Shells for Tomatoes

When planting tomato plants in your garden, put a crushed egg shell in the bottom of the hole with a little soil over it before planting the tomato plant. It will benefit from the calcium in the egg all season.

Tip: Broken Egg Shells to Deter Snails

Linda L.
Bronze Tip Medal for All Time! 64 Tips

September 23, 2010

Don't throw out eggshells. Crush them up and throw them into your garden. They provide needed calcium to the soil as they decompose and the sharp-edged shells keep snails out of your beds.

Tip: Save Egg Shells for the Garden

Don't throw those egg shells away! Rinse thoroughly, removing membrane inside, air dry thoroughly and put into a zippered plastic bag. Crush with rolling pin. Store in freezer until ready to add to your garden or compost pile.

Tip: Ornaments Out of Decorated Eggshells

Something I learned to do as a teenager, was egg decorating. It took a lot of concentration but was so worth the end results. This is something particularly good for Christmas as you can make some stunning ornaments to hang on the tree, or get a stand for the egg to have as other decorations not associated with the tree at all.

Question: Uses for Egg Shells?

A clean empty eggshell in two pieces. Uses for eggshells from the ThriftyFun community.

Pest Control

I use finely crushed eggshells around seedlings that I transplant into my garden each spring. The shells keep snails, slugs and cut worms away. Apparently, the shells are abrasive to these critters and they won't crawl over them to eat the young plants.

By lisa

Add Calcium To The Soil

I've heard that tomatoes love them, something about the added calcium in the soil. So when I planted mine this year, I crushed up a bunch of eggshells and mixed them in around the plants.

By Beth

Seed Starter

You can also use them to start seedlings in. Then when you transplant, just crack the shell and plant the whole thing. Of course this only works for small seedlings.

By dianne

Eggshell Seed-Starting Pots

To make eggshell seed-starting pots: Crack the tips off several eggshells, reserving the eggs for cooking. Fill shells with a light soil mixture and one or two seeds (nasturtiums were used in the book), and prick drainage holes in the bottom of each shell with a pin. Keep moist and warm. When seedlings have reached a suitable size, plant them directly in the ground, crushing the shell so the roots can emerge.

By Sherry

Deer Deterrent

If you have deer eating any of your garden plants, throw the eggshells out there because deer HATE eggs! Otherwise, they are good for your plants, anyway. Just crush and use in your potting soil or mulch.

By Margie

Compost And Mix With Birdseed

I crush them up very fine, and put them in my compost tumbler. On occasion, I dump them on the ground in the area where I feed the birds. The birds need grit in their gizzard to help digest food, so they eat the shells.

By Harlean

Make Sidewalk Chalk

Sidewalk chalk! Here's a great link to making the chalk, however after I washed the shells and let them dry, I ground them up in the blender rather than on a rock - much easier!

http://www.make-stuff.com/kids/eggshell_chalk.html

By Tina

Bedtime Tea

Bedtime tea, you wash them, then bake them until brown. Crush and boil as you would tea. Stain and make tea as you normally would. Enjoy a cup before you go to bed, as told me by my grandmother.

By susan

Snail Food

Egg shells make good food for pet snails. They need calcium in their diet to maintain their shells.

By Sylvia

Answers

By deb from sc (Guest Post)

August 21, 2007 0 found this helpful

Egg shells are solely calcium. Plants love them. Rinse, dry, and crush. Then sprinkle on the ground under any acid loving plant such as roses, azaleas, evergreens, magnolias, gardenias. Also add used coffee grounds this way. It will make for more blooms and heartier plants. works every time and is free. just be sure to rinse the shells so you don't attract bugs to the egg drippings, which would defeat the purpose.

By Sallie (Guest Post)

August 21, 2007 0 found this helpful

Crafters could remove the membrane from the inside the shell, put pieces inside down on a box covered with glue, push down till it is all crackled. May also dye it before use. Could use different colors to make a picture.

August 21, 2007 0 found this helpful

My Mom used clean crushed egg shells on top of the coffee in the filter while brewing....Takes the bitterness out of coffee.

By louel53 (Guest Post)

August 23, 2007 0 found this helpful

This is a cute craft for kids. Dye shells with your usual Easter egg dye. Make "chicks" out of 2 cotton balls glued together. Cut tiny feet out of construction paper, make a beak out of a small construction paper triangle folded in half, and two tiny circles for eyes. You could use small beads or craft eyes if you had them.

Put the chicks in the dyed 1/2 shells. Glue onto a square of green construction paper to make it stand up. You could use white shells if you prefer, but the dyed shells are very pretty. I have done this craft with grade 2 &3 kids, and they liked it a lot. Louise, Nipawin

neuroticmom
Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 115 Feedbacks

March 19, 2011 0 found this helpful

I am confused as one poster says save egg shells for snails as they eat them for the calcium and the other is saying scatter them to keep the snails away. I want to get rid of the snails so if I scatter egg shells will it attract them to eat the shells or keep them away?

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Eggshells for Your Garden

There are several good reasons to add egg shells to your garden. They provide nutrients, deter snails, slugs, and cutworms.

They can also be helpful as a calcium supplement, if you raise laying hens. This is a page about eggshells for your garden.

An eggshell growing a seedling in the garden.

Eggshells for Birds

The calcium in crushed egg shells can be beneficial to your indoor pet birds and even the chickens themselves. This is a page about eggshells for birds.

A broken eggshell on a white background.