This week the kids made Borax crystal “hearts.” I was a little worried that I had planned projects which were too closed-ended and that I had done the kids a disservice by creating models (my intention in making the models was to entice them). Well, the first child followed the heart shape, just like the model. Then the next child, Marie, asked if her heart could be made out of two pipe cleaners of two different colors. Of course! She cut them herself and figured out how to create the heart out of two versus one, and was very pleased with the result. Josephine followed Marie's example and made a bicolored heart, and then Lucas asked if he could use three colors. Of course! He made a red, white, and blue pole with a small heart on top in honor of Inauguration Day. In the following days children formed their pipe cleaners into the first letters of their names, double hearts suspended from each other, and the shape of the cross. I’m so glad they made the project their own and were able to see beyond the model.
This turned out to be a wonderfully simple and successful science/art project. We boiled water, and for every cup of water we added three tablespoons of Borax. Borax is commercially sold as a "laundry booster" type of detergent, but basically borax (with a lower case b) is sodium borate (check out Wikipedia for more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borax ). The kids formed their pipecleaners into whatever shape they wanted, and then we suspended the shapes in the solution using a string. Within a few hours we could see crystals beginning to form, and then in about 6 to 8 hours, the pipecleaners, along with the bottoms and sides of the container, were completely covered in crystals. For complete instructions, check out:
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