Growing Crystals

This was a really fun project to do with my 5 year old. She had fun making the pipe cleaner shapes and seeing the crystals that grew on them afterwards. Just make sure this is supervised and discard after making the shapes because Borax is not safe for consumption.

Materials:

Pipe cleaners

Borax

String

Chopstick

Boiling Water

How To:

Start by boiling 1qt of water then add it to a glass container. Stir in 1 cup of Borax until it is completely dissolved. Then continue to add 1 tbs of borax until it will not dissolve anymore. It took me about a cup and a half of Borax to 1 Qt of water.

Make shapes out of pipe cleaners and tie one end to the shape and the other end to the chopstick.

Suspend the pipe cleaners in the liquid and cover for 8-12 hours.

Watch as the pipe cleaners grow crystals.