Easter is just around the corner! As this time of year is often spent with family and friends, it’s the perfect opportunity to spend time having fun with the children in your life. To help you reduce some of the holiday stress and preparation, here’s a fun and easy Easter-themed S.T.E.A.M. activity for you and your #younginventor to enjoy together! 🌱🧠💡
Easter-Themed S.T.E.A.M Activity
Easter Egg Crystals!🐰💖
Here’s a holiday twist on a classic science experiment – growing crystals! Making these egg-shaped pipe cleaner crystals is a great way to create and enjoy some fun Easter science.
Growing borax crystals encourages observation making, process following, and prediction making in your #younginventor. This crystal Easter science experiment is a perfect introduction to simple chemistry; you will only need a few materials and within 24 hours you and your #younginventor will have awesome Easter themed crystals!
How Borax Crystals Form
Dissolving borax powder into hot water creates a supersaturated solution. This means that you have placed more borax molecules inside the water, than the water can hold.
Saturation can be a difficult concept for children. Another way to show children is by grabbing a transparent container of hot water, extra borax powder, and a teaspoon. Gradually add the powder, a spoon at a time, stirring after each amount is added. If it all dissolves, add another spoonful. Keep adding spoonfuls until it no longer dissolves. Once this happens the solution is saturated!
Watch and observe as the water cools. Once the water cools down, it can hold fewer borax molecules, which makes the molecules cling together and causes crystals to form. As the pipe cleaners are in the glass with the solution, and the particles must go somewhere since the cool water can no longer hold them, the borax molecules come out of the water and cling to the pipe cleaner, where they form crystals.
Time For The Borax Crystal Experiment
Materials Needed:
- Mason Jars (must be glass and preferably wide mouth)
- Pipe Cleaners
- Popsicle Stick (alternate: pencil, skewer, or chopstick)
- Borax Powder (can be found in the laundry detergent aisle or on Buy on Amazon)
- Pan (to boil water), Spoon, Measuring Cups/Spoons
- Water
Instructions:
- Make and design your egg-shape out of pipe cleaners.
- Pro Tip: When shaping the pipe cleaners into egg shapes, keep in mind the size of your container and the container’s opening. Your pipe cleaner egg should not touch the opening of the container and should not touch the sides or bottom of the container. Leave extra space for when you pull your crystals out.
- Wind a part of the pipe cleaner around the popsicle stick. This will suspend the pipe cleaner egg in the solution. If your egg touches the bottom of the container, adjust it to make it shorter.
- To make the crystal solution, boil a large pot of water (2 cups per jar) and add 3 tbsp of borax powder per cup of water.
- Mix the Borax into the hot water. Take your time and mix well. Don’t worry if it all doesn’t completely dissolve.
- Once your solution is made, pour it into the jars and add your eggs.
- Put your Easter Egg Crystals in a safe place for the next 24 hours. Don’t move the jars around or pick them up because it will disturb the growth of the crystals!
- Time to hypothesize! Ask your kiddos what they think will happen and have them occasionally check in on the experiment to take notes on the changes.
- After the 24 hours is up, remove the crystals from the jars and set them on paper towels to dry.
- Once dry, enjoy your amazing crystals!
The photos used for this activity were taken by fantasticfunandlearning.com