borax crystal experiment worksheet

Easy Borax Crystals Science Project Perfect for a Science Fair

Categories Science Experiments

Nothing says classic science experiments for kids like crystal experiments. Follow along with this tutorial to learn how to conduct your own borax crystals science project!

If you don’t want to do a full science project, you can also just do the experiment as a science demonstration for how crystals form and a lesson in supersaturated solutions, molecular bonds, and how temperature affects chemistry.

Try this borax crystals experiment and learn everything you need to know about borax reactions and how crystals form!

The Science Behind Borax Crystals

Crystals are molecules that bind together ionically (meaning that they are not flexible). Most crystal molecules form specific patterns of crystal formation. Borax crystals have a square shape to them.

Borax crystals can form when a supersaturated liquid containing borax powder is cooled. Hot water molecules are more active, so the molecules bounce around more and have more space between them.

This means that hot water can hold more of a powder than cold liquid. So as the liquid cools, those extra borax molecules must go somewhere, and they cling together to form crystals.

This project makes a fun addition to elementary school science fair projects . We never miss doing this one when we revisit classic science fair projects .

How borax crystals form

Dissolving borax powder into water creates a solution. When you follow the borax crystal recipe, you create a supersaturated solution. This basically means that there are more borax molecules inside the water than the water can hold.

As the water cools, it can hold fewer borax molecules, so the molecules cling together and form crystals.

Why do borax crystals form on pipe cleaners?

Borax particles are dissolved into the water as it heats. As the water cools, it is able to hold fewer borax particles. The particles must go somewhere, so if a pipe cleaner is suspended in the borax solution, the borax molecules come out of the water and cling to the pipe cleaner, forming crystals.

Hypothesis for growing borax crystals

If you are doing the borax crystal experiment as a science fair project, you need a hypothesis. You’ll also need variables.

There are two things you can test: the amount of borax powder inside of each jar, and the temperature of each jar. A common test is to see if crystals form faster in ice water, in the refrigerator, or in hot water.

The hypothesis in this case would be that one of the solutions would produce crystals the fastest. For the amount of borax variable, the hypothesis could be that more borax would produce larger crystals.

What you need for the borax crystals science project

You’ll need these items for your borax crystals science project.

• Chenille stems
• Clothespins
• Glass jars or cups
• Science notebook
• Science fair planner

What You Need for a Science Fair

You’ll want to have these supplies on hand before doing your science fair project. Shop the included Amazon storefronts to make things easier and don’t forget to download the free science fair planning checklist before getting started!

Science Fair Project Planning

When you’re planning your project, you want to keep everything organized. Click the image below to get my free science fair project checklist so you can start organizing your project from the start.

You may also want to check out this list of science fair project research supplies.

Supplies for a Science Fair Project

There are so many supplies for science fair projects that are individual to each project, but if you want a general list of possible supplies and inspiration for your project, check out my selection of science fair experiment supplies on Amazon.

Supplies for a Science Fair Presentation

Your science fair presentation is important! It should look presentable and eye-catching. Check out this list of my favorite science fair presentation supplies.

More Crystal Activities for Kids

Super Fun and Easy Crystal Science Fair Projects

How to Make Instant Ice Crystals- Nucleation Science Experiment

How to Make Crystals without Borax

How to Make Salt Crystal Feathers (in under an hour!)

Crystal Egg Geodes

How to Make Big Borax Crystals

The secret to making big borax crystals is in the amount of borax that you add to the water. What you need to make is a supersaturated solution, with a lot of Borax powder.

In our borax crystal recipe, we use a ratio of one to two. One part borax powder for two parts water. This creates a mixture that dissolves almost entirely in the hot water, but a few borax powder grains remain in the bottom of the pot.

This is how you know that the solution is oversaturated.

When you follow this crystal recipe, you end up with big borax crystals that form in just a couple of hours. No need to wait overnight!

Borax Crystal Recipe

Follow along with these directions to make big borax crystals!

Make a supersaturated solution by boiling 4 cups of water and 2 cups of borax powder on the stove.

Once the powder is dissolved, remove from heat and allow the solution to cool until it is safe to handle.

While the liquid is cooling, form your pipe cleaners into whatever shape you want (we did stars).

Suspend the pipe cleaners inside the jars (don’t let it touch the bottom of sides of the jar) from a pencil. We always just use extra pipe cleaner to suspend the shapes, but you can also use string or fishing line.

Fill the jars with the cooled solution and wait.

If you want to make the crystals form even faster, put the jars in the refrigerator.

In about an hour or two, you’ll have big borax crystals!

Remove them from the jar, then allow them to dry on paper towels.

Once the crystals are dry, observe them with a magnifying glass.

Share this project with a friend!

Homeschool Science for Kids

Science designed for your homeschool family

Borax Crystals

June 27, 2016 By Janice VanCleave

How to Grow Borax Crystals

Materials pencil craft stem- I used white 1-qt canning jar (hot liquids can safely be poured into canning jars) 2-quart cooking pot 2-cups borax (I used Twenty-Mule Team Borax purchased from the grocery store) 4-cups tap water (Use distilled water if your tap water is very hard.) stirring spoon canning funnel oven mittens

Prepare Growing Surface for Crystals to Attach to

Prepare a Supersaturated Borax Solution Caution: I suggest that an adult prepare the hot borax solution and pour it into a jar. 

1.  In a cooking pot, combine 2 cups of borax with 4 cups of water. 2.  Heat on a stove with medium heat. Stir continuously until the mixture boils, then remove the pot from the stove.  All of the borax should dissolve. If not see step 4. (The borax solution is saturated at the boiling point of water) 3. Place a canning funnel in the jar as shown. 4. S lowly pour the hot borax solution through the funnel into the canning jar. Try to leave any undissolved crystals of borax in the pot. 5.  Remove the funnel. 6. With oven mitts carefully move the jar to a place where it can be observed but disturbed. For best viewing have a light behind the jar, such as a desk lamp or a window.

Note: As the hot saturated borax solution slowly cools to room temperature, the solution has more borax dissolved in the water than normal. 

7. Place the pencil across the jar with the attached craft stem hanging inside the jar.

•   Place the jar where it will not be disturbed–Do not shake or pick up the jar while the crystals are growing. This can cause the borax crystals to quickly precipitate forming forming a solid mass. You want tiny borax crystal to slowly form and grow. This happens if the solution is not disturbed as it cools.

8. Observe the content of the jar immediately and periodically for the first three hours. When I grew borax crystals, once the first crystal specks were visible, the crystallization was not instantaneous, but from hour to hour I could see the difference in the size of the crystals. Generally, the crystals stop growing after 24 hours.

Results:  The image gives you an idea of what borax crystals look like.

Borax crystals form naturally in nature from solution in much the same way as do the crystals in this experiment. In nature, pools of water with dissolved borax form. With no inflow of fresh water, as the water from the pool evaporates the concentration of the borax solution increases until the water cannot dissolve all the borax and borax crystals start falling out of solution.  Mineral crystals formed by this process are called  evaporites.  Evaporites are chemical sedimentary rocks.

Temperature affects the solubility of borax. Heating the water increases the amount of borax that will dissolve in it. When hot, more borax is dissolved in the water than would normally dissolve at room temperature. When hot, the solution is saturated with borax. As the hot solution cools to room temperature, the solution is said to be supersaturated because it has more dissolved borax than normally dissolved at room temperature.

A supersaturated solution is very unstable and shaking or stirring the solution can cause the excess dissolved borax to fall out of solution. In chemistry, solids that fall out of solutions are said to precipitate.  At first, borax crystals that fall out of solution are microscopic in size, but the crystals have an attraction for each other and they stick together and grow until they are no longer buoyant in the solution. At this time they precipitate, fall to the bottom of the jar. With the craft stem in the solution, precipitating borax crystals first stick to the surfaces on the craft stem and attract other crystals that fall out of solution.

In any solution of any concentration, at the microscopic level, particles of the solute continue to dissolve and at the same rate particles of the solute fall out of solution. In other words, there is no visible change in a solution when the rate of dissolving equals the rate of crystallization. The solution is said to have reached a state of equilibrium.

Can Borax Crystals be Colored?–Yes. The video has a different method for making the solution as well as the shape of the growing surface.

Something More

The borax crystals are so pretty. I’ve seen YouTube videos of how the borax crystals can be used to make necklaces. Use the following facts and questions to guide kids to do more research about borax as well as using the borax crystals in an extended experiment.

Facts:  Yes, there is a lot of information in the following list of facts. Use what is applicable for your children. You can always repeat the experiment when kids are ready for the more complex information. Following the fact list is a Science Challenge.

• You know that borax will dissolve in water. So, you couldn’t wear a borax necklace when it rains.
• What about having borax crystals against your skin while you wear the borax necklace…Would there be any skin reaction since borax might dissolve in moisture on your skin?
• How permanent are borax crystals? In other words, can you add borax crystals to your rock and mineral collection?
• The chemical name for borax is sodium borate   Na 2 B 4 O 7 ·10H 2 O Notice that there are ten water molecules attached to sodium borate (Na 2 B 4 O 7 ), thus borax is a decahydrate …deca-10;
• Decahydrate borax crystals are translucent.
• As  decahydrate borax crystals lose water from their chemical structure, there is a physical change in appearance from translucent to opaque. The hard translucent crystals begins to develop white powder on their surfaces.
• When decahydrate borax crystals lose water, the slick surface of the transparent crystals  appear to be a chalky white. The mineral formed is called tincalconite and has this chemical formula, Na 2 B 4 O 7 ·5H 2 O (sodium borate pentahydrate). Note that fewer water molecules are attached to the sodium borate.

Science Challenge—- 

Borax (sodium borate decahydrate) was used in the experiment to grow transparent sodium borate decahydrate crystals. If  sodium borate pentahydrate, tincalconite, is substituted for borax, will the crystals that fall out of solution be the chalky tincalconite mineral or the transparent borax mineral?

When preparing the supersaturated borax solution, what affect would substituting the mineral tincalconite for the mineral borax have on the type of type of sodium borate crystals formed?

Hypothesis;  Experiment; Results; Conclusion

More about crystals

• What happens to food when it freezes?
• Why does ice cream taste different if it melts and is refrozen?
• Why is ice hard and a Popsicle is softer?

Find the answers to these questions about ice and much more in the book that I wrote abut Food and Nutrition. This book is available on Amazon as well as other book stores.

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Borax Crystal Ornament Balls Science Experiment for Kids

Add to the magic of the holidays by growing crystal ornaments following our step by step directions, video tutorial, and printable science experiment activity pack…

Add to the magic of the holidays by growing crystal ornaments following our step by step directions, video tutorial, and printable science experiment activity pack for kids.

Make crystal balls from borax solution and pom poms! Your children will love this science experiment that’s also a craft. It can be done at Christmas time to make borax crystal ornaments or anytime you feel like having a lot of fun with science!  

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Please follow the instructions and make sure there is adult supervision.

My children ages 8 and 10 had so much fun making crystal balls that once the experiment was finished we reused our borax solution and made another batch of ornaments.

Look how cool the ornaments look hanging on the tree. When the Christmas lights are on the crystals sparkle even more!

What Should I Use to Grow Borax Crystals on?

We used Pom Poms to make our crystal balls but Borax crystals will grow on a variety of objects. Common objects to use are pipe cleaners that have been bent into different shapes. You could also try sticks, shells, or felt cut outs.   

When selecting an object to make an ornament, choose something that will be easy to hang while remembering that it will get heavier once the crystals have grown on it. 

What is Crystal Seeding?

Crystal seeding helps “plant” crystal seeds on the object you are trying to grow crystals on. By seeding, you allow smaller tiny crystals to attach to the object. This allows larger crystals to grow later.  

What Type of Jar to Use?

Select a glass jar that the item you want to grow crystals on can fit inside with extra room from the top and sides of the jar. This allows room for the crystals to grow. 

If there is not enough room, the crystals will grow to your object and can attach to the crystals that grow on the sides and bottom of the jar making it harder to remove.

Large jars will need more borax solution.

How to Succeed and Not Fail

The seeding part of the directions is important, but even more important is to NOT MOVE CONTAINERS during the growing stage. 

Be Patient. Do not move your jar or lift the object up until you are ready to end the experiment or you may stunt crystal growth.  

If the first growing stage does not result in the size of crystals you want, remove the object from the liquid, dump the liquid into a pot to boil, and repeat the process by making a new soaking solution. 

Science Explained:

A crystal is a solid with flat sides and symmetrical shape. Crystals are made because the molecules the crystal is made of arrange themselves in repeating patterns. There are seven crystal patterns triclinic, monoclinic, orthorhombic, hexagonal, rhombohedral, tetragonal, and cubic. Borax crystals are cubic and look like cubes.

When our saturated solution cooled down the water molecules moved closer together leaving less room for the borax. Since the borax can’t disappear, the dissolved borax forms cubic crystals that grew on top of each other. This is included in the printable science activity pack.

Do your children know what a saturated solution is?

Do your children know what shape crystals grow in?

Increase their knowledge with the  BORAX CRYSTAL SCIENCE ACTIVITY PACK  that’s designed to introduce concepts of the scientific method and can be used over again to make more borax crystals like on pipe cleaners, egg shells, and more. 

EACH SCIENCE PACK IS CREATED TO:

• Make doing the activity  EASY  for you!
• Enhance  LEARNING  for your kids!
• Be ready to  PRINT ,  PREP , and  Do !
• PRINTABLE ADD-ONS  (When needed) 
• VIDEO EXAMPLE  (When available)

BORAX CRYSTAL DIRECTIONS

BORAX CRYSTAL LAB WORKSHEETS

Don’t see the box?  CLICK HERE   to be directed to the download.  Please share and pin our printable ? 

Borax Crystal Ball Ornaments

If you like our Borax Crystal Ball Ornaments Science Experiment I would love for you to PIN IT! It helps others discover it too, which helps us bring you more AWESOME CONTENT like this .

(Affiliate links included for your convenience.  Purchases through affiliate links earn us a small commission with no extra cost to you. See our  Disclosure Policy here. )

• Borax (Powdered laundry detergent)
• Boiling Water (Adult only)
• Pom Pom 1 inch
• Craft Wire and Wire Cutter or
• Small Glass Jars or Mason Jars
• 1 Cup measuring cup
• 1 Tbs measuring spoon
• Optional: Food Coloring

Directions:

Download and Print the Directions from the Borax Crystal Science Activity Pack .

Day 1: This step is optional but helps accelerate the growing stage by giving a place for the crystals to grow.

• Boil one cup water, mix 4-5 tablespoons of borax solution, and stir the mixture until it is dissolved.
• Set the hot water solution to the side to cool down to a safe temperature around your children. Do not let it get cold.
• Thread a piece of wire through the pom pom and dip the pom pom into the seed solution and set it on the tray to dry.
• Decide how much borax solution you will need by filling up your jars with water, and measuring the water to find out how many cups your jar(s) hold.
• You want to make a saturated solution that has as much borax powder as possible.
• Add the borax powder, stir, and if it dissolves, add more until it stops dissolving. It is okay if you have a few grains of borax in your solution.
• Set the solution to the side to cool down to a safe temperature around your children. Do not let it get cold.
• Carefully pour the borax solution into the jar.
• Take the pom pom and bend the craft wire so it holds the pom pom submerged in the solution inside the jar.
• Let the jars sit undisturbed and as the mixture cools the crystal growing will begin.

• You should be able to see crystals growing on the submerged item, on the bottom of the jar, or on the string or wire.
• Remove the item from the jar and set it on the tray to dry and admire.
• Remove the item from the string or wire and put it on display or make a craft with it.
• Turn the item into a decoration or ornament by tieing the string to make a loop or bend the wire into a loop so the crystals can be hung up.

More to Do:

Dancing Corn Experiment

Adorable Homemade Ornaments

Cloud Science and Fun

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Shell Crystal Craft

Summer means the ocean and seashells to us! We like to get creative with our summer science experiments, so we had to try this seashell crystal craft. This is the perfect, quick and easy science experiment to set up and forget! Mix the solution and set it aside. Over 24 hours, you can observe some neat changes! Make crystals on seashells with borax is a fantastic STEAM project for kids!

Grow Crystal Seashells Overnight!

For summer science, we experimented with growing borax crystals on seashells. Our seashells come from a beach, but you can easily pick up a bag of shells to try at home if you don’t live near the beach.

Make science exciting for kids by finding fun ways to introduce science learning. Growing crystals is perfect for an easy chemistry experiment at home or in the classroom. Learn about saturated solutions, suspension liquids, ratios, and crystals!

Watch the Seashell Crystal Craft Video:

Things to do with seashells.

This crystal seashells activity makes a fun science craft you can display. These crystals are pretty hardy, even for little hands. Due to the chemicals involved, this isn’t a very hands-on science activity for young kids, but it’s great for practicing observation skills.

You can always try growing salt crystals as a safe alternative for the younger scientist!

To make this crystal craft, you only need two ingredients, water and powdered borax {found in the laundry detergent aisle}. Additionally, you will need a handful of shells and a flat container. The seashells should not touch each other.

Check out the bottom of this page for alternative ways to grow crystals with kids! While you’re at it with seashells, try this quick ocean acidification experiment dissolving seashells .

You can also set up this simple ocean sensory bin with the extra seashells!

Next time you are at a beach, bring a handful of shells home. Craft stores also sell seashells by the bag. An ocean theme crystal craft is perfect early learning science with excellent visual results!

How To Make A Crystal Shell Craft

• Borax Powder
• Measuring Cups and a Tablespoon
• Mason Jars or Glass Containers

Making a Saturated Solution to Grow Crystals

The most important part of growing these fun crystal seashells is mixing up a saturated solution. The saturated solution will allow the crystals to form slowly and correctly. A saturated solution is a liquid filled with particles until it can no longer hold more of the solid.

TIP: Get your water hot first to make the best saturated solution. As the water heats up, the molecules move away from each other, allowing the solution to hold more of the borax powder. This is a great opportunity to do an experiment and test cold water too!

STEP 1: Boil Water

STEP 2: Add 3-4 Tablespoons of borax powder per 1 cup of water.

If you do several seashells, make a 3-cup solution to get started. When mixing the solution, you will still see a tiny bit of the powder floating around and settling to the bottom. That means it’s saturated!

STEP 3: Place your seashells in glass containers (glass prevents the solution from cooling down too quickly)

STEP 4: Add the solution to the glass containers and cover the shells entirely.

STEP 5: Put it aside and observe what happens.

The Science of Growing Borax Crystals

This seashell crystal craft is also a suspension science experiment for incredible chemistry. When the borax is mixed with hot water, it remains as solid particles. As the water cools, the particles settle and form the crystals.

Pipe cleaners also work well for growing crystals. Check out how we made a crystal rainbow with pipe cleaners.

As the solution cools down, the water molecules come back together, forcing the particles out of the solution. They land on the nearest surfaces and continually build up to form the perfectly shaped crystals you see. Make sure to note whether the borax crystals look the same or different from each other.

If the solution cools down too quickly, the crystals form irregularly because they don’t have a chance to reject the impurities also contained in the solution. You should try to leave the crystals untouched for about 24 hours.

TIP: Set the container in a quiet area where kids can check on the crystals without moving the containers. You do not want to jostle the mixture.

After 24 hours, you can take the crystal seashells out and dry them on paper towels. Set up an observation station for the kids to look at the crystals. Have them describe what they look like and even draw them!

Did you know you can also Dissolve A Seashell for more cool chemistry? Click here.

Our seashell crystal craft still looks lovely after a few weeks if left undisturbed. My son still enjoys examining the crystal seashells from time to time. He also shows them off to guests when we have company!

More Crystal Craft Ideas To Try

You can make a different crystal craft for each season, and it’s easiest to use pipe cleaners to create fun seasonal or holiday themes!

• Crystal Candy Canes
• Crystal Snowflakes
• Salt Crystal Snowflake
• Crystal Hearts (Valentine’s Day Favorite)
• Salt Crystal Hearts
• Crystal Rainbow
• Crystal Flowers
• Salt Crystal Leaves

Different Ways To Grow Crystals With Kids

Here are various ways to grow crystals with kids that use borax, sugar, and salt! Did you know rock candy is a crystal?

Salt crystals are also fascinating to grow. Both sugar and salt crystals do take longer to grow than borax crystals. Eggshell geodes look so pretty and use the borax crystal recipe as well!

• Salt Crystals
• Rock Candy Sugar Crystals
• Borax Crystals
• Eggshell Geode Crystals

Even more ocean science fun for kids!

We have a complete line up of ocean science experiments , projects, and activities the kids will love!

Printable Ocean Activities Pack

If you want to have all of your printable ocean activities in one convenient place, plus exclusive worksheets with an ocean theme, our 100+ page Ocean STEM Project Pack is what you need!

Check out The Complete Ocean Science and STEM Pack in our SHOP!

32 Comments

No where that I can see do you talk about the issues of safety around borax. This is something I pulled off the web: Borax is quite popular online these days. It’s in recipes for everything from children’s craft concoctions to alternative cleaning products and homemade baby wipe solutions. Before you use it, though, make sure you know all the facts.

Borax, which is also known as Boric Acid and is sold under the brand name “20 Mule Team,” is often touted as safe and natural. While it is a naturally occurring mineral, that doesn’t mean it is without dangers.

Borax is often recommended as a “safe” pesticide, fungicide and cleaner, but it is officially classified as a poison. Government sites recommend that people who work with Borax use gloves and handle it with caution. Studies have linked it to reproductive problems in some lab animals, as well as a host of serious disorders at higher levels.

Boric acid is an acute eye and respiratory tract irritant, which is quite toxic if ingested. In addition, it is unavailable in parts of Europe because of concerns that it caused birth defects and problems with the reproductive organs of children. It is recommended that pregnant women and children in particular do not have exposure to Borax.

Thanks for the information.

Do you know if you spray a clear lacquer on them if they will stay longer? I think these would be beautiful glued on a frame or something and was trying to figure out how to preserve them…

Hi, I’m commenting because I couldn’t find your contact page! I love this post and included on my blog here: https://popshopamerica.com/blog/extract-dna-strawberries/

Will you please take a look and make sure this will work for you? Happy to help if you need anything from us.

Thanks and have a great day. – Brittany

Neat activity! Yes, that’s great. Thanks for including us.

I know someone tried doing that recently but I don’t know the longterm answer yet. These do last a suprsingley long time.

Very cool experiment! I’ve never seen it done with shells before. I just shared it on my blog. Thank you!

Found you through Pinterest! This looks like so much fun. My little is too little for science experiments yet but my niece is quite the scientist and I think we will try this when she comes to visit next.

Thank you! How old is he or she?

May I ask how you prevented the bottom portion of the shell from growing crystals? Did you coat it with something?

I didn’t do anything to the shells! Did you have a different result? The crystals just grew where they wanted to grow.

I’m not sure where you read this but borax and boric acid are two entirely different things.

Borax and Boric Acid are two different things yes, but they are still from the borate family. I will go in and clarify. Thank you.

I have had good luck with spraying with clear acrylic sealer, I have also dipped them in clear polyurethane and let them set and dry on plastic wrap. The clear spray is less mess, and easier. The poly gives them a really neat “under glass” type effect. But both ways make for long lasting crystals.

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Did you leave the lid on the glass container?

You do not need to but can. You can also set it up as an experiment and do one without lid and one with lid.

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I tried this but not much is happening after 12 hours

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Grow sparkling borax crystals.

Get your child excited about Earth science by showing them how to create homemade borax crystals! Your child will learn more about crystals and how they form. At the end of the project, you will have a beautiful crystal collection.

Note: Please supervise your child when you are working with the boiling water in this project, and make sure that they do not consume any borax.

What You Need:

• Pipe cleaners
• 4 Tablespoons Borax

What You Do:

• Ask your child which shapes he would like to create for the crystals. Examples include a spiral, circle, heart or snowflake.
• Tell your child to use the pipe cleaners to form the shapes you have chosen, ensuring that they can fit into the jar opening. Meanwhile, boil a pot of water on the stove.
• Tie a piece of string around a pipe cleaner shape and the other end of the string around a pen.
• Slowly add the hot water into the jar until it is about three-quarters full.
• Help your child place the borax into the jar, stirring after each tablespoon has been adding. Look at the bottom of the jar to see whether some of the borax has started to accumulate. If it has, then move onto the next step. Otherwise, add more borax until a pile has formed.
• Use the pen and the string to lower the shape into the jar, and place the pen across the top of the jar. The shape should hang inside the char without touching the bottom and be completely covered in the mixture.
• Pick up the jar with the oven mitts and move it to a spot where it is out of the way.
• Leave the jar alone for one day. Explain to your child that as the water cools, some of the borax will start to become removed from the water and the crystals will start to grow on the pipe cleaner. Ask your child to evaluate how the crystals are changing and growing several times throughout the day. Explain that the borax molecules are attracted to each other and will start to form bigger crystals as they latch onto the pipe cleaner.
• When a day has passed, remove the pipe cleaner from the mixture. It should be filled with crystals! Now you can put it on display and admire your crystal formations!

Related learning resources

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Bookmark this to easily find it later. Then send your curated collection to your children, or put together your own custom lesson plan.

Borax Crystal Snowflake Experiment

Share with your friends!

With all of the snow and cold weather we have had this winter, it may seem redundant to have a lesson on “ice” crystals, but that is what we did today.

Little Miss Kindergartener has been reading  Mice on Ice  by Rebecca Emberley and  There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow!  by Lucille Colandro this week, so this crystal snowflake experiment seemed to be the perfect addition.

Borax Crystal Snowflake Experiment * As always, science experiments should be done with an adult – especially when they involve boiling water and borax!  Children should not do this experiment on their own.

• mason jar or old glass jar with a wide mouth
• white pipe cleaner
• borax (we used  20 Mule Team Borax )
• boiling water
• food coloring (optional)

Directions:

• Gather your supplies.
• Put the tea kettle filled with water on to boil.
• Cut your pipe cleaner into three equal pieces.
• Twist them together at the center to make a snowflake. It will be small. Test to be sure it will fit through the opening of your glass jar without touching the sides. If it touches the sides, trim it until it no longer does.
• Tie one end of the ribbon to the middle of the pencil and one end to the middle of the snowflake. When the pencil is positioned across the mouth of the jar and the snowflake is hanging down into it, the snowflake should not touch the bottom of the jar. Adjust the ribbon length as needed. Remove the snowflake from the jar.
• Fill the jar with boiling water from the tea kettle. Fill it about 1-inch from the top.
• Scoop in 3-6 Tablespoons of borax – one tablespoon at a time to the boiling water. Stir to dissolve the borax. If your jar holds more than 2 cups of water, add another 3 Tablespoons. (Hint: 3-4 Tablespoons borax per 1 cup water works best.)
• Add three drops of food color to the jar. Your crystals will be whatever color you add to the water/borax solution.
• Submerse the snowflake into the solution and position the pencil across the mouth of the jar so that it hangs in freely.
• After a couple of hours you will begin to see crystals forming on the snowflake. Let it sit overnight for best results.
• The next day, remove the snowflake from the jar and hang it to dry over a paper plate or a couple of layers of paper towels. Sometimes it drips, so you want to be sure the food coloring doesn’t get on your counter or desk.
• Hang your snowflake up and take a picture to share with us on our  Facebook  page! Have fun!

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Christmas Science And STEAM Activity | Borax Crystal Growth Experiment | Gr 4 5

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Description

Discover mixtures and solutions by growing borax crystals. You'll get a comprehensive teacher guide, a hands-on investigation geared for 4th and 5th grade, and a borax ornament STEAM challenge. This unit uses inexpensive materials and gives results in 24 hours—a wonderful way to reinforce the scientific method, measuring mass, and graphing.

This Hands-On Investigation and Teacher Guide Includes

• Teacher Guide and Background Information and Tips
• Alignment to Standards
• 6 Page Student Investigation Journal
• STEAM Crystal Creation Worksheet and Activity
• Terms of use

This investigation meets the Next Generation Science Standards

• NGSS Structure and Properties of Matter 5th Grade
• 3-5 NGSS Science and Engineering Practices

Students will test how different types of water affect crystal growth. Students will create supersaturated solutions and discover that distilled water is a pure substance and other types of water may not be. In the investigation, the students will create a hypothesis, record data, and create a graph. Students will be guided in writing a summary and conclusion using their evidence. They will use their new knowledge to create a crystal design, Christmas ornament, or snowflake.

Teachers will appreciate the step-by-step directions, journal layout, and taking crystal making up a notch. This activity is excellent for science fairs, classrooms, clubs, or science camps. Teachers can use it to prepare students for the You Be the Chemist Challenge. All supplies can be found at the grocery store. I can tell you from experience that the students will think like scientists and enjoy discussing the results.

Supplies: Borax Powder, Tap Water, Distilled Water, Mineral Water, Popsicle Sticks, Pipe Cleaners, Heat Resistant Plastic or Glass Jars (Plastic is best.), Spoons, Measuring Spoons, Measuring Cups. You will need a scale for weighing the crystals.

Important: Borax crystals may sometimes stick to the container and be impossible to get off. Heat-proof plastic containers clean the best. If you use a glass beaker, test one first to see what happens. You can double-layer disposable cups.

This investigation is part of a series. This is the 4th/5th-grade version. Please click each grade level version below to see more details.

Borax Crystal Lab: Investigate the Type of Water on Crystal Growth Grade 2/3

Borax Crystal Lab: Investigate the Type of Water on Crystal Growth Grade 6,7,8

Do you need multiple grade-level versions as a science lab teacher or for differentiation? Purchase the Bundle and save 20% on each resource.

STEAM Lab: Borax Crystal Lab: 3 Grade Level Bundle

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Kimberly Scott

Inspiring Lifelong Learnings through a Memorable Scientific Experience

All parts are copyrighted. Please see the terms of use in the download. Please use good lab practices. The seller is not responsible for the use or misuse of the activities.

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