Borax Snowflakes and Snowballs

This is a fun and easy overnight activity that requires adult supervision. All you need are light pipe cleaners (white is best), borax, hot water, stick and string. Borax can be found in the laundry row at your local store.

We made a few mistakes along the way but were successful in the end. 

First off, know you will need quite a bit of borax for your oversaturated solution. 

We were successful using 3 Tablespoons of borax per cup of water. 

Also, using boiling water helps more of the borax solution dissolve. 

Hot water is necessary for creating the super saturated solution.

The larger the snowflake, the larger the jar required and the more borax you will need. 

For the smaller snowflakes, we cut a pipe cleaner into thirds and twisted together. In order to fit it into a pint mason jar, we also ended up trimming the ends of the snowflake. 

It is important that no part of the pipe cleaner snowflakes touches the sides or bottom of the jar. 

Be sure you stir the borax solution until it is nearly all dissolved. Then tie a string on the top of your snowflake and attach to a stick that fits over the mouth of the jar. Dangle the snowflake and position so it is clear of the jar sides and bottom. 

We pulled a string through white pom poms with a large craft needle and hung. 

Let rest overnight without disturbing (moving). 

Be sure to wash your hands after handling the borax solution. 

After the over saturated solution cools, the borax solution will settle out, creating crystals. Many of the crystals will settle on the pipe cleaner or suspended object. 

Pull gently out of the solution and hang to dry.

A few other tips.....

We ran out of light pipe cleaners and used black and white striped pipe cleaners. We didn't care much for the look. White or very light pink really looks best.

You can add food coloring to add a tint to the crystals. We added only 3 drops per cup of water. 

The results were barely noticeable. We would suggest at least 6 drops per cup of water to create a stronger tint. 

With black and white striped pipe cleaners.

After removing the snowflakes, you can dump the water solution. You will notice a thick layer of borax crystals on the bottom of your jar. If creating more snowflakes, redissolve with hot water and reduce Borax to 2 Tablespoons per cup of water to compensate for the leftover borax. 

Also, since borax should not be ingested, hang your snowflake out of reach of young children and handle gently to avoid crystals crumbling and dropping on the floor and in the reach of babies and toddlers.