Science Experiment: Borax Crystal Hearts

This is fun experiment with very cool results.  Our inspiration was from The Scientific Mom.  She created Borax Crystal Ornaments as part of her 12 Days of Science Series with her daughter.  Be sure to check out her blog here to find out about all the amazing excursions and experiments that she does with her daughter.  We decided to make borax crystal hearts for Valentine's day and a few snowflakes for Winter.  Keep reading to find out how we made these.

To make Borax Crystal Hearts You'll Need:

Pipe Cleaners

20 Mule Team Borax (found in the laundry section  of the grocery store) (5-6 Tablespoons or more)
***Borax is not-edible and should be handled with care when using with children)

Water (2 Cups or so)

Jar or Glass Container

Pencil or stick

The first step in making these is to shape a pipe cleaner into a the shape you desire.  Make sure to form a hanger or add one to the shape using the pipe cleaner. Then boil about 2 cups of water (depends on how big your glass container is), let cool a little and pour into your glass container. Then, take about 6 Tablespoons of Borax and stir into the water until dissolved.  Then hang your pipe cleaner shape from a pencil. Place the pencil on top of the glass container.  Make sure it is submerged.

You can add more Borax which will create more crystals.  Let this sit over night, and the next morning  you'll have beautiful crystal shapes. ***Keep the pipe cleaner submerged over night! It was fun to experiment and check them the next morning.  Here are some of our results:

Close-up Crystals

Red Metallic Heart

Silver Pipe Cleaner Snowflake

Swirls

We had a lot of fun experimenting with this idea. We tried adding food color, but the colorful pipe cleaners really brought out the color too.  Have fun with this experiment and let me know your results!

Making GIANT Snowflakes

The other day we started making GIANT Snowflakes and it has been a HUGE hit with my daughter.  These snowflakes have made wonderful window decorations that literally fill the sections of our windows. They make great holiday and Winter decorations to brighten up the drab days of Winter here in Ohio.  Also, they would be a great way to bring some snow to warmer climates out there.

To make these GIANT Snowflakes you'll need:

Large White Gift Tissue 

Scissors

The White Tissue Paper is great to use because you can fold this paper countless times cut easily through many layers.  It is a little tricky to fold, but you could have the tissue pre-folded for your kids and show them how to cut shapes.  My daughter mostly cut triangle shapes which is the easiest shape to cut.

Here are the steps.  Basically you fold the square into a triangle and keep matching each corner to corner to create smaller triangles. Between steps 5 and 6 you want to round the top so the snowflake will be a circular shape. Then begin cutting shapes on each edge. My daughter mostly cut triangle shapes because that is the easiest shape to cut. You can definitely experiment with different shapes.

Have FUN! Children and adults get a lot of satisfaction from cutting snowflakes.

And it is always a surprise each time you open a folded snowflake. This activity could be a science experiment in which you predict what each snowflake might look like.  It is a great lesson in symmetry too. Also, you could pair this activity with my Exploring Snowflakes...Up Close post and observe real snowflakes and learn about Wilson Bentley who took the first pictures of snowflakes.  Look how big this snowflake is compared to my daughter....AWESOME!

Here is some of our window display from outside our house.  They look wonderful! I'm sure it brightens everyone's day when they go by our house. I know it makes me smile each time I see them. 

HAPPY WINTER!

Enjoy making snowflakes...

Glittery Magnolia Pods

When were on Thanksgiving Break in the South of the US we gathered some magnolia pods as we always do to add to our continuous nature collection. They are vey similar to Pine Cones, but have a large stem on them.  I've seen many others put glitter on pine cones,  so I thought why not put some glitz on Magnolia Pods and dress them up for the holidays? So that is what we did.

Here are the Magnolia Pods before glitter.

Paint some glue on the pods.

Then either sprinkle and shake the glitter on the pods...

Or place them in a small box and roll them around in the glitter for less mess.

You could fashion some ribbon onto your pods or pine cones.

Hang them as ornaments or garland.

Or just lay them out or place them in a decorative bowl for the holidays or anytime.

Happy Glittering!

Painted Salt Dough Ornaments

We finally finished our Painted Salt Dough Ornaments today.  Some of these beauties will be going on our Christmas tree and others will become some fantastic gifts to our family and friends.  It was a long process, but well worth it.  We made Salt Dough Heart Necklaces back in the Springtime for Mother's Day and they made fabulous gifts.

To make Salt Dough Ornaments you'll need:

(We doubled this recipe)

1 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

1/4 cup water

cookie cutters 

acrylic paint

brushes

glitter

ribbon for hanging

Mix the flour and salt well and add water.  Add more flour if too sticky or more water if too dry.  Roll out on a flour surface to about 1/4 inch thickness.  Use cookie cutters to create the shapes for your ornaments and then place the dough shapes on a foil lined cookie sheet.  Use a straw form holes on the top of the ornament shapes.  Bake between 275 F and 300 F for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

After the ornaments were done, we painted the dough shapes with solid colors of acrylic paint.

Then we added more detail with gold paint and other colors.

Lastly, we added some touches of glitter to add some sparkle which is always fun!

Next, we'll be adding some ribbon for hanging.

What have you been making with your children for the Holiday season?

Contact Paper Ornaments

Want a quick way to make ornaments with your children? Well,  make some Contact Paper Ornaments. They are so easy to make.  My daughter loves to draw so this was a fun way to incorporate her drawings into some fun tree decorations.

For Contact Paper Ornaments you'll need :

-White paper or card stock

-markers or crayons

-contact paper

-hole puncher

-wire or pipe cleaners

First, start drawing lots of fun Holiday or Winter themed ideas onto white paper or card stock. We did this together.  I started to draw,  and then my six year old joined in.  Lots of Christmas trees and candy canes.

Santa and reindeer.

Then after you have a bunch of drawings, cover each side of the drawing with contact paper.

Lastly, cut around the drawings,  punch a hole, and then add wire or pipe cleaners for hanging. They are ready to hang or to be given as unique gifts that I know many people will truly LOVE!

Salt Dough Heart Necklaces

Salt dough is always fun and the materials for it are readily available. We created some heart necklaces from salt dough which will be given for Mother's Day to C's Grandmas and one for me of course!  We made extras for some Mom friends that we know too.  These hearts would also make great Valentine's Day gifts, Holiday ornaments, or even for no reason at all.  Just to say "I Love You"! ***We actually gave these as teachers' gifts too.**

To create salt dough you need:

1 cup flour

1/4 cup salt

1/4 cup water

Mix flour and salt well and add water. Add more flour if too sticky or more water if too dry. Then form shapes on a foil lined cookie sheet. Use a straw to form holes on top so you can make them a necklace. Bake between 275 F and 300 F for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. 

Here we painted the hearts with red acrylic paint first then used q-tips (cotton buds) for the dots.

Here we used q-tips like a paint brush to create beautiful pictures on our hearts. After painting we added Mod Podge for  a glossy look.

These smaller hearts we are using as pins by gluing a pin back on the back.

On these we added thin ribbon for necklaces.

Would you like receiving these as a gift?

Happy Holidays 2011

Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday season! I've enjoyed sharing all our holiday ideas with you! Take care!

Beaded Snowflakes.....and Happy Winter Solstice!

Happy Winter Solstice!  So appropriate to be making snowflakes and other wintery things!  We made some Beautiful Snowflakes using some Chenille stems and some beads! They turned out rather Lovely! This is a nice simple activity that could make a great holiday gift of an ornament or just something to occupy your kids while you are so busy.  I know I have been super busy!

I chose chenille stems in icy colors like Blue, Silver, and White to look more like wintery snowflakes. For the beads, I chose icy colors (cool colors like blue, green, and purple) and crystal clear beads to add to the wintery effect!

I cut the chenille stems in half and twisted three of them together to create a star or asterisk shape. You could use all the same color or mix like I did here.

The all you need to do is slide the beads on the chenille stems.  You could put them on randomly or in a pattern.

Here is one with more of a pattern! Then take another half of a chenille stem and twist on a loop to hang the snowflake!

I just love these! Cassie has been working on a few each day.  We'll have a collection by the end of the week!

HAPPY WINTER!

Linked to: Kids Art Explorers