Growing Borax crystals is a fun and cheap experiment that you can do with the kids! Following these easy steps for how to make borax crystals, will bring lots of fun and learning to your house with the kids!
Borax Crystals
I am always on the hunt for ways to make learning a ton of fun for the kids. Boring learning doesn’t work all that well for us. Anytime we can get our hands dirty while getting learning in is 100% my favorite way! If it is an easy project that doesn’t have much clean up involved even better!
When it comes to science projects, I find that many of them are not only great for homeschoolers who are doing them to learn, but really any kids who are wanting something fun to do. Seriously, growing crystals with borax is a great summer time activity to do with the kids!
How Long does it take Borax Crystals to Grow?
The great thing about growing borax crystals is that there is not a very long wait time for the crystals to grow. I have kids and I know that patience is not a strong suit that most kids have. Frankly, I am not very patient either, so having a science project that shows the results quickly is what we need in our house.
After you make your borax crystals solution and put the pipe cleaners in, you only have to wait about 24 hours to see the results. Many of the crystal growing kits we have done in the past have taken days for crystals to form, we all we very impatient.
How to Remove Stuck Borax Crystals
Sometimes when making borax crystals, you may end up with crystals stuck to the side of the container you grew them in. It is easy to remove any crystals that are stuck and have grown on the side of the jar. All you have to do to remove the stuck crystals is simply fill the jar with hot water and let the Borax dissolve.
Again, the super easy clean up that I LOVE!
Growing Borax Crystals Supplies
- pipe cleaners in assorted colors
- Borax powder
- large glass dish
- hot water
- spoon
- chopsticks or pencil
How to Make Borax Crystals
Begin by warming your water up in the microwave so it is hot. You don’t need it to be boiling, but hotter than average warm tap water. The hotter the water the better they will grow, but you do not want it boiling.
Pour the hot water into a glass dish. Glass works best and will keep the water warm longer.
Add in 1/4 cup of Borax powder for every 2 cups of hot water you prepared. MIX WELL. You want to stir and make sure the powder is fully dissolved.
Take your pipe cleaners and twist them into coils. Leave some room on the end so you can hang the pipe cleaners from a chop stick or pencil like a monkey tail.
Place the sticks over the top of your glass container allowing the pipe cleaners to drop into the solution.
Now be patient, I know it is hard to do, but trust me it is soo worth it. Let the pipe cleaners sit in the solution overnight. You want to put them in an area where no one will mess with them. I put them on the kitchen counter, out of the reach of children, you do not want the solution and pipe cleaners to be disturbed while the crystals are growing.
In about 24 hours, crystals will form! Once they have formed, remove them while attached to the sticks from the borax solution.
Allow them to dry out a bit. While you can look and touch them just about as soon as you remove them from the solution, they will be even more gorgeous if you allow them to dry. All you have to do is lay them out on paper towels and allow them to dry out completely.
Your pipe cleaner crystals can now be displayed! Remember, always use caution when doing any crafts with hot water. Enjoy!
Looking for more fun science projects to do with the kids? Check these out!
- Shaving Cream Rain Cloud
- How to Make Slime with Dish Soap
- Floam Slime
- How to make Slime Stretchy
- How to make edible slime
How to Grow Borax Crystals (Step by Step Directions with Photos)
Materials
- pipe cleaners in assorted colors
- Borax powder
- large glass dish
- hot water
- spoon
- chopsticks or pencil
Instructions
- Begin by warming your water up in the microwave so it is hot. You don’t need it to be boiling, but hotter than average warm tap water. The hotter the water the better they will grow, but you do not want it boiling.
- Pour the hot water into a glass dish. Glass works best and will keep the water warm longer.
- Add in 1/4 cup of Borax powder for every 2 cups of hot water you prepared. MIX WELL. You want to stir and make sure the powder is fully dissolved.
- Take your pipe cleaners and twist them into coils. Leave some room on the end so you can hang the pipe cleaners from a chop stick or pencil like a monkey tail.
- Place the sticks over the top of your glass container allowing the pipe cleaners to drop into the solution.
- Now be patient, I know it is hard to do, but trust me it is soo worth it. Let the pipe cleaners sit in the solution overnight. You want to put them in an area where no one will mess with them. I put them on the kitchen counter, out of the reach of children, you do not want the solution and pipe cleaners to be disturbed while the crystals are growing.
- In about 24 hours, crystals will form! Once they have formed, remove them while attached to the sticks from the borax solution.
- Allow them to dry out a bit. While you can look and touch them just about as soon as you remove them from the solution, they will be even more gorgeous if you allow them to dry. All you have to do is lay them out on paper towels and allow them to dry out completely.
- Your pipe cleaner crystals can now be displayed! Remember, always use caution when doing any crafts with hot water. Enjoy!
