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Monday, June 1, 2015

Easy borax crystals

My oldest is really interested in geology and crystals right now, so I thought we would try a simple crystal growing experiment. I liked this one because I am working with a four year old and a two year old, so patience is not rampant around here and you get results with this one fairly quickly.
 
We started with boiling water. I gathered jars, a funnel and a measuring cup. I gave them each pipe cleaners and let them form whatever shape they liked. I then took their shapes and tied them with string onto a pencil so they would be able to dangle in the jar.
 
 
 Once the water was boiling, we filled each jar with the water and they added their choice of food coloring. We then added borax until it would no longer dissolve in the water.
 
 
Next, they sat.
 
 
We began to see crystals form in around four hours, but the next morning, they looked like this!
 
 
 
For more information on why this works, check out Steve Spangler Science.

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