Tis the season for candy canes everywhere! Why not grow candy canes you can even hang up as Christmas tree ornaments! This fun Christmas science experiment for kids explores how crystals grow and teaches a little bit about suspension science {chemistry}. Growing crystals on pipe cleaner candy canes are easier than you might think. Join us for our 25 days of Christmas STEM Activities and countdown to Christmas with STEM projects!
HOW TO GROW CANDY CANES
CANDY CANE ACTIVITIES
This is such a simple science experiment for kids to set up and enjoy with a minimum amount of supplies. We have grown crystals on quite a few things including seashells {must see!} and eggshells.
We have also used pipe cleaners to make crystal snowflakes, crystal hearts, and a crystal rainbow. Any shape you can bend a pipe cleaner into works for growing crystals. Since we are approaching Christmas here, why not try making crystal candy canes!
ALSO CHECK OUT: Crystal Gingerbread Man!
Candy canes are perfect for the holiday season! Check out some of our favorite candy cane activities…
- Dissolving Candy Canes
- Candy Cane Slime
- Candy Cane Fluffy Slime
- Bending Candy Canes Experiment
- Candy Cane Salt Dough Recipe
HOW TO GROW CRYSTAL CANDY CANES
What you make at the beginning of this project is called a saturated solution. The borax powder is suspended throughout the solution and remains that way while the liquid is hot. A hot liquid will hold more borax than a cold liquid!
As the solution cools, the particles settle out of the saturated mixture, and forms the crystals that you see. The impurities remain behind in the water and cube-like crystals will form if the process of cooling is slow enough.
Using a plastic cup versus the glass jar can cause a difference in the formation of the crystals. As a result, the glass jar crystals are more heavy-duty, larger, and cube-shaped. While the plastic cup crystals are smaller and more irregularly shaped. Much more fragile too. The plastic cup cooled off more quickly and they contained more impurities than those in the glass jar.
You will find that the crystal growing activities that take place in the glass jar hold up quite well to little hands and we still have some of our crystal candy cane ornaments for our tree.
CRYSTAL CANDY CANES
Did you know you can also grow salt crystals if you don’t want to use borax? Take a look at these beautiful salt crystal snowflakes, but you can make any shape including candy canes.
SUPPLIES:
- Borax {found in laundry detergent aisle}. You can also use it to make borax slime too!
- Water
- Mason jars, a wide mouth is preferable.
- Pan, Spoon, Measuring Cup and Tablespoon
- Pipe Cleaners {Red, Green, White}
- Ribbon {Make into Ornaments!}
Click Here To Get Your FREE Growing Crystals Printable
HOW TO MAKE CHRISTMAS CRYSTAL CANDY CANES
STEP 1: MAKE PIPE CLEANER CANDY CANES
Your best bet is to cut your pipe cleaners in half and make small candy canes! We twisted different combinations of green, white, and red pipe cleaners together to make our candy canes.
You will use the popsicle sticks to hang the pipe cleaner candy canes from. You don’t want the candy cane to touch the sides or bottom. It will stick and grow crystals!
STEP 2: MAKE THE BORAX SOLUTION
Boil your water, turn off the heat, add borax, and stir to mix as it won’t completely dissolve. Pour into jars and place in an area where they won’t get knocked around. I was daring and just left them on the kitchen counter, but if you have curious kids, you will want to move these to a quiet location.
To fill three small mason jars, I used 6 cups of water and 18 tablespoons of borax. This filled three small mason jars perfectly. I also tried making large candy canes, but as you can imagine this took a long time as each jar needed at least 4 cups!
STEP 3: WAIT PATIENTLY
In a few hours you will see crystals beginning to grow (all about suspension science!) and by the next morning (18-24 hours), your crystal candy canes will be covered in cool-looking crystals. The crystals are quite hardy!
STEP 4: LET THE CRYSTALS DRY
Take them out and place them on paper towels to dry a bit. They are neither fragile nor overly sturdy, but my son can handle them with 6-year-old hands and they hold up nicely. Grab a magnifying glass to check out your crystal candy canes!
Check out the faces of the crystals! These ornaments look so pretty hanging in the window! They also make a great Christmas tree decoration. Add a piece of string and use them to decorate for the holidays.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Christmas Ornament Crafts For Kids
All our crystal candy canes finished growing crystals!
HOW TO GROW YOUR OWN CRYSTAL CANDY CANES
Click on any of the images below for more fun Christmas ideas for kids!
I don’t have access to Borax. Is there something else I can use?
I have seen people use sugar and rock salt, but not sure of the results.
I have read about sugar and rock salt. You can check out recipes for rock candy. I don’t believe you will get the same complete effect as the borax though.
do you know how to clean out the leftover crystals of the mason jars? I am a teacher and I really don’t want to just trash all 36 mason jars =(
I can usually break them out with a butter knife and warm water. A really tough case might have to sit and soak a day. I run the jars through a dishwasher after that. I haven’t had any problems getting the leftover crystals out yet.
In your directions, what do you mean by turn off heat?
I don’t have access to enough mason jars for my entire class. Can I use those clear, plastic, disposable cups instead?
When boiling the water for the mixture! Turn off the heat and then add the borax.
There needs to be a safety note that pregnant women should not handle borax. Increase risk of miscarriage. This is advice from CLEAPPS from about 5 years ago when this link was identified.
Do the pipe cleaners need to be fully submerged in the mixture or do we only allow a small bit at the bottom to be touching the mixture?
Fully submerged because the solution settles. It won’t really travel up the pipe cleaner.
This didn’t work for me, even after following your directions exactly and waiting 36 hours. NO crystals. Any idea what happened?
Wow. I am sorry. I can’t say what might have happened. I have not had that happen on any of our crystal projects. 3 tablespoons of borax to 1 cup of boiling hot water. We have tested both glass jars and plastic cups but glass jars do work better. The solution will be very cloudy to start and it will slowly become clear again. It should remain undisturbed. Feel free to email me at [email protected] and we can talk more about it. I would definitely recommend trying it again though.
This has happened to me before, not sure why nut I dumped out and redid and it worked?
Can you do more than 1 candy cane in a jar (as long as they aren’t touching?)
Can you boil the water and add the board the night before? Or does the water need to be hot when it goes into the mason jars? Thanks!
Sadly, it does need to be hot when it goes into the jar with the pipe cleaner. It’s the cooling process that is part of the crystal formation.
No you really need to do it all at once to have the best results!
Yes, no touching! Or they will grow together!
Temperature, saturation of solution, or pollutants that made their way into the jar? Lots of factors, but I have had this happen too!
Absolutely!
I am going to try this with my toddlers, can’t wait !! Thank you!