experiment with borax

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3 Science activities you can do with Borax

January 30, 2017 3 min read chemistry experiments science activities

Borax is an old-school laundry booster that many of the slime recipes use. But what do you do with the rest of the box when you are done? 

You could get all retro and add it to your next load of laundry, but what fun is that? Today, we are going to share with you three science activities that use Borax - ones that you will want to do over and over again until the whole box is gone!

Trust us, your kids will thank you, even though their socks are a bit dingier.

#1 - Borax Slime 

To mix up a batch of Borax slime you will need:

• Glue (Elmer's white or clear gel will work)

If you want to glitz it up a bit, grab some food coloring and glitter. 

First, mix 4oz of glue (half a jar) with 4oz of water (half a cup). If you want to add some glam, now is the time to mix in that food coloring and glitter.

Next, in a separate cup mix a quarter cup of water with half a teaspoon of Borax. Add the Borax solution to the baggie and massage the bag for a few minutes until a nice firm slime has formed.

Now, comes the fun part - add the Borax solution to the glue mixture in the baggie. Start massaging . . . keep massaging the baggie for a few minutes . . . keep going until a nice firm slime has formed.

Pull the slime out of the baggie and have fun!

#2 - Borax Crystal Shapes

Once you have a baggie full of slime, you can use a bit more Borax to make some crystals! You will need the following:

• Glass jar (plastic is fine, too, if that's what you got)
• Pipe cleaner

First, take a moment to bend the pipe cleaner into a shape - snowflakes, hearts, your initials, any of those will do. Just  make sure it will fit through the opening of your jar.

Next, attach your creation to the pencil. You can swing the end of the pipe cleaner over it or use a bit of string, but basically, you want the pencil to be able to rest on the edge of your jar without having your shape touch the sides or bottom of the jar.

Now, add hot water until it almost fills the jar, noting how many cups of water it takes to fill the jar. 

Then, add the Borax - one tablespoon at a time - and stir really good before you add another so that the Borax dissolves. Keep going until no more Borax dissolves - this will be about 3 tablespoons of Borax for every cup of water you have added.

Finally, hang your pipe-cleaner-creation in the jar so that it is completely covered by the liquid. Allow the jar to sit undisturbed overnight.

The next morning you will awaken to some crystal growing magic!

#3 - Borax Bouncy Balls

And we save the best for last!! To make these bouncy balls, you will need:

• Food coloring
• Cornstarch 
• 2 Small mixing cups (preferably ones you can circular file afterward)
• Plastic spoon

First, in cup #1, mix half a cup of water with 1 teaspoon of Borax - stir to dissolve.

Next, in cup #2, mix a tablespoon of glue and add a bit of food coloring, so you can tell whose ball is whose. ( And now you see why I suggested using disposable cups! )

Now comes the fun! Sprinkle a teaspoon of the borax solution from cup #1 over the glue mixture in cup #2 - wait for 2 long breaths (about 10 seconds) - and then add one and a half tablespoons of cornstarch.

Then, mix like crazy until it becomes impossible to stir with your spoon. Take the sticky mess out and start to knead it - I promise it will become smooth and solid after about a minute or so.

And your bouncy ball is ready for testing!

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How to Make Bouncy Balls

Looking for a fun and simple science activity  that’s sure to entertain the kids?! In this quick, five minute experiment, little chemists mix up their own homemade bouncy balls.

Making bouncy balls is a hands-down science favorite for kids!  And for more kid-approved science, check out our awesome 30 Science Experiments in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep for this activity, I gathered:

• 1 tablespoon of borax (found in the laundry section of the grocery store)
• 1/2 cup or warm water
• 2 tablespoons of  white glue (Elmer’s school glue works the best)
• 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
• Food color (optional)

Making the Bouncy Balls

The first step to making the bouncy balls was to prepare the borax and water mixture.  My 5 year old daughter measured out 1/2 cup of warm water and 1 T of borax. Then she gave the mixture a good stir to dissolve the borax.

Next, she prepared the bouncy ball mixture by combining the glue and cornstarch.

The measurements are a little forgiving so we found it easiest to use a 1/4 cup measuring cup filling it halfway with glue (2 T) before adding the 1 T of cornstarch.  Using a measuring spoon to measure the glue turned out to be more messy than estimating the 2T of glue in the 1/4 cup wearing cup.

She stirred the glue and cornstarch until they combined using a kid-sized butter knife.

Then she added a couple drops of food coloring to the glue/cornstarch mixture and gave it a little stir.  She was hoping to get a swirled bouncy ball but it turns out the food color really gets mixed thoroughly when forming the ball.

This is good to keep in mind when choosing to mix colors: complementary colors probably will end up looking muddy.  If you want a multi-colored ball, it’s best to divide the glue/cornstarch mixture and add the color individually.  Then add each color to the borax water separately and, when the glue mixtures begin to firm up, add them back together and roll into a ball.

Now my daughter was ready for the fun and gooey part.  She poured her glue mixture into the borax water and let it sit for about 10-15 seconds.  The glue mixture started to harden and could be removed easily with a fork.

She immediately grabbed the gooey blob and squished it between her hands. The blob was still a bit sticky but as A rolled in between her hands the stickiness disappeared.

Note: If your ball still feels sticky give it a little dunk in the borax water and it should firm up.

Once the ball was formed, it was ready to bouncy.  Although it didn’t bouncy nearly as high as the super bouncy balls she was familiar with, my daughter still had a ton of fun throwing it around the house.

Note: If let to sit, the ball will become flat on one side. Simply rolling it between your hands should make it round again.

If you plan to keep your ball, you should store it in an airtight container as it will dry out and crack.

The Science Behind It

When the glue was added to the borax water, the glue became firm and bouncy. That’s because the borax reacted with the glue causing the polymers, or long chains of molecules, in the glue to stick together and form an elastomer.

To understand how polymers act, think about how cooked spaghetti behaves. When fresh cooked spaghetti is strained, the pasta strands flow like a liquid, slipping and sliding over one another.  After a few minutes pass and the water has drained off the pasta, the strands start to stick to each other a little.  The pasta becomes a bit rubbery.

If you leave the pasta for even longer, the spaghetti strands will really stick together and the spaghetti will be one solid rubbery chunk that bounces!

Polymers , long strands of molecules, behave in a similar way as the long strands of spaghetti.  If the long molecules slide past each other, the substance acts like a liquid (like the liquid glue).

If the polymers stick together in a few places, then the substance will be a rubbery solid, an elastomer (like the bouncy ball).

When the glue mixture was added to the borax, the borax acted as a cross-linker, hooking the glue’s molecules together to form the rubbery bouncy ball.

The cornstarch was added to help bind the molecules together so the ball would hold its shape.

The ball can bounce because of the cross-linked polymers.  Since the long polymer chains are flexible, when the ball hits the ground, it is able to momentarily deform or squish.

The polymers also make the ball elastic meaning it tends to retain its shape. Once the ball hits the ground and becomes flattened, the elasticity causes the ball to return to its round shape and pushes the ball back into the air.

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Awesome! love this and look forward to using other ideas!

Thank you, Mary!! I’m excited that the bouncy ball activity is helpful. 🙂

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Chemistry is great for making many useful products. It’s also good for making stuff that’s just fun to play with. Let’s make some slime!

1. Place 1 tablespoon of water in a small plastic cup. Add ¼ teaspoon of borax.   Mix until as much borax dissolves as possible. This is your borax solution. If you would like your slime to be a certain color, add one or two drops of food coloring to your borax solution. 

2. Place 1 tablespoon of water in another cup and add 1 tablespoon of Elmer's glue. Stir with a popsicle stick until the glue and water are thoroughly mixed. This is your glue solution .

3. Slowly pour all of the borax solution into the glue solution, and stir with a clean popsicle stick. You should notice a sudden change in the solutions. 

Your slime is done when you can pick up your popsicle stick and most of the slime comes out on the stick.

4. When you have some nice thick slime, pull it off the popsicle stick and move it back and forth between your hands. The more you play, the less sticky it gets. 

5. Try pulling the slime very slowly to see if it stretches.

6. Form the slime into a ball and see if it bounces. You could put it over the bottom of an upside down cup and watch it slowly flow down.

7. Try flattening your slime into a pancake and then holding it from one edge to see what it does. 

 What to expect

As you stir the borax and glue solutions together, the mixture becomes thick. It also attaches to the popsicle stick. When you pull slowly, your slime will stretch. However if you pull quickly it will break. Slime will slowly flow making it seem like a liquid, but it can also bounce which makes it seem a bit like a solid. 

What’s happening in there?

What makes slime so thick and stretchy?  

The glue has long flexible molecules in it called polymers. These polymer molecules slide past each other as a liquid.

Borax in water forms an ion called the borate ion. When the borax solution is added to the glue solution, the borate ions help link the long polymer molecules to each other so they cannot move and flow as easily.

When enough polymer molecules get hooked together in the right way, the glue solution changes from being very liquidy to a rubbery kind of stuff that we call slime!

What else could you try?

Water is an important ingredient in slime. Water helps the polymer molecules slide past each other so that your slime can flow. If you let the water evaporate, your slime will end up like a solid piece of plastic.

Try making other samples of slime with different amounts of water and compare them to your first piece of slime. In each sample, follow the instructions to make the slime that you followed before, but change the amount of water you add to make the glue solution.

• Do not add water to the glue. Use only 1 tablespoon of glue to make the glue solution.
• Add two tablespoons of water to 1 tablespoon of glue to make the glue solution.

You may choose to give each sample of slime a different color to help you tell them apart.

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How to Grow Borax Crystals

Introduction: How to Grow Borax Crystals

Growing Borax crystals is a fun science experiment that you can do easily and cheaply at home!

In this instructable, I'll teach you how to grow your own beautifully colored borax crystals using pipe cleaners as a base. The pipe cleaners allow large crystals to form on them, and they also make the crystals a little more durable in the end.

I'll also give you lots of tips and tricks for making better Borax crystals. :D

Step 1: Tools + Materials

You don't need much for this project - mostly time and patience!

• Boiling water
• Pipe cleaners
• Dowels or other object to hang pipe cleaners from
• Large heat-safe glass measuring cup for making the Borax solution
• Heat-safe glass canning jars for growing crystals (optional)

Step 2: Prep Your Pipe Cleaners

The first thing you'll want to do is bend your pipe cleaners into a compact shape. The more compact it is, the more crystals will form on the outside. If you leave big gaps in your pipe cleaners, your crystals will end up with holes in them.

Once the pipe cleaners are bent into the shapes you want, tie a 8 inch length of thread to each of them. (It you have problems getting the thread through the pipe cleaners, try a needle threader! That made it easier.) Cut away the excess thread after the knot.

Hang your pipe cleaners on the dowels so they'll be suspended entirely in the vessel you're using - not touching the walls or bottom.

Step 3: Make a Saturated Solution

A saturated solution is just what it sounds like. In this case, it means that we need to add enough Borax to the boiling water until no more can be dissolved into the water.

For every cup of water, add 3-4 tablespoons of Borax. Stir it until the water becomes clear and the majority of the Borax is dissolved. (I typically do 3 cups of water at a time.) Keep adding and stirring until the water stops dissolving the Borax.

For best results, add enough Borax that you can see a small pile of it on the bottom of the glass after stirring until the water is clear.

(P.S. If you add so much Borax that the water becomes cloudy, your crystals will be cloudy as well! Add more boiling water!)

Step 4: Assemble and Wait!

If your water has cooled down, I highly recommend microwaving it until boiling temperature again - that makes the best crystals!

Place the dowels over the container and immerse the pipe cleaners into the saturated solution, shaking them a little to get rid of any air bubbles.

Once you're happy with their placement (make sure none of them are touching each other or the edges of the container), cover the container loosely with something to keep it warm longer. (Slower cooling also means bigger crystals!)

Place it in a safe area where it won't get jostled and let the crystals grow overnight.

Step 5: What It Should Look Like the Next Day

The next day, you'll notice LOADS of crystals forming on the lower sides and bottom of the container. Your pipe cleaners should also be covered!

Two notes about this batch:

• I threw one pipe cleaner in and let it rest on the bottom, just to see how it went. It worked well, but was hard to pry off the bottom. It has a flat side if you're into that!
• The dark red pipe cleaner did not want to accept many crystals. No idea why. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Step 6: Dry the Crystals and Enjoy!

Pull the crystals out of the solution and lay them on paper towels, switching the towels out when they become damp.

Let the crystals dry thoroughly before messing with them too much. I left mine in the window for an afternoon and they dried out really well. :)

Once the crystals are dry, they're much less likely to break or crack, and will also sound like glass when you tap them together.

Step 7: Tips and Tricks for Growing Borax Crystals

I tried this multiple times so I could give you some tips on what you should and shouldn't do. :D

Less crystals in a container = bigger crystals

In my first batch, I used individual canning jars for the crystals. As you saw, I crammed 7 pipe cleaners into one measuring cup when I made this instructable. I can definitely say the ones grown individually had larger crystals and more of them.

Don't try to add more Borax once the pipe cleaners are in the solution

I attempted this on one of my first tries. I don't recommend it unless you want it to look like one half of your crystal has been covered in lumpy snow. :P

Try to hang the crystals close to the bottom of the container

This was something else that seemed to grow bigger crystals. The pipe cleaners closest to the bottom in the measuring cup definitely ended up with more crystals than the ones hanging near the surface of the solution.

Always, always start with SUPER hot water

Every time I let the crystals start growing in less-than-crazy-hot water, I got pretty meh results. Smaller, cloudier crystals and much more growth on the actual container.

You can reuse the Borax solution over and over!

Bring it to boiling in the microwave, and add more water and Borax as needed. That's another reason I like using the pipe cleaners - instead of putting food coloring into the solution and getting many crystals of the same color, you get tons of colors at once!

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How to Make Slime with Borax

Last Updated: April 21, 2024 Approved

This article was co-authored by Lois Wade . Lois Wade has 45 years of experience in crafts including sewing, crochet, needlepoint, cross-stitch, drawing, and paper crafts. She has been contributing to craft articles on wikiHow since 2007. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 86% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 178,544 times.

Borax is commonly used in quite a few slime recipes, since a solution made of borax powder and water helps the slime to gain its form. Just about any slime can be made with a borax solution, but there are some simple slimes that can be fun for whoever chooses to make them!

If you're looking for slime recipes that don't require borax, check out How to Make Slime Without Borax instead.

Ingredients

Normal slime.

• 1 teaspoon (4.9 ml) borax powder
• 1 cup (240 ml) hot water
• 4 ounces (110 g) glue
• Food coloring (optional)

Fluffy Slime

• 1 ⁄ 2 cup (120 ml) shaving cream

Clear Slime

• 4 ounces (110 g) clear glue

Making Normal Slime

• You probably won't use all your borax solution, so don't be surprised if you have a fair amount left over.

• If your slime is still too sticky, add about a teaspoon of the borax solution and stir or knead it in. Try not to get too much on your hands.

Making Fluffy Slime

• It's unlikely that you'll use all of your borax solution, so don't be surprised if you have a fair amount left over.
• If your slime is too sticky to knead, add in a bit more of the borax solution and knead it in. Be careful not to get too much on your hands.

Making Clear Slime

• You're probably not going to use all of your borax solution, so don't be surprised if you have a fair amount left over.
• If your slime is still too sticky, add in a little bit more borax solution and then knead it in, being careful not to get it on your hands.

Expert Q&A

• You can make various types of slime with a borax solution - try looking up some slime recipes for ideas. Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 2
• Try mixing things into your slime before adding the borax solution. For example, if you add glitter or beads, you can end up with glittery slime or fishbowl slime ! Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Watercolor paints can be used in place of food coloring, but they can stain more. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

• Don't add excess borax to the water. You'll make your slime too hard and may damage your skin. [7] X Research source Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0

Things You'll Need

• Stirring stick or spoon
• Measuring materials

You Might Also Like

• ↑ Lois Wade. wikiHow Crafts Expert. Expert Interview. 30 July 2020.
• ↑ https://www.homesciencetools.com/article/how-to-make-slime/
• ↑ https://artfulparent.com/rainbow-fluffy-slime-recipe/
• ↑ https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/324167.php

About This Article

To make slime with borax, start by mixing together 1 teaspoon of borax powder and 1 cup of hot water to make the borax solution. Next, pour 4 ounces of glue into a bowl, and add 1 to 2 drops of food coloring if desired. Then, add the borax solution to the glue a few teaspoons at a time until the mixture begins to clump and pull away from the bowl. At that point, take the slime out of the bowl and knead it with your hands to help make it less sticky. To learn more, including how to make fluffy slime and clear slime, scroll down. Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Growing Borax Crystals on Pipe Cleaners

This post may contain affiliate links.

If you want a fun and easy science experiment for kids, try growing borax crystals on pipe cleaners. This beautiful experiment forms large crystals in just a few hours, or overnight. Plus, kids love it. Today I am updating an old favorite of ours.

Borax powder is a laundry cleaning product. You’ll find it at the grocery store with the laundry detergents. It is a toxic chemical so make sure you do the pouring with it and wash hands after touching it. They should be safe to hold and play with once completed, as long as kids do not ingest it!

Here is a shot of the first time we tried it a few years back. We did a lot of different shapes.

You can make some amazing crystals with it. Try making a borax crystal snowflake ornament during the holiday. You can also try making borax crystal eggs ~ see my tutorial on that.

How to Make Borax Crystals:

Powdered Borax – The 20 Mule Team Borax was found in the laundry detergent section

Pipe Cleaners

Large Jars or Glasses

Yarn or string

Pencils or craft sticks

The first step to making borax crystals is to make the shapes.  We made a variety of shapes. Twist pipe cleaners into different shapes. You can make hearts, snowflakes, stars, or little balls that really hold the crystals together.

Once you have formed your shapes, tie them to a piece of yarn. You will use this to hang them in your jar. Test the length. You do not want the pipe cleaners to touch the sides or the bottom while the crystals are growing in the jar.

Tie the string to the end of your shapes. Tie the other end of the string to a pencil or craft stick. You want the length to be such that the pencil hangs the shape into the middle of jar.

How to Make the Borax Solution:

Fill your jars with several cups of boiling hot water. We just filled our jars mostly of the way fill. Add borax a little at a time to the boiling water, stirring to dissolve after each addition.

You will need 3-4 Tablespoons of borax for every cup of water. I put about 3/4 c. of borax into our jars.

Stir the water and borax solution until you have dissolved the borax. You want a super saturated solution. It is okay if some undissolved borax settles to the bottom of the jar.

If desired, you can add food coloring to the solution if you want even brighter colors. We didn’t add any because the pipe cleaners were colored.

Hang the pipe cleaner snowflake into the jar so that the pencil rests on top of the jar and the pipe cleaner shapes are completely covered with water and hang freely (not touching the bottom of the jar).

Allow the jar to sit in an undisturbed location overnight, or all day if you do it first thing in the morning. As the solution cools, it will form crystals covering the pipe cleaners and even the yarn hanging them. The leftover borax that settles will crystalize at the bottom of the jar, too!

It will take about 12-24 hours, but your pipe cleaners will be covered in beautiful crystals!

When you remove them from the water, they will be wet, so we set them on some paper towels to absorb the extra water as they dry.

You can trim off the strings, or leave them on, It’s up to you.

My kids simply love these pretty crystals! You can hang your borax crystals as a decoration, on a tree, or in a window to catch the sunlight.

Here is a fun old picture from our first time through with the crystal snowflake and oval shaped crystal!

The Science Behind Borax Crystals:

Borax is also known as sodium borate. It is from the mineral Boron.

Crystals are made up of a repeating pattern of connected molecules. They are usually geometric and angular with smooth sides.

Crystals can be formed with a supersaturated liquid. When you dissolve borax into hot water, it can dissolve more than you could dissolve in cold water.

The heat causes the molecules to move away from each other allowing more to dissolve. As the solution cools, the water molecules move closer together allowing the crystals to form. Cool!

See also how we have made salt crystals and sugar crystals!

Wondering what else to do with your borax after this project? Try making some  SLIME  with it!

Former school teacher turned homeschool mom of 4 kids. Loves creating awesome hands-on creative learning ideas to make learning engaging and memorable for all kids!

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These are great!

Love this and I like that you explain clearly and simply for little ones.

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Making Borax Crystals

November 22, 2023 By Kate 33 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post at no cost to you.

Making borax crystals is a fun science experiment or STEM craft for curious kids. If your kid is crystal-obsessed like mine was when we made this project it’s even better!

We first published these borax crystals in 2014 and has been updated and reshared for today’s audience.

Important: This is a science experiment that needs to be done under adult supervision only. Borax is not safe to use around kids who are likely to try tasting or putting it in their mouth. It can usually be found in the cleaning aisle at the Supermarket or at Bunnings if you live in Australia, or you can order it on Amazon .

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My five-year-old absolutely adores crystals, so when I discovered you can grow your own quickly and easily from Borax I knew this experiment was for her!

You can make these crystal ornaments for Christmas decorating (they’d made great icicles!) or just for fun at any time of year like we did.

Making borax crystals is a perfect weekend science experiment for kids because it’s so simple, plus the crystals are fast growing so we did not have to wait long to see the results of our project.

Not surprisingly, this was a HUGE hit. My daughter was pretty excited to take some of the crystal ornaments to school for news after we made them.

How to make borax crystal ornaments

You will need:

• Borax (we used a whole tub and made lots of ornaments in different colours, but you need not do as many)
• Pipe Cleaners
• Craft sticks
• Jars or glasses
• Food colouring (optional)
• Boiling water

Bend pipe cleaners into different shapes, then tie them with string to the craft sticks.

We learned by experience that it’s important not to make the shapes too large if you are using mason jars because the rim is narrower than the jar itself, and you need to be able to get the crystals out once they have grown. A couple of our jars needed to be smashed to get the crystal out without breaking it.

Fill each jar with boiling water from the kettle and stir in 1/3 cup of Borax until it has all dissolved (an adult must do this step). Add a few drops of food colouring if desired.

Tie the pipe cleaner shapes on to the craft sticks with string and hang over the jar so the pipe cleaner shape is completely immersed in the solution. We managed to fit two pipe cleaner shapes on to each craft stick.

Leave on the shelf for several hours or overnight, until the solution has completely cooled down and crystals have formed on the pipe cleaner.

We made our jars in the morning at around 11:00am and by 3:00pm the crystals had formed, to the girls great excitement.

Allow them to dry on paper towel, then you can hang them as ornaments.

Borax crystal science experiment for kids

• measuring cup

Instructions

1) Bend pipe cleaners into different shapes, then tie them with string to the craft sticks. Make sure the shapes are small enough to pull out of the jar withour bending plus a small amount of space either side for the crystals to grow

2) Fill each jar with boiling water from the kettle and stir in 1/3 cup of Borax until it has all dissolved. Add a few drops of food colouring if desired.

3) Tie the pipe cleaner shapes on to the craft sticks with string and hang over the jar so the pipe cleaner shape is completely immersed in the solution. You can add two to a stick if there is space

4) Leave on the shelf for several hours or overnight, until the solution has completely cooled down and crystals have formed on the pipe cleaner.

5) Take the crystal ornaments out and allow to drain on paper towel before hanging

More STEM craft ideas for kids

• Make an iphone speaker from a paper roll and cup
• These mini lid banjos make a soft strumming sound
• Make a straw swing set or see saw for the toys to play on
• Create a solar oven from a cardboard box
• Make a balloon-powered sponge boat for the bath tub or for outdoor play

June 17, 2014 at 1:48 am

Wow! THis looks great! Borax can be hard to find sometimes (we get it for our homemade laundry detergent!) but we will definitely give this one a go! 🙂 I think we’ll try it tomorrow in fact! Thanks for sharing – they look so great! I think our pipe cleaner shapes will resemble yours quite closely unless I get my thinking hat on!! 😉

June 23, 2014 at 2:14 pm

We also Borax it for making detergent, which is why we had it in the cupboard 🙂 Hope the kids enjoy making them.

June 17, 2014 at 3:07 am

Thanks for this, I’ve been thinking of this experiment for a while but couldn’t remember how to do it exactly, planning to do it real soon with my son. Its so interesting to watch!

June 17, 2014 at 4:27 am

Oh I love that you made these into a mobile! How gorgeous!

June 17, 2014 at 9:07 am

Your crystal ornaments look amazing…what a fun at home rainy day activity!

June 17, 2014 at 11:43 am

Wow they look so pretty 🙂

June 18, 2014 at 10:20 pm

They are so pretty, I keep meaning to try this with my day care kids so thanks for the inspiration!! i already have some borax in the cupboard as i use it for washing powder too.

June 20, 2014 at 8:16 pm

Are they durable or fragile?

June 20, 2014 at 10:22 pm

Hi Denise, they are fairly fragile, more of an interesting experiment than a real crystal to keep forever. They are pretty much just pipe cleaner shapes with crumbly dried crystals all over them.

June 22, 2014 at 11:09 am

They’re really beautiful. Did they really form so quickly? That’s wonderful. I’ve wanted to make some too for a while but had heard that they take quite a while to form and so thought my kids might get a little impatient with them. They are really so lovely though.

June 23, 2014 at 2:12 pm

I was surprised myself how quickly they formed. There are other types of crystals that take much longer to grow like salt and sugar crystals, but we have tried those too and the kids didn’t get impatient but they do like constantly going to check on the “experiment”.

July 29, 2014 at 3:23 pm

How much liquid did you use with the 1/3 cup of borax? I tried the experiment with wide mouth quart jars, and we did not get crystallization. We are trying again today with a new solution with an extra 1/4 cup of borax.

July 29, 2014 at 9:30 pm

We did not measure the amount of water, but just filled the jars tup to around 2/3 full, and they were mostly standard 500g pasta sauce jars. Hope it works this time for you. Try leaving the jars for longer if it doesn’t work. Ours formed very quickly but elsewhere I have read to leave the experiment for 24 hours

December 30, 2014 at 2:47 am

How did you clean it up afterwards? I did this for my chemistry class and now have crystallized beakers.

December 30, 2014 at 6:35 am

We did this a while ago but I think I threw the jars in the recycling, or the garbage for the ones we had to smash to remove the crystals from. They were just recycled food jars and I didn’t need to keep them. Would hot water clean your beakers and dissolve the crystals? I’ve not tried it. Sorry.

May 14, 2015 at 5:29 pm

Will borax powder work? I’m unable to find borax crystals anywheree? Need reply ASAP!

May 14, 2015 at 9:41 pm

The borax powder should work, it is the powder that turns into crystals

September 15, 2015 at 1:41 pm

The ornaments look really cool! Just look at these crystals! I’d never think of using Borax for making crafts. I use it mainly as a cleaner and I think that actually is my favorite green cleaning substance in the house and I always have a box of Borax. Thanks for sharing this cool experiment. I love doing all kinds of crafts so I think that I will also enjoy making Borax crystal ornaments! 🙂 Greets!

September 15, 2015 at 9:20 pm

Fantastic! I should use it more for cleaning too

November 14, 2015 at 10:01 pm

Hi, can you plz tell me how to make sugar and salt crystals? Love the ones u made here! Can u maybe email me?

December 22, 2016 at 10:08 am

Not sure, probably in a similar way to this

December 22, 2016 at 2:05 pm

We did this along with a lesson about the science of snowflakes. My sixth graders loved it. Some of my students decided they wanted to leave them over break to see if the crystals grew even bigger. I just don’t want them to degrade at all and leave them bummed. I will post what happens in case someone else wants to try this!

December 29, 2016 at 4:13 am

Wow, that sounds like it’s going to be interesting

December 21, 2016 at 5:11 pm

Is there such a thing as leaving it in the borax for too long? What would happen if we left it for like a week?

December 22, 2016 at 10:06 am

You could always try it and see 🙂

July 3, 2020 at 10:35 pm

Can i use persil gel instead of borax?

July 5, 2020 at 8:17 am

I’m not familiar with persil gel so I have no idea, but my guess is not

December 10, 2020 at 2:06 pm

Can this be done using plastic cups? I really don’t want to risk tossing my glass jars.

December 11, 2020 at 1:42 pm

I’m not sure, I have only tried this using jars

September 1, 2021 at 11:24 pm

Hello Do you please tell me how you make sugar and salt crystals? Like the ones you made here! Can you email me?

September 2, 2021 at 6:39 am

I’ve never made the sugar or salt version before, but I’m sure you could find a tutorial on Pinterest

September 28, 2021 at 6:34 pm

Hello, can you tell me how to make sugar and salt crystals? Love the people you made here! Can you email me We did this with a lesson on the science of ice flakes? My sixth graders liked it. Some of my students decided that they wanted to drop them off during the break to find out that the crystals had grown even larger.

September 29, 2021 at 6:30 am

I’ve never tried making sugar or salt crystals, sorry. I’m glad you found this tutorial helpful.

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I’m basically a big kid who never grew up and still loves to muck around with paint, glitter, glue and toilet rolls. With the crafts shared here on this website I’m hoping to give other parents and carers inspiration to get crafty with their kids at home – make our projects, or use them as a source of inspiration to spark ideas of your own. When it comes to crafting no rules apply!

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Make slime with glue and borax, you will need.

• Elmer’s glue (most kinds of white craft glue will work)
• 2 disposable cups
• Food coloring (you pick the color)
• Borax Powder (available at most large grocery stores near the laundry detergent)
• A plastic spoon (for stirring)
• A tablespoon (for measuring)
• Fill one small cup with water and add a spoonful of the Borax powder and stir it up. Then set it aside.
• Fill the other small cup with about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of the glue.
• Add three tablespoons (20 ml) of water to the glue and stir.
• Add a few drops of the food coloring and stir it up until mixed.
• Now the fun part…Add one tablespoons of the Borax solution you made earlier and stir well. Watch the slime form!
• After the slime forms let it sit for about 30 seconds and then pull it off the spoon and play with it!

Tip: Keep your slime in a tightly closed plastic bag when you are not playing with it, and keep it away from carpet and your little sister’s hair.

How does it work?

Now for the SCIENCE part…. This POLYMER is unique because it has qualities of both a solid and a liquid. It can take the shape of its containers like a liquid does, yet you can hold it in your hand and pick it up like a solid. As you might know, solid molecules are tight together, liquid molecules spread out and break apart (drops) POLYMER molecules CHAIN themselves together (they can stretch and bend like chains) and that makes them special. Jell-O, rubber bands, plastic soda bottles, sneaker soles, even gum are all forms of polymers. The polymer you made should be kept in a sealed plastic bag when you aren’t playing with it. Also, be sure to keep it away from young kids or pets who might think it’s food. Have fun!

MAKE IT AN EXPERIMENT

The project above is a DEMONSTRATION. To make it a true experiment, you can try to answer these questions:

• How can you make the polymer stretch the farthest?
• Does the amount of Borax added change the slime?
• What method of storage will make the polymer last the longest?
• What brand of glue makes the stretchiest polymer?
• Does the amount of water added to the glue affect the gooeyness of the slime?

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Science Projects Using Borax

How to Mix Calcium Chloride and Water

Borax, or sodium borate, is a powdered household cleaning product sold in most grocery stores, and it can be used in a number of science projects to demonstrate basic chemical principles. Fun projects for younger students use Borax to teach the basics about polymers and crystal formation, while more complex experiments combine borax with metals to demonstrate oxidization and ions to more advanced students. Borax is toxic if swallowed and is an irritant to the eyes. Young children should use borax only under adult supervision.

Borax Polymers

A polymer is a substance with long chains of connected identical molecules. To create a polymer, dissolve 1.5 tablespoons of Borax in 1 cup of warm water and mix with 2 cups of Elmer's glue and 2 more cups of hot water. This creates a putty-like material that can be manipulated to demonstrate how viscosity can change with the application of force. To create a bouncy ball and show how polymer networks can compress and spring back, add cornstarch to the mixture and follow the instructions laid out in the polymer lesson plan from BEAM: Berkeley Engineers and Mentors.

Borax Crystals

To show how crystals form by the process of recrystallization, fill a glass jar with hot, but not boiling, water and dissolve three tablespoons of Borax for each cup of water to create a supersaturated solution. Suspend a string in the solution, making sure it doesn't touch the sides of the jar, and leave it for at least five hours. As the water cools, it is less able to hold the Borax in solution, and some of it crystallizes on the string, forming molecules of interlocking patterns that repeat in an observable structure.

pH Comparisons

The pH scale measures from 1 to 9 how acidic or basic a substance is. To compare the pH of bases and acids, dip strips of pH paper into separate paper cups, one containing lemon juice and another a solution of 1/8 of a teaspoon of Borax and 1/4 cup of water. The lemon juice turns the pH paper red, while the Borax turns it blue. Compare the colors of the pH strips to a pH color chart to see that lemon juice is an acid with a pH of 2, and Borax as a base has a pH of 9.

The Borax Bead Test

For high school students, a more complex experiment uses Borax and a Bunsen burner to demonstrate properties of metal ions. Heat up a chrome-plated paperclip in the Bunsen burner flame and dip it into a pile of dry Borax powder. Return it to the flame and repeat several times until a glassy Borax bead forms on the wire. Dip the bead into water and then into a powdered sample of a metal ion, like copper or iron, and return to the flame. Students should repeat the experiment with several different metals and record their observations as the ion's electrons heat up and turn the Borax bead different colors.

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• Scientific American: Solubility Science - How to Grow the Best Crystals
• Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments: All Lab, No Lecture; Robert Bruce Thompson
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Acid Rain Experiments – Experiment 2 – Determining pH of Common Substances

About the Author

Taylor Echolls is an award-winning writer whose expertise includes health, environmental and LGBT journalism. He has written for the "Valley Citizen" newspaper, where his work won first- and second-place awards in sports and outdoor features from the Idaho Press Club. Echolls holds a B.A. from Mount Holyoke College.

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How to Make Borax Crystal Snowflakes in Minutes!

Categories Winter STEM Activities

In this experiment, kids can learn how to make super fast borax crystal snowflakes!

In this borax crystal recipe, you learn how to make borax crystals fast, eliminating some of the frustrating wait time that often accompanies crystal experiments .

Follow along with our directions to learn how to make your own borax snowflakes in just a few minutes!

How to Make Borax Snowflakes

A crystal is a solid found in nature that naturally forms when molecules bind to create repeating patterns.

Crystals can form when a warm gas cools quickly (like in snowflakes), when molten material cools slowly (gemstones), or when a liquid containing dissolved minerals cools slowly (salt, Borax, Epsom salt, or baking soda crystals).

Making borax snowflakes isn’t difficult or dangerous, and borax snowflakes are beautiful and teach a variety of scientific concepts.

At STEAMsational, we believe that STEM activities for kids should be both comprehensive and fun. That’s why we often do seasonal versions of classic science experiments like these winter science experiments.

The Science Behind Borax Crystals

Borax crystals form due to several scientific principles. First, borax is a mineral powder that forms in a repeating bonded pattern when it is dissolved in liquid. This means that crystals will form in repeating patterns if the borax solution has something to stick to (like the pipe cleaners).

Second, the crystals are able to form because the borax powder is added to create a supersaturated solution. There is too much borax in the liquid for the borax to completely dissolve.

As the liquid cools, the remaining borax molecules cling to the pipe cleaner in the jar, forming large crystals.

How to Dispose of the Crystal Growing Solution

When we first made the borax crystal science project, we were a little afraid of the liquid that remained once the crystals formed around the pipe cleaners.

What if we poured it down the drain and crystals formed inside the pipes?

However, it turns out that there isn’t much risk of this happening. Most of the borax is pulled from the liquid and adheres to the pipe cleaner (that is why the crystals get so large!).

Once the liquid is no longer supersaturated, borax crystals won’t form.

If you’re still worried about your pipes, you can either dispose of your crystal growing solution outdoors on a grassy spot, or you can run hot water while you are pouring the crystal solution down the drain.

One thing you should NEVER do is pour fresh supersaturated borax solution down in your plumbing. This definitely could ruin your pipes.

How Long Do Borax Crystals Last?

Borax crystals aren’t like Epsom crystals or baking soda crystals that melt right away. Borax crystals are quite strong, and they can last months as long as they don’t get wet.

Borax crystals have a rock-like appearance when complete, and they can be used successfully as decorations, Christmas ornaments, and knick-nacks.

Don’t allow children to play with borax crystals, however, as ingesting the crystals or borax residue may cause damage.

More Winter Science Experiments for Kids

Want more winter science fun? Check out these other fun ideas!

Colorful Snow Volcano Experiment Using Real Snow

How to Make an Instant Ice Tower

Frosty and Fun Winter STEM Activities for 3rd Grade

Make Rainbow Ice

Supplies to Make Crystal Snowflakes with Borax

You’ll need these supplies to make Borax crystal snowflakes:

• Borax powder
• Pipe cleaners
• Food coloring (we used blue)
• 3-4 jars (use plastic disposable cups if you don’t want to have to fuss with cleaning the jars after the experiment is over)

If you’re in a rush, these are our favorite weather science kits.

If you want to try even more crystal science, try making Epson salt crystals , or our salt crystal science experiment.

How to Do the Borax Snowflakes Experiment

Follow along with these directions to make your own borax crystal snowflakes in just a few hours. Save the directions for later by printing out the step-by-step directions below!

How to Make Borax Crystal Snowflakes in Under One Hour

Make borax snowflakes fast! Learn how to make big borax crystals in less than a day! You only need 2 ingredients to make these snowflake crystals!

• Stove or hot plate

Instructions

• Boil 8 cups of water in a pot on the stove.
• Add 3 cups of borax powder to the boiling water and boil until the water turns clear. There may be a few borax grains still at the bottom of the pot, but that's perfectly OK, and in fact, better for forming fast borax crystals.
• Pour the liquid into jars and let it cool a little before allowing kids to handle the solution. If you want, dye the liquid with food coloring at this stage.
• While the borax solution is cooling, form pipe cleaners into snowflake shapes. Snowflakes have six points. Make sure the snowflake is small enough to fit easily through the mouth of the jar.
• Leave a longer tail on one snowflake to allow the snowflake to adhere to the top of the jar.
• Attach the long piece of pipe cleaner around the middle of a pencil. Lower the snowflake into the Adjust the height of the pipe cleaner so that the crystal snowflake doesn't touch the bottom of the jar at all.
• Set the jars aside and wait at least one hour.
• Pull them out of the liquid and let them dry on a paper towel before handling the crystals.
• Use a magnifying glass to examine the borax crystals up close. How do they differ from other types of crystals?

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Swirling Borax Slime

The classic slime recipe has to be borax slime ! Used for years, this slime making gem of a recipe makes the most amazing stretchy, squishy slime once you find the correct ratio. We think we have, and we want to share it with you. Try this classic homemade slime recipe the next time you want to make homemade slime .

Is Borax Slime Safe?

The borax slime recipe does get a bad rap, but done correctly, it should not be harmful at all. This slime recipe has been floating around for years, and while I don’t suggest using it daily, I do think it’s worth a try!

If you have sensitive skin, you may want to wear gloves or skip this slime activator and try one of our other basic  slime recipes . They also contain borons but may be gentler on your skin. If you have an issue with laundry detergents, I suggest you skip this in favor of one of our other recipes.

Most slime recipes will use some form of boron as slime activators. Unless you are going for taste-safe slime , you must use some form of boron, like borax powder, sodium borate, or boric acid, to form the slime.

>>> Borax Free, Best Slime Recipes Guide

Note: I always recommend that adults handle the borax powder while supervising their kids. This is NOT taste-safe. Please don’t eat this slime, and wash hands and works surfaces thoroughly.

This past week, we have had some fun experimenting with the ratio of borax powder to water and found that if we used a bit less borax, we make an even stretchier slime.

Clear glue needs the new ratio as I noted in our CLEAR GLUE SLIME RECIPE , but white glue is a bit more forgiving.

WATCH THE SLIME VIDEO! (This slime making video uses clear glue but white works just fine too!)

Basic Slime Recipes  

Our holiday, seasonal, and everyday slimes use one of five simple slime recipes that are super easy to make! We always make slime, and these have become our favorite slime recipes!

• Saline Solution Slime Recipe
• Liquid Starch Slime Recipe
• Fluffy Slime Recipe
• Glitter Glue Slime Recipe
• Borax Slime Recipe (shown below)

Usually, you can interchange several ingredients depending on what you have on hand for slime supplies.

Here we use our Borax Slime recipe . Slime with borax powder is one of our favorite  sensory play recipes! We make it ALL the time because it is quick and easy to whip up. Three simple ingredients {one is water} are all you need. You clear, white, or even glitter glue and you’re all set!

Where do I buy borax powder?

We pick up our borax powder in the grocery store! You can also find it on Amazon, Walmart, and Target.

Now if you don’t want to use borax powder, test out one of our other basic recipes using liquid starch or saline solution . We have tested all these slime recipes with equal success!

NOTE: We have found that Elmer’s specialty glues tend to be a bit stickier than Elmer’s regular clear or white glue, and so for this type of glue, we always prefer our 2 ingredients’ basic glitter slime recipe .

Read more on the science behind the slime below and grab a free printable slime recipe cheat sheet with our four basic slime recipes!

The Science of Slime

We always like to include a bit of homemade slime science around here! Slime is an excellent chemistry demonstration, and kids love it too! Mixtures, substances, polymers, cross-linking, states of matter, elasticity, and viscosity are just a few science concepts that can be explored with homemade slime!

What’s slime science all about? The borate ions in the slime activators  (sodium borate, borax powder, or boric acid) mix with the PVA (polyvinyl acetate) glue and forms this cool stretchy substance. This is called cross-linking!

The glue is a polymer of long, repeating, and identical strands or molecules. These molecules with flow past one another and keep the glue liquid. Until…

You add the borate ions to the mixture,  and it then starts to connect these long strands together. They begin to tangle and mix until the substance is less like the liquid you started with and thicker and rubberier like slime! Slime is a polymer.

Picture the difference between wet spaghetti and leftover spaghetti the next day. As the slime forms, the tangled molecule strands are much like a clump of spaghetti!

>>> What is Slime? Read more about slime science here.

Is slime a liquid or solid?

We call it a Non-Newtonian fluid because it’s a bit of both! Experiment with making the slime more or less viscous with varying amounts of foam beads. Can you change the density?

Did you know that slime aligns with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)? 

It does and you can use slime making to explore states of matter and its interactions. Find out more below…

• NGSS Kindergarten
• NGSS First Grade
• NGSS Second Grade

Free Printable Borax Slime Recipe

Swirling Slime Tip

Want to make colorful swirling slime? We made several batches of the full slime recipe but then divided them in half so we could enjoy the swirling process a little longer. You can even get a cool tie-dye effect if you pick up the swirled colors gently and stretch them out!

We put the first set of slime we layered into a mason jar and then slowly pulled it all out! The colors mix and mingle as they come out of the jar.

The second set of slime we played out in strips on our tray. All you need to do is pick up the three ends with your fingers, lift straight up, and swirl around on the tray. Squish it, stretch it, mix it!

You will end up with purple slime in the end, and it will be a huge amount.

Borax Slime Recipe

I always encourage my readers to read through our recommended  slime supplies  list and How To Fix Slime  Guide before making slime for the first time. Learning how to stock your pantry with the best slime ingredients is easy!

Slime Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Clear or White PVA School Glue
• 1/4 tsp Borax Powder
• 1 cup of Water
• Optional: Food coloring, confetti, glitter, and other fun mix-ins

Watch the Video:

How to make slime with borax.

STEP 1: Mix 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup of glue in a bowl. M ix well to combine completely.

STEP 2: Now’s the time to add (color, glitter, or confetti)! Remember, when you add color to white glue, the color will be lighter. Use clear glue for jewel-toned colors!

STEP 3: Make up your slime activator by mixing together 1/4 tsp borax powder and 1/2 cup warm water in a separate bowl. Hot tap water is fine and does not need to be boiled. An adult best does this step . Spend a minute stirring to ensure the borax powder is well mixed in.

STEP 4:  Add the borax slime activator solution {borax powder and water} to the glue/water mixture. Start stirring! Your slime will begin to form instantly. Keep stirring until your slime has formed and remove immediately to a dry container.

With our new borax powder-to-water ratio, you should not have any leftover liquid in the bowl. If you do, keep stirring. With higher ratios of borax to water, you may have leftover liquid.

STEP 5:  Start kneading your slime! It will appear stringy at first but work it around with your hands, and you will notice the consistency changes. 

You can also knead the slime in the bowl before you pick it up. This slime is stretchy but can be stickier. However, keep in mind that although adding more activators (borax powder) reduces the stickiness, it will eventually create a stiffer slime. You can always add, but you can’t take it away!

Turn It Into A Slime Science Experiment

We tested several ratios of borax to water, including 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, and 1 tsp to 1/2 cup of hot water with white glue. We used about six drops of neon food coloring in pink, blue, and purple for each batch of borax slime.

This was an excellent slime science experiment (see more ideas here) , and we made three batches of equally awesome but different slimes. It’s a great lesson in mixtures, polymers, and viscosity.

As you might imagine, the less borax used, the looser or slimier the slime. The more borax used, the thicker, more putty-like the slime.

How To Store Slime

Slime lasts quite a while! I get a lot of questions regarding how I store my slime. We use reusable containers in either plastic or glass. Make sure to keep your slime clean and it will last for several weeks.

If you want to send kids home with a bit of slime from a camp, party, or classroom project, I would suggest packages of reusable containers from the dollar store or grocery store or even Amazon. For large groups, we have used condiment containers and labels as seen here .

We have the best resources to look through before, during, and after making your borax slime! Make sure to go back and read the slime science too!

Helpful Slime Making Resources

These are the best resources to look through before, during, and after making your awesome fruit scented slime! We talk more about slime science below too.

• Slime Activator List
• What is slime?
• What You Need To Make Slime
• Amazing Benefits Of Playing With Slime
• Best Slime Ideas
• How To Make Slime Less Sticky
• How To Get Slime Out Of Clothes And Hair

More Fun Slime Recipes To Try

If your kids love playing with this stretchy swirling borax slime, why not try more favorite slime ideas…

• Fluffy Slime
• Cloud Slime
• Clear Slime
• Glitter Slime
• Galaxy Slime
• Butter Slime

Grab the Ultimate Slime Recipe Bundle

All the best homemade slime recipes in one place with plenty of fantastic extras!

• Pingback: 25 Slime Science Experiments Kids Love - Natural Beach Living

FInally, a simple recipe for a first timer!!!! Thank you sssooo much and my kids definitely thanks you too because this is the first time I’ve let them make it lol

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