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Crystal Gingerbread Man

Crystal Gingerbread Man

January 23, 2020

Perhaps you’ve decorated a gingerbread house, or made gingerbread cookies. But have you grown your own crystal gingerbread man? Give it a try!

Supplies:

Water
Borax (in the laundry detergent aisle)
Pan
Spoon
Tablespoon
Mason Jars or Glass Jars
Pipe Cleaners
Ribbon
Wood Dowel
Stick or Spoon

Directions:

Take pipe cleaners and shape into a gingerbread man. Use a ribbon to make an ornament loop for the gingerbread man and slide it onto your dowel or whatever will keep it centered in the jarof solution. You don’t want the shape to touch the bottom of the jar or it may stick once the crystals form.

Make a solution using 3 Tablespoons of Borax with 1 cup of very hot water. Boil water. Measure Borax into the mason or glass jar. Fill with water and stir. Patiently watch the water and the crystals appear. Make sure you have plenty of time to perform experiment so you can observe the changes on the pipe cleaner.

As the water cools, the particles that were once suspended in the water, begin to settle. At first you can’t see through the solution but as the solution settles, you can see the crystals and the crystal gingerbread man too.