This project will let you use your creativity to create a crystal flower garden. Remember it is always best to share your project with an adult. This activity has some tasks for adults and others for kids. You can make beautiful and varied flower-like formations by using pipe cleaner designs and cotton swabs for the crystals to climb. Try to find your own special ways to arrange the materials to create your own special effects.

Things you will need

cotton swabs cut in half
pipe cleaners cut in 5 cm (2 in) pieces
pieces of oil based clay
food coloring
water
liquid bluing
salt
ammonia
flat dishes - plastic margarine tubs work well
(salt will corrode a metal dish)

What to do

Teachers
Make up a solution of:

125 ml (1/2 cup) water
60 ml (4 Tablespoons) liquid bluing
60 ml (4 Tablespoons) salt
20 ml (4 Teaspoons) ammonia (add last)

Soak ends of cotton swabs on food coloring the day before and allow to dry. Put drops of food coloring on the pipe cleaners.

Children

Place a lump of clay on the bottom of the dish. Push 2-4 cotton swabs and/or pipe cleaners into the clay.
Pour the crystal flower solution in the cup so the clay and the first centimeter (1/2 inch) of the cotton swabs are covered.
Set the dish in an open space where it will not be bumped much and watch your flowers grow. Crystals will begin to form within a few hours unless it is very humid.

Want to do more?
Use the same solution poured over charcoal, rocks, sponges, or bricks. Place one in a warm place and one in a cold place. Try it in the refrigerator. Does it grow faster, slower, or at the same rate as the one outside? Look at the crystals with a magnifier. Compare with natural crystals or other crystals you have grown. Arrange the pipe cleaners or other items and predict what the formation will look like.

More About Crystals

Growing Crystals
More crystal projects for you to try.

Landscapes of Polarization Microscopy
Crystals up close. Shown approximately 10 to 50 times actual size, the chemicals on this page were photographed between "crossed" polarizing filters.

Salt Piece by Jorg Lenzlinger
Salts mixed into water creep slowly up paper tubes, drip onto fabric, and seep down the cotton strings suspended above. From the Turbulent Landscapes exhibit at the Exploratorium.

This crystal project is from the book More Mudpies to Magnets. Publishers Gryphon House, Inc. were nice enough to let me share their articles with you. Please visit their website. They have some great books for kids!

1998 Features
1997 Features