Grow Borax Crystals

Materials Needed:

-Boiling Water

-Borax

-Pipe Cleaners

-Thread

-Scissors

-Something to hang pipe cleaners from

-Food Coloring

Instructions:

-Create a form using pipe cleaners.

-Make a loose coil shape, weaving the pipe cleaner in and out to hold the shape steady.The crystals will grow around it.

-2-3 pipe cleaners made a nice, big crystal.

-Tie a piece of string around the pipe cleaner, long enough for it to be suspended into the borax solution, with enough wiggle room so that the pipe cleaner coil doesn’t touch the sides or bottom of the glass.

-Use about 9 tablespoons of borax dissolved in 3 cups of water.

-Put the borax into a heat safe container (a large measuring cup).

-Boil water in a pot, then add food coloring.

-Pour the boiling water over the powder until it dissolved.

-Let the pipe cleaner form soak in this solution for five hours – during which time the measuring cup should be wrapped in a dish towel.