Growing crystals for children. How to grow a crystal. Chemical experiments are not just fun

When a child has already matured, along with pride comes the realization that it is increasingly difficult to interest him in something, surprise him and seriously captivate him. There is, however, a way that many people forget about, but such a pastime will be remembered for a lifetime. “What kind of game is this?” - the reader will ask. Nothing complicated or expensive, just show your child what it is. For children, this lesson will be a colossal discovery. After all, this is the creation of amazing things with your own hands, which happens literally before your eyes!

The answer to this question is simple in the book version: this is the ordered structure of a solid substance. It seems like nothing complicated, but it’s much easier to understand the appearance of this miracle of nature on own experience. Although in fact we see crystal growth every winter. There is nothing for children more interesting than that how snowflakes appear and beautiful pattern on the window. But in fact, these are all crystals too! They appear when the water temperature gradually decreases; moisture particles are attracted and form beautiful crystals. After thinking about it, the child will certainly become interested in where else he can see a similar phenomenon. Then salt and sugar will come to the rescue. Their small grains are also crystals. And my mother’s precious box, which contains various stones. It doesn’t matter whether it’s artificial rhinestones or natural precious minerals. They will help show the child all the perfection of lines, and also inspire him to create such beauty. Moreover, equipment for growing crystals is in every home, and reagents are in the kitchen.

Is it impossible to grow a crystal at home?

Maybe! To do this, you need to prepare a container in which it is convenient to create the solution. It is best to use a saucepan or other metal container suitable for heating. You will also need a regular spoon for stirring the solution, a narrow deep container in which the crystals will be grown at home. This could be a flask, a jar, a large glass or a transparent vase. In addition, you need to stock up on a piece of polyester) and a jumper stick on which the crystal will be hung. A pencil or pen will do for these purposes. The base of the crystal will be a ready-made small pebble; you need to worry about its availability in advance.

What can you create a crystal from at home?

The crystal can be grown from ordinary kitchen salt. This option is the simplest and does not require additional costs and time for going to a chemical store to buy a reagent. Growing crystals from crystals requires the constant presence of parents; it is best to carry out such an experiment only under the guidance of adults. But using sugar syrup and growing crystals for children from this tasty product will be a doubly enjoyable process. Having admired the result enough, you can eat it and start working again.

This is probably very difficult and long...

There is nothing complicated in the process itself. Instructions for growing crystals consist of the following steps:

• preparation of equipment and reagents;
• creating a supersaturated saline solution;
• installing the base for the crystal in the container;
• creating a new solution and moving a ready-made crystal into it;
• enjoying the outcome of the experience.

The basis of a beautiful crystal is the correct composition for the solution!

To create a crystal as transparent as a tear, it is best to use it. Its advantage is that it is industrially purified from salt impurities that can disrupt the structure of the finished mineral. But plain tap water will also work; it can be pre-purified using a household filter.

Salt is dissolved in water in several passes. Heating the water to 50 degrees and constantly maintaining this temperature will significantly facilitate the process of dissolving the salt. After each addition of the reagent, you need to let it stand for several minutes and then mix thoroughly. You need to add salt to the water until it stops dissolving and begins to settle at the bottom. Now salt water you need to remove particles of debris and dirt that are caught in the salt; to do this, just strain it through gauze or cotton cloth into a clean container in which the crystal will grow.

Seed placement

Growing crystals for children is interesting precisely because of the process itself, so the next stage can be safely entrusted to a young chemist. For the base, you can take a beautiful pebble, rhinestone, or just a large and even crystal of salt. The shape of the future mineral will depend on how it is installed in the saline solution. A seed placed at the bottom of the container will grow upward, while its bottom will remain flat, and if hung on a thread tied through a jumper and left in this position, it will attract salt particles from all sides - and the resulting the crystal can be of a unique and bizarre shape.

The container should be tightly covered and placed in a dark place, preferably in a closet, for several days. This substance is very sensitive to drafts, vibrations and temperature changes, so it is important to ensure stable environmental conditions.

Crystal in a couple of days

In just a few days you will be able to see the first results, the crystal will gradually grow, but in order for this process not to stop, you need to change the solution, because the old one has already given up a significant part of the salt. The crystal must be given time to reach significant size. Most often it takes three to four weeks, but the result is worth it.

Copper sulfate crystals

If you don’t want to wait that long or want to try something new, you can try growing crystals from copper sulfate. Before starting work, you need to explain to the child that this substance is very toxic and can only be handled with gloves; if the solution gets on the skin, mucous membranes, or is accidentally ingested, immediate action must be taken.

If for crystals from table salt the quality of water plays a mediocre role, then growing crystals from copper sulfate requires exclusively distilled water. Vitriol reacts very easily and quickly with other chemical elements, and tap water is not ideally clean and transparent. You also need to thoroughly wash the container in which the composition will be mixed, and it is best to pour boiling water over it. This once again indicates that parents should engage in such experiments with their child. All subsequent actions do not differ from the previous method, but the result will not be long in coming. The first grains form after a couple of hours.

Is it worth buying ready-made kits?

When there is no desire or opportunity to select containers and materials for making natural beauties, you can always use ready-made kits. Moreover, you can buy a kit for growing crystals in any department of children's toys, stationery or at specialized points of sale.

Such kits differ from each other, first of all, in the composition of the reagents and the seed. It is already included in the set and can be not only in the form of a small stone, but also in the shape of a heart, animal, butterfly, flower or even a tree trunk. The kits contain all the necessary equipment for growing crystals, and color additives mixed with sodium chloride or copper sulfate will help create a colored mineral, making it more attractive.

The prices for the sets are very reasonable, it all depends on the level of complexity. The simplest one can be purchased for up to 300 rubles, samples for growing a large crystal correct form will cost more - from 500 to 800 rubles. A set for growing crystals can be a wonderful gift for any occasion, and if a child enjoys such experiments, then a large selection of sets will help create a unique collection of minerals that will decorate any home.

Chemical experiments are not only fun!

It is sometimes difficult to distract modern children from computer games, much less to interest them in science. But, as practice shows, this state of affairs can and should be corrected by offering a truly worthwhile activity. And what could be better than to conduct real crystal growing, perhaps it will be the first step towards great discoveries!

Such popular children's toys as plastic construction sets and blocks will surprise few people, much less children, whose imagination in many ways exceeds that of adults. Sometimes the only way to please a child - to show him a real miracle, such as growing crystals at home. This game is strikingly different from boring school experiments, because the child will see with his own eyes how new crystal structures will be created literally before his eyes. Under the watchful supervision of parents, the child will be able to see crystal growing much earlier than the school curriculum requires.

Any modern kit is very inexpensive, allowing you to recreate the growing of a ruby ​​or the completely unimaginable under normal conditions growing of sapphire crystals more than once. The value of such a set is extremely great, because the child himself will be able to verify the possibility of all chemical reactions and will better understand some of the laws of the universe. Knowing all this, you are unlikely to refuse to please your child with such wonderful entertainment. Remember that growing crystals for children at this stage can be just a game: this process will prepare the preschooler for a more intensive educational process at school and teach him to show interest in the unknown.

In this catalog you will find many examples of an excellent set of chemical experiments for children:

• Yellow and purple crystals: 2 in 1;

Each set presents its own special methods of growing. Each of them is unique. At the same time, growing such creations right in your home is absolutely safe for you and your child. The kits do not contain any toxic substances, which means once again proves the benefits of such toys. If you already have other types of Professor Ein toys, then this one will be the perfect addition to your overall educational game collection. After all, they will be able to diversify children’s leisure time. Chemical experiments begin very simply - all you need is a saucer with hot water to trigger the magical reaction! With the help of such an amazing spectacle, chemistry will no longer be a boring subject for a child. Don’t be surprised if your child wants to try growing something again in the future - you can buy a new set from us.

Video about crystal growing technology:

Let’s try it at the “Young Explorer” mug (you can also do it at home) grow crystals a wide variety of shapes, sizes and even colors. If we use salt or sugar as a material for crystallization, and to obtain a colored crystal, we use copper sulfate, thanks to which the crystal will turn out to be a beautiful blue color….

Copper sulfate crystal

We will need:

• Copper sulfate (bought at a hardware store);
• Water. It is better to use distilled water (you can buy it at an auto supply store) or use regular boiled water.
• ​ Glass cup or jar;
• ​ Thread. Button or paper clip.
• ​ Stick or regular pencil;
• ​ Colorless nail polish.
• ​ Rubber gloves.

Attention! We wear gloves when working with copper sulfate!

Step 1. Prepare a supersaturated solution. Pour approximately 300 ml of water into a jar (glass). We begin to add copper sulfate. Add a tablespoon and stir. The vitriol will dissolve very quickly. Add another spoon and stir again. It is important to add it gradually. We do this until the salt begins to settle at the bottom. If you still have undissolved crystals, you can slightly heat the jar in a water bath. It is necessary to achieve complete dissolution of vitriol in water.

Step 2. While the solution cools, prepare the “seed”. You need to straighten the paper clip and thread it through the button. If you do not find such a paper clip, you can use a piece of wire. The length of the wire should be such that the button is in the middle of the can.

Step 3. We place the seed on the thread inside the jar with the solution. In this case, the seed should not touch the walls of the vessel or its bottom. Therefore, we tie a thread to a stick or pencil in the middle. Place a pencil across the neck of the jar.

Step 4. We leave the structure alone and wait until crystals begin to form. Copper sulfate crystals grow somewhat faster than salt or sugar crystals. When the crystal reaches the desired size, remove it from the solution and cut the thread.

Step 5(optional) In order to give the crystal an even more attractive look, cover it with colorless nail polish.

Things to remember:

The more saturated the solution, the faster the crystallization will occur. After a day or two, you can carefully remove the crystal from the solution, and replace the solution itself with a new, more saturated one.

Keep the crystal away from small children. After all, copper sulfate crystals are so beautiful that children will definitely want to taste them.

You can also grow crystals with your own hands from sugar, copper sulfate and colored salt.

Salt crystals. "Crystals are snowflakes"

Pour boiling water into a half-liter jar. You can just use hot water, but the hotter it is, the faster the crystals will form. Now we’ll start adding salt there, stirring thoroughly. We need to get a supersaturated saline solution - i.e. salt must be added until it stops dissolving in water.

When we make a supersaturated saline solution, dissolving more salt in a jar of water than it can “accept,” the excess salt immediately begins to form crystals again. The source of crystal growth can be any body in water: an undissolved crystal of the same salt or a thread. Therefore, when we dip our snowflake into a saline solution, salt crystals immediately begin to grow on it.

Sugar crystals

You will need ingredients: wide mouth jars or glasses, wooden skewers, clothespins, food coloring, flavoring, lots of sugar and lots of patience!

The proportion you will need is 10 cups of sugar to 4 cups of water. Pour 4 cups of water into a saucepan and add 4 cups of sugar, put on fire (note that our solution will increase in volume, take a larger saucepan), bring to a boil over medium heat and add the rest of the sugar, stirring regularly. When the sugar has all dissolved, set the pan off the heat for 15 minutes.

While our solution is cooling, prepare the sticks. Soak them in water, then put them in sugar to start the formation of crystals, the sticks are wet - the sugar will stick. After this, be sure to let the sticks with sticking sugar dry completely; if the sticks are even slightly damp, you won’t succeed when you place them in a hot sugar solution, all the sugar will fall off and there will be nothing for new crystals to grow on.

Pour sugar syrup into glass jars or glasses, add food coloring. Slowly lower the sticks into the solution and secure with clothespins. Please note that the sticks do not touch either the bottom of the jar or each other; there should be a distance between them so that crystals can grow over them.

Children are unusually inquisitive. They want to know everything in the world. Give them this opportunity. A great way to get to know the natural world and chemistry is to grow crystals at home. It will be interesting for adults too. The process itself is incredibly exciting.

Today, every parent can purchase crystal growing kits for their child. They allow you to carry out a kind of scientific experiment at home, which will certainly interest your baby. The child’s age can be any. The set itself is designed for children from 10 years old, but under the guidance of adults you can conduct experiments with younger children.

Growing crystals is a fun game that will not only lift your child’s spirits, but also make him think logically. The game is inexpensive, and the child will have many memories from the growing process.

What is the kit?

The crystal growing kit is usually packaged in a box with the color at the top indicating the color the product will be dyed. If you've chosen one but want to change, it's easy to do. Ordinary food coloring will help you. They will allow you to choose any shade at your discretion.

The set contains:

1. Reagent with grains of dye.
2. Plastic container with a lid. It is in it that the crystal will grow.
3. Small pebble. It acts as the basis.
4. Spoon. It will be useful to stir the resulting solution.
5. Instructions. It shows the entire algorithm of actions step by step.

Once you unpack everything, it's like being transported to a chemistry lab. This is facilitated by a special atmosphere that will accompany you throughout the entire experience. You will need to pour the reagent into a container, fill it with water to the mark and place the pebble on the bottom. After this, select a place where the crystal will grow. It is important not to touch or move the container so that growth is as fast as possible and formation is correct. After this, you just need to enjoy what is happening and wait for the process to complete.

Pros of the set

Growing a crystal is a fascinating process that also has some advantages. Among them are the following:

1. An extremely simple and understandable process.
2. Absence of any difficulties.
3. The kit contains all the materials and tools that will be needed at all stages.
4. The ability to independently experiment in the chemical field.
5. Completely safe.
6. An opportunity to develop a child’s passion for science and interest in knowledge.
7. A great way to spend time productively.

The child will be really happy to conduct such experiments, and the time spent with adults will definitely benefit him. The set will be useful to you if you want your child to develop comprehensively and strive to learn something new. The child will enjoy this experience and will contribute to the desire to learn something new.

If you want to find simple and safe experiments for children, the process of crystal growth is just that. It will not cause any difficulties during the entire growing stage and will definitely please the child. If you didn't grow crystals as a child, you will also be interested in watching what happens. Experiment with your children, promoting their comprehensive development.

Children are fascinated by everything unusual, and what could be more amazing than growing crystals! Especially when you can watch them grow. Fortunately, today parents have enough opportunities to conduct similar experiments at home. Growing crystals for children is a real journey into elementary chemistry and knowledge of natural phenomena. Today I will show you what beauties grew out of our set, I will tell you which color behaved better, we will analyze several interesting facts about the object of study.

Hello dear blog readers, I am sure that none of you will be indifferent to the correct edges of the crystals. It’s as if they were specially carved into smooth polyhedra by someone. My son, who is now 6 years 3 months old, has always been fascinated by the transparent stones in my jewelry, he is like Kai from “ Snow Queen”, could spend hours looking at their cut. Based on this interest, we have already grown, as well as for Valentine's Day. And although we still had a little borax left, we wanted to continue experiments with these magnificent solids. To do this, I purchased the Amazing Crystals set (ours is in the American version of Crystal Growing). A similar one of the same brand is available in Ozone.

Set for children

It includes:

1. 3 packets of ammonium phosphate.
2. 3 small packs:
   white powder (Potassium aluminum sulfate);
   blue (potassium aluminum sulfate, sodium chloride and sparkling blue dye);
   red (Potassium aluminum sulfate and amaranth).
3. Container for boiling water.
4. Transparent containers in 3 sizes for growing and later protecting from dust.
5. Covers for mounting ready-made solids.
6. Cardboard rings.
7. Measuring spoon.
8. Instructions.

Growing crystals for children - instructions

So, let's follow the instructions:

Adult help is required!

1. We take 200 ml of clean water, the transparency of the final product depends on its purity, bring it to 100 degrees or just to a boil. Pour boiling water into a container specially designated for this (you can use a regular glass).
2. Pour the contents of one large packet into a container of boiling water and stir until everything is dissolved. Let cool for 15 minutes, it is better to use a water thermometer. The ideal temperature is 40 degrees Celsius.
3. Pour the cooled liquid into a hexagonal container, and we will grow it in it. Wait another 30 minutes for the mixture to stabilize.
4. Now we choose the color that we would like to have: in the brochure there is a separate paragraph that describes how you can mix colors to get purple, pink, soft blue. Or choose the main ones. At this stage, you need to take into account that the container should be in a place where it is convenient to observe growth and there will be no need to move it for 4-7 days. For proper formation, a temperature of about 20 degrees Celsius is needed. Therefore, you should choose a warm room or place the container on the refrigerator, where it will also be warm.
5. Carefully, using a measuring spoon, pour the contents of a small bag, distributing evenly over the entire surface of the water. DO NOT MIX!
6. We monitor the process every 2-3 hours. If the conditions are met, the crystals will grow by about 50mm on the first day. And they will become taller about 40mm in 4-7 days. The size depends on the environment in which they are kept; in the cold the process will take longer, in isolated cases it can take up to several weeks.
7. If after 2-3 days small crystalline formations appear on the walls of the container, you need to place the cardboard ring on top, which is included in the kit. It will help stop the “escaping” of the material.
8. As soon as the crystals have grown, you need to pour the liquid from the container, holding the contents with your hand. The liquid cannot be used a second time, so make sure the process is completed. To see what size it has grown in colored water, shine a flashlight on it.
9. Gently rinse the finished specimens with clean water. Don't pour too much, it may damage them! Wash the containers in which they were located and wipe dry. Take lid covers that have not been used before. Place your beauties on a stand and cover the top with a hexagonal shaped container.
10. Now you can admire it!

Our experience

In addition to what was included in the kit, my son and I used a kitchen clock with a timer and a thermometer. This helped us track precise waiting times without being distracted from other activities. My boy has already had to determine the temperature of water, but repetition will not hurt in the learning process.

We chose the colors white (primary) for the large container, blue (primary) for the medium size, and another one mixed (red and blue), in the hope of getting purple. This photo shows that in clear water after 45-50 minutes formations have already appeared. The colored contents have just been poured out of a medium-sized container and are gradually sinking to the bottom.

And after 2 hours it became clear that in “purple”, I put quotation marks, since he did not become one, it was impossible to see anything. In this regard, I advise you not to mix paints if you want to observe the formation process. But in white, the growth was clearly visible!

Our jars stood near the glass door to the terrace. In the Dominican Republic, where we live, it is almost always hot. But this January turned out to be wonderful! The temperature remained around +20+28 Celsius for almost the entire month. And yet sun rays periodically “they gave us a show.” This is what the blue growing crystal looked like after 2 days.

Then we went to the sea for three days and upon returning immediately began “bathing” our beauties. A small parade of stars:

This is what happened when mixing red and blue:

Now they stand under the caps in which they grew up, and the son can look at them and admire them to his heart’s content.

You may also be interested in the following sets:

AND this one, its contents can be viewed in the video:

How does this work?

When we pour the crystalline complex into very hot water, it breaks into tiny particles. These particles are much smaller than our eyes can see. Now we have a crystalline solution, it is so dense that if we poured more powder into it, it would no longer be able to dissolve.

Slowly the water cools, some of it evaporates. Now it cannot keep the contents dissolved and the particles begin to gather in groups. Over time, others also attach themselves to them and the groups become united. The joining occurs in an organized way, making the crystals we see have straight, flat edges.

Dear parents, I hope my article was interesting for you and made you want to repeat the experience. Growing crystals for children is a truly interesting activity, and, importantly, spending time together with their parents. Please share with me in the comments if you have already tried growing crystals at home? What were they made of? What shape? And with this I say goodbye to you, until the next interesting articles. And don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss them!