Let it snow

Celebrate the beginning of winter by making your own crystallized snowflake ornament

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Posted on Dec 01 2016 in For Youth, Kids Projects

snowflake-ornamentWhat you need:

  • Light blue or white pipe cleaners
  • Scissors
  • Glass jar
  • Pencil
  • Boiling water
  • Borax

What to do:

  • Twist pipe cleaners together to form a snowflake. We made a very simple shape, but encourage older children to create a more complicated design.
  • Wrap a pencil perpendicular to one of the extending pipe cleaners.
  • Trim all pipe cleaners, except the one connected to the pencil, so that the snowflake so it is at least half an inch shorter than the jar’s diameter. A snowflake that barely fits in the jar will get stuck after the crystals have formed.
  • Ask an adult to fill a glass jar three-fourths full with boiling water.
  • For each cup of boiling water poured into the jar, add 3 tablespoons of Borax and stir. Do not ingest Borax. The solution should be a little foggy at first.
  • Place the snowflake in the jar so that the pencil rests on the jar. It’s OK if some Borax later settles on the bottom of the jar.
  • Be patient! Let the snowflake and jar sit for at least five hours before removing. The crystals will form as the water cools.