Make Your Own Crystals

It's not everyday you get a book with a glow in the dark cover. 

Okay, for me, it's not ANY day because I've never seen anything this awesome before! 

  We recently got the latest from the creative minds behind Kids Activities Blog, The 101 Coolest Simple Science Experiments . I opened it up and couldn't help myself from saying, "WOW!"

"What?" Kay asked.

"This book *glows in the dark*!" I exclaimed.

​"WOW!" 

  But even better than the cover is the contents. Kay immediately started flipping through the pages and picking out all the experiments she wanted to do. I just love when she gets excited about science!

  The next day I was cleaning out some craft stuff and found Epsom salt - perfect! One of the experiments Kay had added a Post-It note to mark the page was a crystal experiment with Epsom salt. 

  I got all the materials together and had it ready when she got home from school. Usually she's not into much of anything when she gets home - she's stressed out and needs to unwind - but when I mentioned crystals she was all in.

Supplies: 

• 1/4 cup Epsom salt
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 1/2 tablespoon rubbing alcohol
• Couple drops of dish soap (supposed to help the crystals come off the glass when you're ready to wash it)
• Brush (we used a sponge brush)
• Bowl for mixing
• Glass bowl 

  I had tried growing crystals with Epsom salt before and had zero luck, but this was a different technique so I was hopeful. Since we only had 1/4 cup of Epsom salt, we ended up halving all the ingredients that the book told us, but since our glass bowl was so tiny we still had way more than we needed anyway. 
​
  First, mix the Epsom salt with the water and mix. If it doesn't dissolve completely, you can put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. We did that and still didn't get a 100% dissolve rate, but it didn't matter in the least. 

​  Then we added the rubbing alcohol (Kay: "Eww...I got it on me! That's okay, now I'll smell like a hospital!" And that's a good thing...why?) and the dish soap. Kay mixed everything together and then I told her to "paint" the mixture on the glass. She thought that was completely nutty, but she went with it. 

  We put the glass bowl, with the painted-on concoction, in the fridge, because the book mentioned it works even faster that way. I can't say anything for the speed; we went out and came back an hour later to find beautiful in our fridge! The crystals had formed where Kay had brushed on the mixture, leaving a magnificent frost-like look. 
​

 Kay was less impressed. "Oh, I thought it would be big crystals I could pick up." She was so much easier to impress when she was 4!

  But she had a change of heart when I called them "frozen fractals". Then she was more excited and even broke into song. ("Let It Go" anyone?)