Borax Crystal Snowflakes

We've got at least a couple of months of winter left with no Christmas cheeriness to brighten the gray days.  And here in Texas, we don't even have pretty snowflakes to cheer us (we DO have mild enough weather to play outside easily- for which I am very thankful!)

So...it's time to start hunting down winter snow crafts.  There really are a lot of amazing ones out there (maybe because people are indoors, trying to chase away the post-holiday blues??)

This borax crystal snowflake craft is really worth doing if you've never done it before. I had seen it around the internet on several blogs, but pictures don't really do justice to the beautiful, dramatic results.

Materials:

Mason jar
String
A pencil
Borax (in the laundry section of the grocery store)
Boiling Water
Blue pipe cleaners
Scissors

1.  Cut 2 pipe cleaners into small pieces and fashion into a snowflake shape by twisting the pieces around one another.
2.  Fill a mason jar with boiling water and dump in some borax.  (Directions I've read say 3 Tablespoons per one cup of water, but it's really not fussy at all).

3.  Stir until it stops dissolving.  (It's ok if some of the borax just settles to the bottom)
4.  Tie a string on the pipe cleaner snowflake.  On the other end of the string tie a pencil (to keep the snowflake from falling to the bottom of the jar)
5.  Dip snowflake in the mason jar, making sure it does not touch the bottom or sides of the jar.  Wait for two or three hours and pull out your pretty snowflake!

If your children are old enough you can use this craft to illustrate the science of supersaturation.  If they are little tots like mine, they'll just enjoy helping to stir the borax mixture and then admiring the way the sun shines through the crystals at the end.  (They look really nice hung on windows!)