Make a bouquet of crystal flowers this Spring or for Mother’s Day! This crystal flowers science experiment is easy and fun to do at home or in the classroom. We have enjoyed growing borax crystals for numerous holidays and themes. These pipe cleaner flowers are perfect to add to your spring science activities. Growing crystals is awesome science for kids!

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Grow Crystals For Spring Science

Spring is the perfect time of year for science! There are so many fun themes to explore. For this time of the year, our favorite topics to teach kids about spring include weather and rainbows, geology, Earth Day and of course plants!

Get ready to add this simple growing crystals activity, to your lesson plans this season. Our science activities and experiments are designed with you, the parent or teacher, in mind!

Easy to set up, quick to do, most activities will take only 15 to 30 minutes to complete and are heaps of fun! Plus, our supplies lists usually contain only free or cheap materials you can source from home!

These fun crystal flowers are so pretty to make for spring science! Growing borax crystals is definitely a classic science experiment that you must try with your kids. We have lots of fun Mother’s Day gifts kids can make!

Let’s learn about how crystals form, and saturated solutions! While you’re at it, make sure to check out these other fun spring science activities.

A FEW FAVORITE GROWING BORAX CRYSTALS ACTIVITIES…

Click on the images below for instructions to make crystal rainbows, crystal hearts, crystal seashells and more.

Growing Crystals In The Classroom

We made these crystal hearts in my son’s 2nd-grade classroom. This can be done! We used hot water but not boiling from a coffee urn with a spout and plastic, clear party cups. The pipe cleaners either need to be smaller or fatter to fit in the cup.

Plastic cups are generally not recommended for growing the best crystals but the kids still were fascinated by crystal growth. When you use plastic cups, the saturated solution can cool too quickly leaving impurities to form in the crystals. The crystals will not be as sturdy or perfectly shaped. If you can use glass jars, you will have better results.

Also, you need to make sure the kids really don’t touch the cups once they have gotten everything together! The crystals need to remain very still to form properly. Once set up, I recommend making sure you have space set up away from everything to fit the number of cups you have!

The Science Of Growing Crystals

Crystal growing is a neat chemistry project that is a quick set up involving liquids, solids, and soluble solutions. Because there are still solid particles within the liquid mixture, if left untouched, the particles will settle to form crystals.

Water is made up of molecules. When you boil the water, the molecules move away from one another. When you freeze water, they move closer to one another. Boiling hot water allows for more borax powder to dissolve to create the desired saturated solution.

You are making a saturated solution with more powder than the liquid can hold. The hotter the liquid, the more saturated the solution can become. This is because the molecules in the water move farther apart allowing more of the powder to be dissolved. If the water is colder, the molecules in it will be closer together.

LOOK: 65 Amazing Chemistry Experiments for Kids

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SATURATED SOLUTIONS

As the solution cools down there is all of a sudden going to be more particles in the water as the molecules move back together. Some of these particles will start to fall out of the suspended state they were once in, and the particles will start to settle on the pipe cleaners as well as the container and form crystals. Once a tiny seed crystal is started, more of the falling material bonds with it to form bigger crystals.

Crystals are solid with flat sides and symmetrical shape and will always be that way (unless impurities get in the way). They are made up of molecules and have a perfectly arranged and repeating pattern. Some might be bigger or smaller though.

Let your crystal flowers work their magic overnight. We were all impressed by what we saw when we woke up in the morning! We had quite the pretty crystal flowers science experiment!

Go ahead and hang them in the window like a suncatcher!

Click here to get your free Spring STEM challenges!

How To Grow Crystal Flowers

It is fun to observe chemical reactions for kids! Since you are dealing with hot water, my son watched the process while I measured the solution and stirred. Borax is also a chemical powder and is best used by an adult for safety. An older child might be able to help a little more!

Growing salt crystals and sugar crystals are great alternatives for younger kids!

SUPPLIES:

  • Borax Powder (laundry detergent aisle of the grocery store)
  • Jars or vases (glass jars are preferred over plastic cups)
  • Popsicle sticks
  • String and tape
  • Pipe cleaners

INSTRUCTIONS

STEP 1. To get started with your crystal flowers, take your pipe cleaners and form flowers! Let’s flex those STEAM skills. Science plus Art = STEAM!

Give the kids a handful of colorful pipe cleaners and let them come up with their own cool twisty pipe cleaner flowers. Make sure to have extra green pipe cleaners on hand for stems.

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STEP 2. Double-check the opening of the jar with the size of your shape! It’s easy to push the pipe cleaner in to start but difficult to pull it out once all the crystals have formed! Make sure you can get your flower or bouquet in and out easily. Also, make sure it is not resting on the bottom of the jar.

Use the popsicle stick (or pencil) to tie the string around. I used a small piece of tape to keep it in place.

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STEP 3: Make your borax solution. The ratio of borax powder to boiling water is 1:1. You want to dissolve one tablespoon of borax powder for each cup of boiling water. This will make a saturated solution which is a great chemistry concept.

Since you need to use boiling hot water, adult supervision and assistance is highly recommended.

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STEP 4: Time to add the flowers. Make sure the bouquet is fully submerged.

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STEP 5: Shhhh… The crystals are growing!

You want to set the jars in a quiet place where they won’t be disturbed. No tugging on the string, stirring the solution, or moving the jar around! They need to sit still to work their magic.

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After a couple of hours, you will see some changes. Later on that night, you will see more crystals growing. You want to leave the solution alone for 24 hours.

Make sure to keep checking to see the stage of growth the crystals are in. This is a great opportunity for making observations.

STEP 6: The next day, gently lift out your crystal flowers and let them dry on paper towels for an hour or so…

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More Fun Flower Science Activities

Printable Spring Pack

If you’re looking to have all of your printable activities in one convenient place, plus exclusive worksheets with a spring theme, our 300+ page Spring STEM Project Pack is what you need!

Weather, geology, plants, life cycles, and more!

15 Comments

  1. This looks like a perfect experiment for spring. This would be fun to do with my daughter.
    ✿April✿
    Grade School Giggles

  2. I love making crystals with my classroom and homeschool groups. It is always such a hit. I love your step-by-step project.

  3. Hello! Once the crystals are made . Can I reheat the borax water mixture and reuse?

  4. Yes you can but you will need to make sure that you add more borax for a saturated solution.

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  11. How did you get the different colors? Your directions are not very specific..

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