Science Smarts: Crystal snowflakes

By Patty Rooks on December 13, 2025.

I absolutely love this time of the year! We are fortunate that we have some snow on the ground and people are beginning to get into the Holiday spirit. If you are like me, you are looking for some inexpensive ways to decorate for the season. I have just what you need and the entire family can get involved. Let’s get started!

*Remember to ask an adult before doing this experiment.

Materials

– String

– Wide mouth jar

– White pipe cleaners

– Blue food colouring

– Boiling water

– Borax

– Pencil

– Kettle

– Scissors

Procedure

1. Cut the pipe cleaner into three equal sections/pieces.

2. Twist the sections together in the centre so that you have a six sided star shape.

3. Take a piece of string and go around the pipe cleaners in a circle so that you form a snowflake pattern.

4. Attach a piece of string to the top of one of the points of the pipe cleaners.

5. Tie this piece of string to a pencil.

6. Fill the jar with boiling water.

7. Mix the borax into the boiling water, one tablespoon at a time. (It should take approximately three tablespoons.)

8. You can add a couple of drops of food colouring if you wish to the borax solution. This will give the snowflake a bluish hue.

9. Insert your pipe cleaner snowflake into the jar so that the pencil is resting on the lip of the jar and the snowflake is suspended in the liquid.

10. Wait overnight and by morning the snowflake should be covered with shiny crystals!

What is going on?

Borax is an example of a crystal. Did you know that every crystal has a repeating pattern based on a unique shape.

In this experiment, the Borax “grows” on your pipe cleaner because the hot water holds more borax crystals than cold water. This is due to the hot water molecules moving farther apart and making room for the borax crystals to dissolve. When no more of the solution can be dissolved, you have reached saturation. As this solution cools, the water molecules move closer together again. Now there’s less room for the solution to hold onto as much of the dissolved borax. Crystals begin to form on one another as the water lets go of the excess and evaporates.

Registration for the 34th annual Operation Minerva Conference on Jan. 28, 2026 is now open! This on day conference for grade nine female students in STEM is a busy day of mentoring and workshops. If your school has not provided you with a registration package, please email Patty at praxis@praxismh.ca. Registration is limited, and deadline is Dec. 19, 2025 so please sign up early.

Patty Rooks, senior scientific consultant Praxis Science Outreach Society. Praxis is located in the Community Futures Entre Corp Building at #202 556 Fourth St. SE, Medicine Hat, Alberta, T1A 0K8. For all your science needs, please email praxis@praxismh.ca.

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