Science Craft Archives - Go Science Girls

DIY Borax Crystal Flowers

October 17, 2019September 9, 2019 by Angela

Crystal Flowers For Kids Go Science Girls

We made borax crystal flowers this week!

This is more exciting and easy activity for kids. Sounds amazing right!! So continue reading the post to know how we can make attractive crystal flowers at home.

Actually my kids Tisha (5 years old) and Prithika (7 years old) gave me an unexpected surprise i.e. ‘Beautiful crystal flowers’. Yes, we have been trying borax crystals using pipe cleaners in different shapes. This time we chose to make flowers using pipe cleaners and surprised me growing wonderful crystals on it.

Let me explain you the complete procedure of making borax crystal flowers which I have learned from my daughters. 🙂

Suitable For

This activity is perfect for kids of 5-6 years and older kids. Even adults show interest to make these attractive flowers as these flowers are used in different ways to make their home attractive.

Crystal flowers are perfect as decorative piece in your parties, home decors and much more. Let us start our experiment.

Things required to grow crystal flowers

We require very few ingredients as usual. All the supplies are easily available in any of the nearby grocery stores. Gather all the ingredients before you start the activity. So that it gives you hassle free learning experience.

Making Borax Crystal Flower

The pretty crystal flowers is a perfect fun art and spring science project for kids to do either in the home or in the class room. Growing sparkling crystal flowers add little sparkle to your kid’s life making them more active while learning some STEM activities. Let us bring out those ‘STEAM’ skills in our kids. Confused of ‘STEAM’!!? Hahaha… it is nothing but STEM+ART = STEAM J

Step-1: Making Pipe cleaner flowers

1) Give your kids some colorful pipe cleaners and ask them to come up with their own craft ideas on how to make flowers. This helps to build creativity skills in your kids. Also give them extra green colored pipe cleaners in order to make stem for the beautiful colors. My kids made a beautiful red heart flower. It is so beautiful to watch. I decorated my home by placing it in the vase.

Guide to make super cute fake pipe cleaner flowers

Follow the figures we have uploaded to get better picture on making fake pipe cleaner flowers.
Firstly, make a circle (required size of your wish) with any of your favorite color but choose some nice bright colors. Here in the figure my kids used blue color to make a circle shape.
Secondly, take some pieces of pipe cleaners (about 2-3 inches) and bend inside to form loops. You can make as many loops as you wish to have.
Now attach the loops to the circle which is made in the first step. Your beautiful pipe cleaner flower is ready to grow crystals in borax suspension.
We also tried making flowers in different shapes. This time we made loops in heart shape and attached to the circle. We used attractive red color to make heart shaped loops and contrast cream color for circle.
Use some nice bright green color to make a stem for the flower. Wrap the green pipe cleaner around any one of the loops and leave the rest unwrapped to give a stem shape. The length of the stem depends on your glass cup length. Always adjust the length of the stem according to the depth of the glass cup so that it should not touch any sides or bottom of the glass cup.
Now attach one end of the stem at the center point of the circle and make the green piece pipe cleaner straight. This completes your fake pipe cleaner flower.

Step-2: Making super saturated solution
1) Take required amount of water in a pan and keep it on the stove. Bring it to boil until the water forms bubbles on the top. Then switch off the stove and keep it ready to make borax suspension. (My kids took the help of their father in this step) J Pour off the boiling water into the glass cups. Make sure the glass cups are wide and large enough to drop the flowers.

2) Now add a spoonful of borax powder (each turn) to the boiling water slowly making sure that the borax powder is dissolved completely. Keep stirring until all the measured borax powder is dissolved in the hot water. The correct measurement for making a perfect super saturated borax suspension is ‘3 table spoons of borax to 1 cup of hot water’.

3) Do not add too much borax powder to the hot boiling water as it makes the water cloudy dues to which the end results also appear cloudy. That means our beautiful crystals also appears cloudy.

4) You may see some undissolved borax on the bottom of the container. But it is totally fine. No need to worry about it.

Step-3: Drop the Pipe cleaner Flowers

1) Tie the beautiful flowers to the pencils or craft sticks using stems. Now dangle the flower heads into the glass cups. Keep in mind that the flower heads should not touch the sides or bottom of the glass cups. So adjust the placement and length of the flower heads inside the glass cups as necessary.

2) Now let your flowers sit for few hours or overnight to see the amazing results of growing crystal flowers.

3) After few hours, you can see the crystals growing your flowers. Once the enough crystals are formed to your liking, remove the flowers out of the glass cups and set the crystal flowers to dry. Enjoy your lovely and sparkly crystal flowers!!

Science Behind Crystal Flowers

Firstly, crystals are formed by regular and repeated pattern of molecules linking together. Commonly crystals come in geometric shapes with straight and sharp edges and smooth surfaces. Crystals are formed when a super saturated liquid gets cool after dissolving the mineral molecules completely. In this experiment, the super saturated solution is formed when the borax powder is mixed with the hot water. The heated water molecules make more room for borax molecules to get dissolved and once the hot water gets cool the water molecules again combine together leaving no space for borax molecules to dissolve. The extra borax molecules start attaching to the pipe cleaners forming beautiful crystals. Once the borax suspension reaches a point where it cannot dissolve any more borax, then the solution becomes super saturated.

Tips

1) You can make edible crystals and crystal flowers using real flowers. Try it once to keep your kids engaged in this spring season though it is fun all year around.

2) It is the best craft cum science project for kids but it is better to attempt once they become mastered in easier to grow crystals.

3) The crystal flowers require no extra care except occasional light dusting (every day or alternate days).

4) Experiment with different elements and factors using the same activity. Ask your kids to observe and note ‘what happens if the cooling rate of the solution is changed by refrigeration’.

Hope you all are amazed reading the post and learned making beautiful crystal flowers at home.

Interested in more crystal making experiments, try our Crystal Science Page, including:

DIY Amazing Crystal Snowflakes
Interlocking crystal hearts
Make your own snowy salt tree
Crystal candy cane and crystal christmas tree for your christmas decorations.

Disclaimer : This post contains affiliate links from Amazon. An affiliate link means that when you purchase using the link provided in this page, I would get a small referral fees WITHOUT any extra cost to you. I highly appreciate your understanding and support.

Can You Make a Crystal Candy Cane? (Christmas Science Project)

September 1, 2019 by Angela

Make this festive season more fun and affordable with our simple, easy and fun-filled crystal candy canes science experiment. Crystal Candy Canes!! Yes, which science is more fun than crystal science for kids! Agreed!?

Earlier, my kids enjoyed making Borax Crystal Flowers, so I wanted to extend the activity a bit more.

Making crystal candy canes at home is easier than you might think. We are approaching Christmas and I know that Christmas decors are expensive during festive season. Why don’t you try or make your own crystal candy canes at home. As I told you, you can use crystal candy canes for decorating the Christmas tree during Christmas. Crystal candy canes also make an awesome crystal ornament. Sounds interesting right!!

Make your own Crystal Candy Canes at Home

Your kids will love this fun science Christmas STEM activity and they won’t even realize that they are learning some science. It is that easy and fun for kids. Let us list out the supplies we require for the activity.

Pipe Cleaners
Glass cups
Borax
Boiling water
Cutter

Suitable For

Young kids in the age of 5-6 years may not understand the simple science behind it but still they enjoy the amazing results. Kids above 7 years are perfect for better understanding this activity.

Preparations

1) Take two glass cups and be sure to keep them clean and neat. Any other chemicals in the glass can possibly flop your activity.

2) Find some private space to keep the set up safe and secure overnight or 12 hours.

3) Keep in mind that you always use boiling water for the experiment. Cold water cannot give you successful results.

4) Be careful while using borax since it is not safe to touch frequently. Ask your kids to wear safety gloves and glasses to avoid unnecessary risks.

Instructions to grow Crystal Candy Canes

Growing crystal candy canes at home is a great way to combine easy science experiments for kids along with a lot of Christmas fun. Kids can easily arrange the set up and gather the supplies in no time. We used pipe cleaners to grow crystal candy canes because we can bend pipe cleaners into any shape and easy to mould. Let us dig in…

Step-1 Make candy canes

My two girls are happy to twist the pipe cleaners into candy canes. Take two pipe cleaners of red and white colors (red and white suits well for the Christmas season) and ask your kids to fold them in half and twist into candy canes shape. We also tried the blue and white combination.
Tie a length of fish wire or string to the free end of the candy canes. Make sure you take the enough length of fish wore or string in order to immerse the candy cane completely into the glass jar and not touching the bottom. It is suggested to tie the free end of the fish wire to a pencil or craft stick so that we can rest our candy cane safely on the top of the jar.

Step-2 Preparing the suspension

This is the step that require extra care along with your attention as we are going to deal with the stove and hot things. Lit the stove on and boil the water. Pour off the boiling hot water in to the glass cup almost up to the top.
Now add a spoonful of borax powder into the glass jar and stir the boiling water until all the borax has dissolved. Continue stirring every time you add a spoonful of borax.
Three table spoons of borax for one cup of hot water is the ideal measurement for making a good borax suspension.

Step-3 Dropping the candy canes

Now my super girls dropped the candy canes into the glass jars carefully. It is very important to keep in mind that the candy canes or pipe cleaners do not touch the sides or bottom of the glass jar.

Step-4 Let it settle

Here you need little patience to see the wonderful crystals formation on the candy canes. Let the borax suspension sit or settle for 12 hours or overnight. If your kids can wait, then leave the set up for 3-4 days to see how big the crystals can be formed.
After about 12-24 hours or overnight, you can see amazing crystals formation on the candy canes. You can remove the candy canes from the jar once the crystal formation is finished.
Place the crystal candy canes on the dry towels and let dry completely. You can even wash the crystal candy canes under cold water. Now the crystal candy canes are ready in your hand to hang up for decorations.

Fun Science Fact

When the borax is mixed with enough amount of hot water, there forms a suspension called super saturated borax suspension. Here the borax acts as a solute and the water as solvent. Usually, any solute molecule gets dissolved in the solvent molecule due to the attraction between the solute and water ions.

Temperature plays an important role during the solute molecules dissolving in the solvent. Hot water holds more solute molecules than the cold water. There is a simple logic here. Let me explain you in detail.

Under right conditions of high heat water molecules repel each other and move farther apart providing more space for the borax molecules to dissolve. When the water gets cool, the water molecules move closer again and provides very less space for the borax molecules to dissolve. The extra borax molecules that cannot be dissolved in the cold water starts getting attached to the pipe cleaners or candy canes in the form of crystals. Also the separated borax molecules from the water gets settle down at the bottom of the glass jar. Kids can observe what’s going on in the jar clearly through the transparent sides.

If you want to clean the borax crystals formed at the bottom of the jar, just pour some hot water in the jar and re dissolve the extra borax and then pour it off in the sink.

Tip

You can grow large size of the crystals by following only two things:

1) A structure or armature on which the crystals are allowed to grow

2) Controlling the cooling rate of the supersaturated solution (crystal growing solution)

Wrapping up

I was so happy to see our homemade and beautiful crystal candy canes on our homemade Christmas tree. My kids loved to see sparkling crystals especially during nights as they reflect little lights from the tree. It was so beautiful to watch. The finished beautiful crystals make a great holiday ornament.

I suggest and encourage you all to try this activity with your kids. Ask your kids to try with different shapes. If your children are interested, ask them to observe the changes happening during and after the activity what has changed a day before and a day after. Try anything into adventure and start creating, crafting, and learning together! Happy experiment!!

Disclaimer : This post contains affiliate links from Amazon. An affiliate link means that when you purchase using the link provided in this page, I would get a small referral fees WITHOUT any extra cost to you. I highly appreciate your understanding and support.

Interlocking Crystal Hearts : Grow Your Own Crystals

September 15, 2019August 10, 2019 by Angela

Are you a person who likes holiday themed science and STEM activities!? If so, this is a perfect activity for you and your kids to try. Make your children say ‘woww’ by growing beautiful heart crystals at home. This fun science and craft activity also works as a great science activity to bust the holiday boredom of your kids.

Growing crystal hearts at home is a simple science experiment for kids that require easily available supplies in the market. I promise you all that growing heart crystals at home will never fail to impress your kids.

My girls have done this cool science activity 4-5 times whenever they find their free time. Also they explore few science concepts every time they does this activity. This is a perfect activity for kids of 7 years old and to younger ones it is bit difficult to understand the science behind it.

Are you ready with your kids to show them little science activity that yields some fascinating and crafty Valentine’s Day decorations? Yes!! Then get into our topic and learn how to make interlocking crystal hearts using common household supplies.

Growing Interlocking Crystal Hearts

My little ones always love crafty experiments!! If there is something we can learn science along with craft!?? Super exciting and much more fascinating right!? This experiment is the one satisfied my wish to show my kids a satisfying and quiet easy activity that improves their craft science concept. The lovely crystals may look like sugary candy but they are not safe for consumption instead very much useful to make crystal ornaments during this festive season.

Magic ingredients you need to grow heart crystals

This is a fantastic craft experiment to do with children which requires a very few ingredients. I have listed the supplies you need to grow your own interlocked heart crystals.

Borax powder (a common household ingredient is the magical and main ingredient to do this craft)
Pipe cleaners
Boiling Water
Cutter

[*Product links are affiliate links. Your support is highly appreciated]

Procedure

1) Firstly, shape the pipe cleaners into hearts. Cut the pipe cleaner (should be in good length) into half. Bring the two ends of the half together and twist in the shape of a heart. Use the other half to make another heart and combine the two hearts using a thread or glue. You can make interlocked hearts by making loops from pipe cleaners.

2) In the same way, ask your child to make three circles. This is very easy to make interlocked circles.

3) Girls go crazy on jewelry and ornaments. Hence, my daughters used this activity to make their own crystal ornaments. Hence, I helped them by tying a long piece of ribbon at the end of interlocked heart shapes.

4) It is always suggested to kids to put on the safety glasses while working with the chemicals which is a good habit. My two kids love to wear glasses whenever they get a chance which also give them a ‘real scientist look’.

5) Keep the boiling water ready and start dropping borax powder slowly (can measure a spoonful for each turn you put in the water). Keep stirring while adding borax powder until it dissolves. The ideal measurement of borax and water mixture is 3 table spoons of borax for a 250ml water.

6) Now it is the time to immerse your interlocked hearts and leave it for next 24 hours to grow wonderful crystals.

7) During our first trial to grow heart crystals, unknowingly we dropped the pipe cleaners into the borax and water suspension touching the bottom. So we haven’t got any crystals. It was disgusting and a big failure. So make sure your hearts or any shapes are not touching the sides or bottom of the jar.

8) What to do in order to hold your hearts not to touch the sides or bottom of the jar? Tie them to a pencil or any horizontal stick types using a ribbon or a fish wire and slowly drop into the jar so that the pencil settles on the top of the jar edges. You can see this in the figures (to get an idea) we have attached.

9) Keep the jars in the safe place and let it settle for next 24 hours or overnight. Kids got fascinated by observing the progress through the sides of the transparent glass jar in front of their eyes.

It is like a punishment for me to make them sleep the night whenever we make crystals. 🙂 Finally I made them sleep by listening them some science behind the formation of crystals. Let me tell you also.

Next day morning, after woke up the first thing they did was looking for crystals on their hearts. Yes they did it! Finally very big crystals are arrived in our jar. My kids were very happy and excited to see them making their eyes big. Fantastic right!! J Once the growth of crystals is stopped you can remove from the jar and clean it with fresh water to join it in your ornaments collection. Now as I promised you I will tell you the science behind it.

Oh! I didn’t mention about the failure part of our experiment. For some reason, the crystals formed on two of our interlocking models didn’t look good. Failure is part of science experiments.. I think my girls learned it the right way. They took the result positively and started exploring with different shapes for the next experiment.

Science behind Borax crystals formation

Mixture of water and borax powder forms a super saturated solution. When the water is hot water molecules repel each other and move far away from each other. This creates more space for water molecules to hold more borax. As soon as the water gets cool, the water molecules again come closer and cannot hold the borax as much as they could when it is hot. Hence the borax powder gets dissolved as much as it can when the water is hot. This process is termed as ‘Super saturation’. The extra borax gets settled at the bottom of the glass jar when the water gets cool or else stick to the pipe cleaners forming crystals after few hours.

Crystals are hard to touch and could see with our naked eyes. Kids get more fascinated seeing them under a microscope or any magnifying glass.

Finally I could say these crystal heart experiment is the perfect combination of learning and creativity.

Why do crystals form with borax?

Hot water holds more borax molecules as the water molecules move farther apart and makes more room for the borax molecules to dissolve in the water. When the water gets cool and evaporates, or when there is no solution to dissolve, the excess borax molecules form a hard substance with flat sides called ‘crystals’. These crystals build on one another and may be small or big but all follow the repeated pattern based on it’s unique shape. When the gets cool, the water molecules move closer together and provides very less room for the dissolved molecules to hold on to water molecules. Hence, crystals grow faster in warmer temperatures than colder ones.

Can you make borax crystals in a plastic container?

Yes, you can grow borax crystals in a plastic container but it is not suggestible. As we are using hot water, the plastic cant withhold to the hot water temperature. If you still would like to grow borax crystals in a plastic container then make sure the plastic container should not melt or deform to the heat of boiling water. In case, your crystals get fused in the container, deal them gently to separate.

How do you make borax crystals to grow faster?

Growing crystals at home is much faster science experiment to fascinate your kids. To grow borax crystals faster, make sure you use heat safe container and hot boiling water. Basically you need to make a saturated solution and let it cool or evaporate to form molecular structures called crystals. Growing crystals using traditional methods takes several hours to form but there is a possibility to limit the time to two-three hours using different techniques. Borax crystals that are formed in less time are less resilient and finer.

Are borax crystals safe to touch?

Borax is not at all safe to touch. It causes burns when you are exposed very often. It even effect your airways while using it since it mixes with the air and when the air goes in to your respiratory tract, you may feel trouble breathing. It is a mild irritant but could be toxic when the kids touches and keeps in the mouth. It is not harmful when you use it in lesser quantities but extra doses of usage can cause the above mentioned issues.

Will borax crystals dissolve?

Yes, borax crystals dissolve in hot water. This is because hot water molecules repel each other and allows borax molecules to dissolve much faster and dissolves easily.

How to preserve borax crystals?

Borax is a mineral found naturally in our nature generally used for cleaning purpose because of its unique properties. Since the borax crystals are homemade and created in the water based solution, we need to protect or preserve them from moisture and humidity. You can keep them in another plastic or coat with an acrylic to protect the crystals not only from humidity but also from being shattered. Be sure to wash the crystals with the fresh water or let them dry completely before they go in to the container.

Some of interesting facts about borax crystals.

1) The first Borax came from the dry lake deposits in Tibet, China.
2) Borax is actually a salt naming Sodium Tetraborate (naturally occurring white mineral).
3) Borax is classified as sedimentary rock.
4) The process of crystals formation is known as crystallization.
5) The key fact in growing borax crystals is boiling water because hot water holds and dissolves more borax than cold water.
6) Borax crystals look so amazing and pretty when made into beautiful ornaments, decorative pieces and much more.

How long do borax crystals take to grow?

The rate borax crystals growth depends on three factors mainly i.e. supply of elements, mechanism of element transport, and degree of saturation point. However we need to wait overnight or 24 hrs to grow borax crystals in our home. As fast as the saturated solution gets cool, the crystals start growing and cling to the pipe cleaners (the arrangement made in the glass jar to grow crystals). If you are using a plastic container, you need to have lot of patience to see the beautiful borax crystals in your jars.

Interlocking crystal experiment for kids

Disclaimer:This post contains affiliate links from Amazon. An affiliate link means that when you purchase using the link provided in this page, I would get a small referral fees WITHOUT any extra cost to you. I highly appreciate your understanding and support.

DIY Amazing Crystal Snowflakes ( Science Project for Kids)

August 10, 2019July 23, 2019 by Angela

Let’s make stunning borax crystal snowflakes.

Amaze your kids and friends with this amazing science cum craft activity which is great to try in this winter.

Borax Crystal Snowflakes

Who doesn’t like ornaments being a girl!? Crystal snow flake ornaments!! Hurray! My two girls are crazy about the ornaments and of course, they both will go mad of snowflakes ornaments. So, I felt this is the perfect science activity for my kids to bust their boredom during winter vacation. Kids can make their own crystal snow flake ornaments and enjoy wearing them all winter along.

Science is always amazing in every aspect and it is more exciting with a seasonal twist. Hope you all agree with me!! Let us see how this simple and fun craft science activity is going to add a wow factor and become our kid’s favorite winter science activity.

How to make Borax Crystal Snowflakes

Who is it for

Growing crystal snowflakes with borax is perfect for kids aged 5-7 years old whereas for younger kids, growing salt crystals is great. Also, this is a great winter science and craft activity for kids to perform indoors.

Have a beautiful crystal snowflakes collection by making homemade Borax crystal snowflakes using a few ingredients that are available in the grocery stores.

What you need to make borax crystals

Here is the list of ingredients or supplies we need to make beautiful borax crystals.

A glass jar
Boiling Water
Scissors
Pipe cleaners
Borax powder
Cutter
Food color (optional)

[*Product links are affiliate links. Your support is highly appreciated]

What to do to grow amazing borax crystals

Performing how to make borax crystals is a simple science and more like a craft activity for kids and is a great way to introduce kids about crystals formation. You can also throw some important concepts and information on saturated solutions, solubility and re-crystallization process. So what to do to learn and show our kid’s the above all concepts we discussed.

1) As my kids have already decided to make snowflakes, we need not to worry about the shapes. J But since kids are crazy about trying different shapes and especially rainbow crystals, you can also try making borax crystals in different shapes.

Doing Snowflakes

2) My girls started cutting pipe cleaners to make the shape of snowflakes. Make sure they are under your surveillance as they are dealing with the cutter (to cut the pipe cleaners to make their favourite shapes). My kids used both white and blue coloured pipe cleaners and made four different shapes of snowflakes. Ask your child to make their favourite shape using pipe cleaners. Pipe cleaners are one of the attractive and simple craft supplies which kid’s love. Pipe cleaners are fairly inexpensive and come in a variety of attractive colours. You try for pipe cleaners in any stationery or buy online.

Making crystal Snowflakes
Different snowflakes

3) Meanwhile, here is your role comes in the activity. Take required amount of water in the bowl and bring it to boil for some time until you see bubbles formation on the top.

4) Once the hot boiling water is ready, pour off the water into a jar. Be sure to pick glass jars that are good and wide enough to fit the snowflakes. Now you can ask your kid to put a spoonful of borax powder into the jar again under your surveillance.

Making Crystal Snowflakes Science Experiment For Kids

5) Keep stirring the water to mix borax powder in order to settle or form lumps at the bottom. I gave this job to my younger kid and she is so happy to do that.

pipe cleaner snowflakes in borax water solution

6) Drop the handmade flakes into the water using some thin and translucent wires. Leave it for few hours or overnight.

The next day or after sometime, you can see amazing crystals around the flakes that grow literally in front of your eyes. Wonderful right!? J I couldn’t stop my kids as they were very happy and excited to jump here and there. Also, they are very much excited to show their craft activity to friends.

Making Colourful Crystal snowflake

crystal snoflakes do it yourself borax

how to make borax crystal snowflakes

food colored vs colored pipe cleaner crystal snowflakes

For younger kids to make salt crystals, you can use salt or sugar. Ask your little ones to add sugar or salt to the boiling water until it completely dissolves in water. This is a little longer process than borax crystals method. Be patient to see wonderful crystals to grow.

Borax Crystal Snowflakes Science Experiment For Kids

Science behind the activity

Mixing the borax powder to the hot water makes a borax suspension (a heterogeneous mixture containing solid particles in large quantities making the liquid appear cloudy. The solid particles do not dissolve in any substance that takes a liquid or gaseous states). This supersaturated solution makes the water molecules move away from the each other eventually making the borax to dissolve into the solution. Once the solution gets cooler, the borax reaches a point where it cannot dissolve in the solution and starts gathering at the bottom due to gravity. At this point, the water molecules gets closer causing borax crystals to cling or attach to the flakes (made of pipe cleaners) dipped in the borax suspension. This is why we are able to see beautiful and amazing borax snowflakes crystals.

See!! It is that easy to grow snowflakes in front of our eyes using simple ingredients as I told you in the beginning. You can try experimenting with different variables and shapes made of pipe cleaners. You can also use food colour to give different attractive colours to your crystals.

Try out and enjoy beautiful sparkling ornaments and decorations year around. My kids decorated the grown snowflakes to our window making our home looks more beautiful and attractive.

Crystal Snowflake

Questions

How to make borax crystal snowflakes?

Make a borax suspension and dip the handmade pipe cleaner flakes into it. Allow it to settle for sometime and see the wonderful results i.e. borax crystal snowflakes.

Will borax crystals dissolve?

Yes, they dissolve when the water is hot but when the water gets cooler, the borax molecules start gathering and form lumps.

How does temperature affect the growth of borax crystals?

Temperature gives clear affects on the growth of borax crystals. The higher the temperature, the lesser the formation of crystals due to repulsion of water molecules. The lower the temperature, you can see the most crystals formed.

How does rate of cooling affect crystal size?

Yes, cooling effect has great impact on the rate of crystal size formation. Rapid cooling of borax suspension gives small crystals whereas slower cooling gives larger ones.

Why are crystals bigger when cooled slowly?

In the borax suspension, when the hot water gets cooler the water molecules gather again and inhibits the borax to dissolve. thus making borax molecules cling to the pipe cleaners forming bigger crystals.

Why do borax crystals grow so fast?

When the hot water gets cooler or starts evaporating, the borax molecules begin to come closer and form crystals so fast.

How do you make salt crystal snowflakes?

Add salt to the hot water until it get dissolves as much as possible. Now dip the pipe cleaners snow flakes into the solution and let it sit overnight. You can see the salt crystals after sometime clearly. This is best for younger kids to introduce crystal chemistry.

Do borax crystals melt?

Yes, they melt or dissolve when they are in hot water. When borax powder is mixed in hot water, the water molecules repel each other making enough space for borax molecules to dissolve in it.

Are borax crystals safe to touch?

Borax is a mild irritant and causes burns if it is touched very often.

Is making borax crystals safe?

My answer is ‘it is not safe to use borax but with proper care (wearing gloves while working with borax) reduces the risks associated with borax. Borax is also not safe to ingest.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links from Amazon. An affiliate link means that when you purchase using the link provided in this page, I would get a small referral fees WITHOUT any extra cost to you. I highly appreciate your understanding and support.

DIY Christmas Tree Magnet Maze (Fun Science Game)

August 21, 2019June 23, 2019 by Angela

STEAM activity for Christmas will allow you to teach physics for kids and they can play the maze game as well.

Magnets are quite magical for young kids and definitely be one of their favorite things to explore and experiment with. Have your kid’s ever explored Christmas science and magnets together or Are you willing to introduce some sensory play activities to your kids!? If so, then you will be amazed learning our post today. Yes, today I am going to explain you a perfect and easy activity that combine both Christmas magnetic science and sensory play. Here we go “Christmas Tree Magnet Maze”.

We will now make a magnet maze game with fun Christmas spin. Yes, maze game on a Christmas tree painting. Hence I call this a STEAM activity STEM + ART.

The physics concept of magnetic force can be taught to kids using this game. The ball can be moved on a specific path using a magnet. Let’s understand how to do it and how it works.

For the first time, we have started this experiment by raising few questions to our kids such as “what is magnetism?” “How the magnet works” etc. I feel in this way, kids may have a thrilling time and experience while exploring and playing with magnets. Hence, we created magnet maze to explain magnetism.

Kids can draw and paint a Christmas tree and also learn magnetism. STEAM activity will let kids use both their left and the right brain. So this is one of the best activities for kids to play, learn and have fun.

How to integrate STEM activities with art to make it STEAM

Suitable For

Both preschoolers and kindergarteners will get benefited from this activity. Also, this activity is a great opportunity for kids aged above 5 years to better understand the science behind the magnetism concept. My elder daughter, Prithika (7 years old) well understood the science behind it because she has explored the activity with many variations and different ideas.

Steps to make the magnet maze game on a Christmas tree drawing

Things required

Magnet – Long piece
Markers – Stix markers
Paper / Paper Plates
Some steel object like a small ball or so
Geomag magnetic rods and steel balls (preferred but optional)

Feel free to use products if available at home or purchase from the links (affiliate – thanks for your support!).

Reviews of Geomag sets available at

Steps to follow

Step-1: Draw a maze

Here our maze is a Christmas tree. My younger kid is very much excited to draw a Christmas tree on a white paper. She recently started going to drawing classes and hence she wants to shoe her drawing skills. J She used green, yellow, black, brown, and blue color pencils and sketches to draw a beautiful Christmas tree.

We can consider this step as an artistic element of this activity where kids are able to draw and show their designing skills to decorate their Christmas tree. Also, this activity incorporates both science and art together. Incorporating art along with STEM activities encourages kids to actively participate in the STEM activities. Hope you all agree my point!

Step-2: Make a magnet stick

I have made a magnet wand or stick at home using a small magnet, glue and a wooden stick. I placed a small drop of glue on the magnet and then laid a wooden chopstick on top of the glue. I have done this step a night before we start the activity since we need to let it dry completely to avoid the mess because of glue. Now you are ready with the magnetic wand or stick! But if you does not have enough time and need to start the experiment immediately, then you can use hot glue which works best as well. It makes your magic wand ready within few minutes.

Step-3: Move around the magnet

Place the magnet balls on top of the Christmas tree maze. Now hold the magnet stick under the white paper. Now ask your kids ‘what do they discover or observe?’ We are able to see the magnet ball at the top and magnet stick underneath the paper attract each other. As we move the magnet stick over the paper along the Christmas tree, the magnet ball at the top also moves.

After they completed the activity, my kids roamed around the home catching the magnet wand in the hand searching for any other magnetic materials in the home. Their discoveries lead to some good conversations about what a magnet is, what polarity is, and what items are magnetic.

We even made it a game by timing the activity between both the girls.

Please Note ...

Make sure your kids do not have a habit of putting things in their mouth. The small balls used in this activity cause a choking hazard. Please monitor the same and be with them.

Also, I suggest you use magnets of large size. We used a long magnet. Magnets should not be let swallowed as they get attracted to the other items if any in the gut and causes a major problem.

So decide yourself and do this activity with caution.

Here kids will learn the coordination as it is not easy to make it happen in the first attempt. All their senses will be activated to make this happen. First, they need eye and hand coordination to achieve this successfully.

Find more details about seven senses here

Kinaesthesia is the most important sense with which kids will know where to move the hands. Also, they will know the amount of force to be applied for pushing the ball on the maze path. Few kids will take a couple more time than others. Do not worry, but it is a good activity.

Gravity is the force that pulls an object towards the center of the earth. This force in general is not visible and only the movement of object will indicate this force. The steel ball on the paper plate is pulled in the direction the magnet moves under the paper.

The magnetic force produced by the magnet is also not visible but the object movement will indicate the effect. The steel ball will move due to the magnetic force as it works through the metal objects. Therefore there are two forces namely gravity and magnetic force. The former force will pull the ball to the floor and the latter force will attract the ball to the magnet. Based on the strength of the magnet, the magnetic force will succeed.

Extension Idea:

Elder kids can do this in a better way by drawing a Christmas Tree maze based on their imagination. They can print and then paste it on the paper plate. Thereby technology is incorporated in this activity which is yet a STEM pillar subject.

Here is another version of Christmas Tree Magnet Maze created by my younger one.

Science behind the Magnet Maze

Magnetic field is the most amazing thing about magnets created by a magnetic material and attracts other magnetic materials that produce magnetic fields at a distance invisibly. It seems to be like a magic. This is where magnetism plays major role. The invisible and strange force created by the magnetic fields produced by the magnetic materials is the reason to attract or repel other objects. Because of magnetism, the magnetic stick and the magnetic ball attract each other and stick.

Few facts about magnets

Magnets are bipolar, meaning a magnet has two ends called poles i.e. a North Pole and a South Pole.
The North Pole of one magnet attracts the South Pole of other magnet and vice versa. That means like poles repel each other and unlike poles attract each other.
A magnet produces a strange and invisible area of magnetism all around it called a magnetic field.
If you cut a bar magnet, you will get two brand new smaller magnets each with its own north and south poles.
If you run or rub a magnet over an nonmagnetic piece of a magnetic material (such as an iron nail) for few minutes, the nonmagnetic piece can convert into a magnet as well. This is called magnetization.

What is magnetism?

In simple terms, magnetism is an electromagnetic force exerted by the magnetic fields that can attract or repel the objects if they have magnetic material like iron inside them. Basically, it refers to the physical phenomenon of magnetic materials which pull closer or repel other objects.

My younger daughter (5 years old) kept pale face after listening the definition of magnetism. Yes, if we say the above mentioned definition directly to our kids, they may keep confused faces. So, we need to explain them through some fun play. Here is what I did to better understand my kids about magnetism.

Introducing your child to magnets

Firstly, I asked my girls to run around the home and get few things or objects they find. I am ready with a bowl to collect the objects they have gathered. After few minutes, my little ones came back to me with some objects and dropped in the bowl I have arranged. I will disclose the things what they have gathered 🙂 i.e. pencil, eraser, a plastic spoon, paper clips, toys etc. Now I handed them a magnet and asked to explore the items they have collected one after other. My little scientists started their research and gave me the end report saying that some objects are attracted to magnet and some are not attracted. Also there is a big question mark on my kids face and also surprised how come some objects are attracted to the magnet. I explained the concept to my kids by sorting out the objects into two sections: magnetic and non-magnetic. My girls really enjoyed this fun play before we start the activity.

Check for additional physics fun experiments here

Find other Christmas science ideas in the following list given below

Christmas Science Projects for Kids
Go Science Kids
Fun Science for Kids
STEM for Girls

We welcome you to join our forum and also subscribe to our newsletter for receiving our latest updates via email.

Make Mushroom Monkeys : Spore Science Craft

September 6, 2019May 1, 2019 by Angela

Monkey Craft – Make Monkeys with Mushroom Spore Print

It’s fun making puppets and that too monkeys look so cute in the puppet and make it with the mushroom spore print (mushroom). Using this science craft idea children can now make craft while learning biology.

Mushroom monkeys! Cute science craft for kids, where kids can learn about mushroom biology and spore prints

I am sure you must not have forgotten our DIY Mushroom spore prints activity with field mushrooms? I am excited to do this with mushrooms again and this time with tiny button mushrooms. Also, we will be using the spore print and present the cutest craft with the monkey.

Suitable For

My gut feeling says this would aptly suit kids of age 5 and above. That does not meet a 4-year-old will not have fun. But the 5+ girls can make a better craft than the little ones. You can try with preschool kids as well.

Steps for Making Mushroom Spore Monkeys

The items used by us were available with us or in the local craft store / local shops. Also, I have provided useful (affiliate) online store links (thanks for the support) and you can buy from them as well.

Things required

- Knife, chopping board and mushrooms (button type)
- Paper – either a construction paper or even other paper that is strong
- This is optional but you can use them for additional fun – pipettes
- Box – for covering the mushroom overnight
- clear-drying glue
- craft sticks
- Optional – googly eyes and white dot stickers
- Markers and scissors

Instructions to do the craft

Let the gills get exposed by slicing the lower part of the mushroom
Keep the mushroom such that the cap side faces inside the paper and the gills inside
Place a water droplet on every single mushroom cap.
Keep them closed and leave it without disturbing one full night.
In the morning take the mushroom and you will witness the spore print
Use hairspray and you can set the print as it is. Smudging also can be done
Use scissors to cut all the print. Draw the face of the monkey or make use of googly eyes to give a dashing look.
Paste this on a popsicle stick.
Hurray! you can now play with these puppets.

Mushroom spore print monkeys - science craft for kids
Let me be honest – we used black paint over some places just to make the puppet look better. You can also try using different paints in combination with the spore prints. We even tried other faces such as Lion, Donald duck, etc. Its fun to see – how kids can be so creative and start creating their own puppets with their favorite animals and cartoon characters.

Mushroom spore print monkey puppets! Fun science craft for kids!

Science facts about Mushroom

Mushroom belongs to plant family called fungi.

Fungi plants reproduction happen through the tiny spores getting released and that will germinate or sprout to become a new fungus.

These spores look very tiny and a microscope is required to be used. Every matured mushroom will contain several 1000s of spore and grows on a single gill.

Each mushroom has an individual colored spore ranging from black, brown, or white.

Check this link to know more about spore print activity.

Make mushroom monkeys from mushroom spore prints! Fun science craft for kids
Mushroom monkeys! Fun science craft idea where kids can learn about mushroom biology and spore prints

Please Note ...

Make sure you guide kids and do not let them alone. Your monitoring and guidance are required. Teach them the concept along with the activity. Do not let them do things unattended to avoid any hazards.

Mushrooms are good to make a spore print, but there are some which can be poisonous too. Check the mushroom before you use them. These puppets will be used by kids repeatedly and hence ensure safety.

Mushroom monkeys! Cute science craft kids can make & learn about mushroom biology and spore prints

Get several inspirational ideas from our biology activities or science craft pages and do the following.

Do this bi-colored flowers
Make one articulated hand model

Come along with us to get more ideas and experiments on Pinterest.

Go Science Kids
Fun Science for Kids

We also welcome you to subscribe with us and receive updates about the latest experiments. Yes, we will send you an email. Be part of our STEM for girls initiative.

* GoScienceGirls is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. This helps us to stay afloat and do more of such science experiments.

Easter Egg Bubble Wands

October 15, 2019March 24, 2019 by Angela

Let us explore a fun science project for Easter with kids. We will make Easter egg bubble wands to observe the bubble’s shape. Also, to teach some science to little kids.

Easter is coming closer and Happy Easter to all readers!

This time during Easter my elder daughter Pritika 5.5 years old came with an interest of making Easter egg bubble wands. She already knows to make bubble wands but insisted on making a DIY Easter egg type. She was keen to know if they will blow into an Easter egg-shaped bubbles. I was excited about her thoughts.

We then decided to try this DIY and found to have all the materials required to do at our kitchen itself. I wanted to make 2 as my younger one Tisha also can have fun. Trust me it is so simple and you can make many to distribute to kids around your place.

There are affiliate links^* in this post and check them to purchase materials if you require (Appreciate your support).

Easter Egg Bubble Wands Making Steps

Things required

- yellow packing tape
- scissors
- chopsticks
- Chenille Stems – 3 x 6mm furry pipe cleaners – You can choose different colors and we used Yellow, orange and navy
- bubble mix

Materials to make easter egg bubble wands

Using two pipe cleaners I made a loop twisted to make them as rough ovals and left about two inches at the edges. Later on, made each oval sit on the chopstick’s end to wound them tightly with the pipe cleaner ends. This will now form the handle.

Twist Pipe Cleaners onto chopsticks

With the 3^rd pipe cleaner, I cut them into quarters and bent them into a crisscross pattern. By twisting the zigzag ends I attached them to the oval to make it look like an Easter egg shape.

Twist pipe cleaner quarters to create a zigzag pattern

Finally, I included a tape around their handles to make sure pipe cleaners are in place. But this is optional.

Add tape to secure the pipecleaners to the chopstick

In fact, we have tried making it without using the tapes and it worked well. You can ensure more softness when kids use it by wrapping the tape on the chopsticks. Your Easter Egg bubble wand will be ready now. You can dip the pipe cleaner side in the bubble mix to blow and have fun.

Easter egg bubble wands and bubble science

Did you blow them? How did it work? Did you see Easter egg-shaped bubbles?

We leave it to you to check and see its working

Blowing Easter egg bubbles

Fun Bubble Science Facts

Bubble mix is a mixture of water and soap. Mixing soap to the water will weaken the surface tension of water and forms a thin film. It is flexible and best suited to make bubbles.

Soapy water with air trapped inside forms bubbles and the science behind here can be looked at with two forces that occur here. One is the air within the bubble that pushes out and the soapy film pushes in. For balancing these two forces, the soapy film will assume the smallest surface area. This shape will be a sphere. Hence bubbles floating in the air looks round irrespective of the bubble wand shape used.

Playing with DIY Easter Egg Bubble Wands

As mentioned I have already tried this and hence Pritika is aware of the trick and she understood the bubble shape does not depend on the wand’s shape. It will always remain round. However, she was surprised to see three times more and smaller bubbles would emerge from our Easter egg bubble wands.

I did not explain detailed physics and chemistry concepts but the basics and allowed her to enjoy. You can try with different variables and test for results.

EDIT: You can check for other bubble wands too by clicking the link given below

Check this one for Easter science projects and have fun.

Dissolving eggshell experiment

We are available on Pinterest as well.

Go Science Kids
Fun Science for Kids

We also gladly welcome you to subscribe to our newsletter and get alerts about our updated posts and activities.

Easter Egg Bubble Wands and Bubble Science

* This post does have some affiliate links. An affiliate link means that when you purchase using the link provided in this page, I would get a small referral fees without any extra cost to you. I high appreciate your understanding and support.

Magnet Maze Game Designing Activity – Learn Science and Art

November 26, 2019March 21, 2019 by Angela

From this article, you can learn to make a magnet maze game and teach physics as well as art (STEAM) activities for kids.

My kids love to play with magnets and hence I decided to teach them the magnetic force with an experiment.

Suitable For

Both preschoolers and kindergarteners can try this experiment. Tisha was 3 years and 6 months old when we did this experiment.

Please Note ...

This activity includes magnet and steel ball. Therefore you need to be vigilant in not letting children put them in the mouth. It causes a choking hazard. If you are sure that your kids will not put in their mouth, then let them do this activity. Anyways use a big size magnet to avoid any accidents. Even by mistake if kids swallow the magnet then it will get attracted with the particles present in the gut and lead to serious problems.

Steps involved in making the magnet maze game

Things required

Long Magnet

White Paper

Markers, pencils, and crayons
Steel balls small in size

You can try getting Stix markers and steel balls and magnetic rods from Geomag (these are affiliate links). You can also use similar items if available at home.

Find our review for Geomag products

Steps to follow

Draw the maze with a clear path on a paper. You can also choose online maze and print them. Allow kids to color them and decorate.
Place the magnet below the paper and steel ball on top.
When the magnet is moved it will pull the steel ball on the top and make it move as well.

We tried with multiple combinations of mazes. Each time, I tried to increase the complexity by adding different routes and then let the kids find out the right way out. The kids loved them 🙂

Initially, kids will find it tricky to understand how the steel ball rolls by moving the magnet. But once they get a hold on it, then they will start playing maze crazily. I have experienced this personally with my Tisha who is 3.5 years old.

She also tried with different colors and designs to add more fun. She played with crayons and colors having loads of fun.

You can see her moving the magnet to see the ball rolling above.

After school, my elder one Pritika 6 years old played with the maze. But she tried to analyze the design and then figured out a traditional maze design. I helped her with some images from online to inspire her to get some ideas.

Extension Idea: Older kids of age 7+ can think innovatively to make new designs and decorate them. This is one of the best STEM pillar subjects. Also, this can be a good STEAM activity.

Several IT programs like Picmonkey can be used to design maze online.

Fun Science Facts

The invisible force gravity will pull objects downwards to earth. The movement metal ball is due to gravity. Yes, this force will pull the ball to the floor.

Magnetic force is another force applied in this game and that is invisible too. This force is created by the magnet and it attracts the steel ball towards it.

This is the basic concept used in this activity. Both are physics concepts and kids can quickly get a grip of it. They may not understand in depth but at least will know that there is a force named gravity that will pull the object towards the ground. Likewise, there is a force called a magnetic force which will attract metal objects towards it.

Get more physics fun activities from the list given below

Magnet science experiment– In this experiment kids guess the items that will get attracted to magnets and will make a table to examine the hypothesis.
Refraction of light
Balance scale experiment to compare the weights
Basic pulley construction

Go Science Girls
Fun Science for Girls
STEM for Girls

We would love to have you in our forum. Join us and subscribe to our newsletter. Will send you updates about our latest activities.

Shape Bubble Wands – DIY in Different Shapes

October 15, 2019March 21, 2019 by Angela

Make your own shape bubble wands what shape bubbles will they make

Let’s have fun with bubble! You can now enjoy making bubble wands of different shapes and trust it is the best way of introducing shapes to your kids. Have fun in the backyard with bubbles and teach science to kids.

It is now easy to make a square, circle, and even a triangle shaped bubble wands. We will now understand how do wands make this and what shape will it make.

You can read our guest post at NurtureStore to witness our joy with the bubble wands.

We are glad that the ebook ABCs and 123s has selected this experiment as the best among the 40+ math and literacy activities.

The purpose of the ebook is to help elders including parents, teachers or even grandparents who engages little ones. Yes, this book contains shapes, alphabets, and numbers. You can now teach kids without missing any fun using this book. More than 40 bloggers who have the same thought of making kids activities in a fun way to help kids learn and grow are collected as one book called ABCs and 123s.

It contains more of math and literacy activities and nothing much to do with science. Did I say that? Then I am wrong there are few science activities as well. To know better we suggest you read the ebook.

You can find many more bubble science activities in the list given below. But, let me warn you as these bubble wands DIY are to some extent addictive. No not for kids but for us too. You can now make it quickly without depending on any bubble mixtures.

It’s just the beginning to have fun.

Shape Bubble Wands what size bubbles will they make