Crystal Growing Experiment

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

The first picture in this lesson showed crystals.

There are many types of beautiful crystals and gemstones that can be found on the earth. Take a look at some of the crystals and gemstones below.

• Which one is your favorite? Why? Share your answer with your parent or teacher.

These aren’t the only crystals and gems that can be found on Earth! There are many more types that come in different shapes, sizes, textures, and colors. In this lesson, you will create your own crystals.

Before beginning an experiment, scientists always think of a question to answer. For this experiment, your question will be, "How do crystals grow?"

The experiment you will conduct will teach you about how crystals form. Before you start the experiment, you will need to gather some supplies. Round up all the supplies on the list below:

• clear cup (glass or plastic)
• water
• pot
• tablespoon
• stove
• pipe cleaners
• string
• pencil
• Borax
• food coloring

Once you have all of your supplies ready, read the experiment description below:

In this experiment, you will use the materials you collected to experiment with crystal creation.

You learned about the experiment you will be conducting, and now you will be making a prediction. The scientific word for prediction is the word "hypothesis." You will create a hypothesis that tells what you think the result of the experiment will be. Your job is to come up with a hypothesis that tells:

• what will happen at the end of the experiment
• what your crystals will look like
• what your crystals will feel like

Read the example hypothesis below. You can use the italicized part as your hypothesis starter:

"If I mix the ingredients for this experiment, then I will grow crystals that will be small, blue, and rough."

You saw an example of a hypothesis. It’s your turn to create your own hypothesis. With the help of your parent or teacher, work together to come up with a hypothesis.

Once you have created your hypothesis, move on to the Got It? section to start the experiment.