Another fun- and very easy- science idea that the kids will love!
We made some beautiful crystals from borax. Have you heard of borax? It's a laundy cleaning product- you'll find it at the grocery store with the laundry items. (Here is another fun craft to make if you don't know what else to do with the borax.)
Here is what you do to make your very own crystals:
The first step to make borax crystals is to make the shapes. We made a variety of shapes. Twist pipecleasers or wire.
Tie the string to the end of your shapes. Tie the other end of the string to the pencil. You want the length to be such that the pencil hangs the snowflake into the jar. Fill the jar with boiling water.
Add borax one tablespoon at a time to the boiling water, stirring to dissolve after each addition. The amount used is 3 tablespoons borax per cup of water. It is okay if some undissolved borax settles to the bottom of the jar. If desired, you may tint the mixture with food color. We didn't add any because the pipecleaners were colored.
Hang the pipe cleaner snowflake into the jar so that the pencil rests on top of the jar and the snowflake is completely covered with liquid and hangs freely (not touching the bottom of the jar).
Allow the jar to sit in an undisturbed location overnight.
Look at the pretty crystals! You can hang your snowflake as a decoration or in a window to catch the sunlight.
These are great!
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