Growing Valentine Crystal Hearts

 It's always fun when you can combine a science lesson with holiday decor! Yesterday we learned about growing crystals - and the science behind it all.  Today we have beautiful heart-shaped crystals to hang in the window like a sun-catcher (now where's that sun?).

 It's a very simple experiment and you really only need two things - Borax household cleaner and water! 

Well, you also need pipe cleaners to shape into whatever you would like, and a container to put them in, plus some sort of string to suspend them in the liquid.

 This is all you need - cute girl and dog photobombing in the back is optional.  ;)  I had originally thought these plastic cups would work, but they were too small.  We ended up using mason jars as a better option.

 We brought four cups of water to a boil, and then added about four tablespoons for each cup of water.   Stir it until it completely dissolves.

 Then you just suspend each pipe cleaner shape into the liquid making sure they do not touch each other, or the sides of the jar.  This is probably the trickiest part of the whole procedure.  I used thin floral wire - or you can just use thread or string - and wrapped it around a popsicle stick set across the top of the jar.  Within just a few hours, you will see the crystals beginning to form.   We left them overnight for good measure. 

 So simple but so fascinating!