Little Cooks Reading Books Little Cooks Reading Books Little Cooks Reading Books Little Cooks Reading Books
  • Recipes + Books
  • Crafts For Kids
  • Learning + Home School
Little Cooks Reading Books Little Cooks Reading Books
  • Recipes + Books
  • Crafts For Kids
  • Learning + Home School

Borax Snowflake Craft

SNOWFLAKE CRAFT FOR KIDS TEXT OVER A CRYSTAL BLUE SNOWFLAKE

This Borax snowflake experiment makes a great science project, stuck at home winter activities for kids or homemade christmas tree ornament! It’s also a fun addition to your crystal structure formation science lessons or STEM studies for kids. These are fun snowflake crafts for adults and kids (even for preschool and kindergarten!).

Borax Snowflake with blue tint against dark colored background

Borax Snowflake Experiment

Before we get to the grow a snowflake experiment, let’s cover some common questions that go with this children’s activity.

What is Borax?

Borax is a chemical compound that is often used for laundry or household cleaning. It is also called sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate. 

 

 
Affiliate links are used on this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Read more in our DISCLOSURE.
 

Where can buy Borax?

You can buy Borax in many big box stores (like Walmart), tractor or farm supply, or drug stores. A well-known Borax brand is 20 Mule Team, which is often found in the detergent or cleaning aisles in stores.

You can also buy Borax online.

 

How does the Borax Snowflake work?

Make a snowflake out of pipe cleaners. Suspend the snowflake in boiling water with Borax overnight. The Borax will form crystals, which cling to the pipe cleaner. As the crystals form on top of each other, they will cover the pipe cleaners completely and form a beautiful crystal snow flake.

 

How long do Borax crystals take to grow?

You should leave the Borax crystals in an undisturbed location at least overnight. This will allow the Borax time to form crystals and cling to the pipe cleaner to form the Borax crystal snowflake.

 


More Winter Craft Ideas:

Snow Ice Cream

How To Make Snow Ice Cream


 

Do Borax crystals melt?

Borax crystals can melt in hot water, so be careful with your snowflake crystals when handling or storing. If you want to get rid of the Borax crystals that formed in the jar, simply place hot or boiling water into the jar and scrub out.

 

SNOWFLAKE CRAFT FOR KIDS TEXT OVER A CRYSTAL BLUE SNOWFLAKE

PIN TO SAVE

How To Grow A Snowflake

These are great science project ideas because you can easily make the recipe for multiple kids and it’s interesting for a wide variety of age ranges for STEM lessons!

Once you grow snowflake crystals, use a magnifying glass to look them on the side of the jar!

IMPORTANT TIP FOR YOUR BORAX SNOWFLAKES: Be sure to use a large glass jar wide enough and deep enough so that your snowflake doesn’t touch the bottom or sides. If you don’t, the crystals can grow and completely overtake the jar and you’ll just have a (beautiful) dense jar of crystals that swallowed up your snowflake!

Yield: 1

Borax Snowflake

Borax Snowflake

We made our Borax snow flake into a Christmas tree ornament by looping a ribbon around it. Carefully pack it away each year so it doesn't get broken!

Prep Time 5 minutes
Active Time 20 minutes
Additional Time 12 hours
Total Time 12 hours 25 minutes
Difficulty Medium

Materials

  • White pipe cleaners
  • Twine
  • Straw or Pencil
  • Large Wide Mouth Glass Jar
  • 6 Tablespoons Borax
  • 2 Cups Boiling water
  • Blue food coloring

Instructions

  1. Find a straw or pencil that you can lay across the mouth of the jar without it falling in.
  2. Cut the pipe cleaner into three equal lengths. Cross two of the pipe cleaner sections at the middle to form an + sign. Twist the pipe cleaners together at the middle. Twist the third pipe cleaner onto the connected ones to form a "star" (or asterisk) shape. Test that your snowflake fits inside of the jar. Set aside.
  3. Tie a long piece of twine to the middle of a straw or pencil.
  4. Tie the loose end of the twine to one "arm" of your pipe cleaner snowflake.
  5. Place the straw/pencil across the mouth of the jar and let the snowflake hang into the jar. The snowflake should hang into the jar without it touching the sides or bottom. If the string is too long, wind it around the straw/pencil until you get the right length.
  6. Carefully fill the jar with boiling water.
  7. One tablespoon at a time, add the Borax to the boiling water. Stir after each tablespoon to help dissolved, until all Borax has been added and dissolved. (There may be some unsolved Borax at the bottom. That's OK.)
  8. Drop 2-3 drops of blue food coloring into the water. Stir.
  9. Place pipe cleaner snowflake into the water. Lay straw/pencil across the mouth of the jar so that the snowflake is completely submerged in the water, but not touching the bottom or the sides.
  10. Allow jar to sit overnight (undisturbed) while crystals form. (Or a little longer if you want more crystals to form.)
  11. Carefully lift straw/pencil and remove crystal snowflake. Cut twine at desired length. Loop a ribbon for a Christmas tree ornament or hang in window as a sun catcher.

Did you make this project?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

© LittleCooksReadingBooks.com
Project Type: Craft / Category: Crafts

Best Winter Books For Kids To Go With This STEM Craft

These books are great children’s reading companions for your how to grow a Borax crystal snowflake project. You can make a complete winter lesson plan from this!

TAG US ON INSTAGRAM WITH YOUR BORAX SNOWFLAKE!

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please refer to our DISCLOSURE.

About The Author

Jacqueline Wilson loves cooking with books with her daughter Ella, creating cooking with kids recipes and making real food fun! In her other lives, she is a professional writer of 17 years, an educator, mom, wife, homeschool super freak, and #1 Bestselling Author.

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

WELCOME TO LITTLE COOKS READING BOOKS!

I'm Jacqueline Wilson and that's my daughter, Ella. We love MAKING REAL FOOD FUN by cooking and creating recipes and pairing them up with children's books. Here's how it started...
[READ MORE]

DISCLOSURE: Affiliate links are used on this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please refer to our DISCLOSURE STATEMENT.

Little Cooks Reading Books Logo
ABOUT | CONTACT | PRIVACY |  DISCLOSURE 

©2017-2021 LittleCooksReadingBooks.com. All Rights Reserved.
DISCLOSURE: Affiliate links are used on this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please refer to our DISCLOSURE STATEMENT.