Easter is about spending time with family and loved ones, what better way then with a fun activity. Grow your own crystal eggs overnight with this easy to follow recipe.
Lets make make colorful borax crystals for the whole family with just 3 Ingredients!
This is a fun to observe chemical reaction for kids, but isn’t very playful However, they are definitely a great activity to try out, and you can make a different themed crystal science activity for each holiday.
Great way to teach the older kids a little Chemistry and talk about supersaturated solutions, molecules, and more!
Borax Crystal are hard on little hands, Young children can use Salt or sugar solution to make their own crystals with parental assistance.
Just add salt or sugar to the boiled water till it stops dissolving and remove the undissolved grains.
What you will Need:
Borax (found with laundry detergent)
Water
Jars or vases
Eggs (cleaned with warm water)
Food coloring
Prepare the Egg
You have a few options here.
Crystal Geode Egg - carefully crack the egg or cut it in half. Rinse off the shells in warm water and allow them to dry completely before continuing.
Crystal Egg - You can use a hard-boiled eggs. This results in a heavy egg that can be used as a tabletop decoration. (use salt or sugar solution, if you want eat it later)
Egg Ornament - Use a pin, to pierce a hole into each end of the egg. Push the pin or an unbent paper clip into the egg to scramble the yolk. Blow into the hole on one end of the egg to remove the yolk. you can enlarging the hole. The crystals will grow over the bottom hole.
Choose a glass container that will allow you to get the egg shell in and out easily. You can choose different colors or do them all the same color in one large jar.
Step 1: Crystal Solution
The ratio of borax powder to water is 1 approximately 1 tablespoon to 3 cups of very hot/boiling water. ( Single Serving)
While your water is boiling, measure out the correct amount of borax powder. Measure your boiling water into the container.
Add the borax powder and stir.
Pour Solution in jar ( A single serving per jar )
Add food coloring till desired colour is achieved.
Step 2: Add the eggs
Put the egg in the glass jar so that it is completely covered by liquid.
make more solution if does completely cover the egg and top up the jars
If you blew out the egg, you'll need to submerge the egg until the air bubbles escape or else the egg will float.
you can suspend a hollowed egg using a pipe cleaner or string.
We are making a saturated solution with more powder than the liquid can hold. The hotter the liquid, the more saturated the solution can become. because water molecules move farther apart allowing more of the powder to be dissolved.
As the solution cools down there is all of a sudden going to be more particles in the water as the molecules move back together.
Particles will start to settle on the eggshells and form crystals. This process is called recrystallization.
Once a tiny seed crystal is started, more of the falling material bonds with it to form bigger crystals.
Growing Crystals -
Let your crystal eggs work their magic for 24-48 hours.
Crystals are solid with flat sides and symmetrical shape and will always be that way (unless impurities get in the way). Made up of molecules and have a perfectly arranged and repeating pattern. Some might be bigger or smaller though.
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