Making Magic Crystals.

We made magic crystals yesterday. It was good fun and such a great lesson in patience. We got the idea from Kelly on her wonderful blog, Freeflowing Ways. I love that it is an activity both K and T enjoyed, even though they are at such different ages.

You need Borax, pipe cleaners, string, sticks, glass jars, food colouring and water. 

Get the kids to shape the pipe cleaners into shapes. The crystals will form around the shape they make. Tie string onto the shapes and then onto the sticks. Make sure your jars have mouths wide enough for your pipe-cleaner shapes to fit in and out easily.

Put hot water into the jars (disclaimer; hot water burns little fingers so be careful). 

Mix 3 Tablespoons of Borax per cup of water into the jars. Stir until the Borax is dissolved. 

If you want your crystals to have a gentle hue, we did, add a few drops of food clouring to the water...

Place your pipe-cleaner shapes into the Borax-water jars.
And now for the hard part... let them sit overnight. Alas, as K discovered, no amount of checking in the first hour will make the crystals form any quicker.

But, behold, in the morning you will be amazed, as we were, at the beautiful magic crystals that have formed in the magic hours of the night. 

This is K's pink star.
Here is A Good Man's green Celtic cross and T's white easter egg is behind.
They are really quite beautiful up close... all edges, angles and light.
We have hung our magic crystals on our flowering jasmine. It's getting prettier each day.