Grow Glow & Show Crystal Science: Experiment 2

Crystal Growing Kit for Kids

Let’s continue our exploration of crystals and how they are made! The Grow, Glow, & Show Crystal Science Kit includes not only inventive crystal experiments but will encourage young minds to think deeper. Here’s another STEM activity your young ones will enjoy!

Too Much or Not Enough?

We’ve learned in the last experiment how temperatures can change when different ingredients are mixed with water. I think it’s time to see some crystals! In order to grow crystals, we need to consider the water temperature and the ingredient amount. How much do we need of sugar, salt, or urea to create a crystal?

1. What you’ll need from the kit are the three Petri dishes (leave the labels on from the last experiment), the yellow measuring spoon, urea, a beaker, and 3 litmus paper rounds. From home, collect sugar, salt, a stapler (or tape), and food coloring or colored markers. 

2. After thoroughly cleaning out the Petri dishes from the last experiment, you’ll need to add 10 mL of water to each dish using the beaker. 

3. Use the yellow measuring spoon and add one spoonful of sugar to Petri dish 1, clean the spoon and scoop one spoonful of salt into Petri dish 2, clean the spoon and scoop one spoonful of urea into Petri dish 3. 

Mix each ingredient thoroughly in each dish. And repeat! Continue to add a spoonful and stir of each ingredient to their respective dishes until the grains will not dissolve anymore. HINT: you are creating a saturated solution! Which simply means a very intense sugary, salty, or urea-filled liquid!

4. Take a marker, or food coloring, and color each litmus round a different color. It doesn’t need to be completely colored-in. This will help us see the crystals better and to remember which solution is which! 

5. With your three decorated litmus papers, tear one side but only to the middle. This will help us shape the paper into a cone. Fold one end over the other and viola! Secure the cone with a staple or tape. Staples are recommended since water may effect the tape’s stickiness. 

6. Place one litmus cone in each Petri dish with the point up! In 2-5 days, you’ll see some crystals!  

The Results

Here are mine after 4 days. You can see I didn’t add enough sugar to dish 1. The crystals are starting to form, but more should be present. 

Dish 2 is rocking it! The salt crystals grew within a day and are still thriving. I accidentally spilled some solution on the table and didn’t realize it until the crystals formed there too! 

The urea in Dish 3 also did well and created an interesting pattern along the base of the Petri dish. I do think I could have used a few more spoonfuls of urea overall. 

How did your experiment go?

Use the magnifying glass in the kit to really get a closer look. Then record your findings in your Scientific Journal! Check out the video of what the setup process looks like.