Create Crystal Ornaments

Do you remember making rock candy when you were a kid? Watching the sugar crystals form is fascinating and fun for children. With this activity, your child can learn about how molecules join together and share a fun activity with you. When you are done, you child will have a pretty decoration to hang around the house.

• 1 cup water
• Sauce pan
• 1 ½ cups of sugar
• Spoon
• Clear drinking glass with a wide mouth or a small glass bowl
• Colored pipe cleaners
• 6 inch piece of cotton string for each pipe cleaner
• 6 inch piece of ribbon for each pipe cleaner
• Paper towels

1. Show your child how to pour water into the saucepan and boil the water. Discuss with your child about how the heat makes the water boil. Be sure that your child keeps a safe distance from the stove and pan while the water is boiling.
2. Pour the water into the glass cup or bowl. Add the sugar into the glass and stir. Have your child watch as the sugar dissolves into the water. Keep adding sugar until it no longer can dissolve.
3. Have your child make a shape with the pipe cleaner, such as a circle, heart or star. Tell him that you are making an ornament to hang up. Then tie the cotton string to the top of each pipe cleaner shape.
4. After the water has cooled slightly, lower the pipe cleaner into the glass. Depending on the size of the bowl or glass you may be able to put more than one ornament in the glass at a time. Tie the string to the pencil and lay the pencil across the top of the glass.
5. Set the glass in a place where your child can observe it, but it won’t be disturbed.
6. Over the next few days, crystals will begin to form on the pipe cleaners. Talk about how the sugar molecules are attracted to each other and join together to create the crystals. When the pipe cleaners are covered in crystals, gently pull the pipe cleaner from the glass.
7. Set the ornament on a paper towel for to dry. When it has dried, remove the cotton string from the top of the ornament and replace it with a pretty ribbon.
8. You can hang your ornament on a window pane, on your Christmas tree, or anywhere else your family can enjoy it. If you want to hang it on a window, tie a suction cup to the end of the ribbon. When you want to put the ornament away, you can store it in a plastic zip lock bag for next year.