DIY Pipe Cleaner Crystal Ornaments – A Safe Borax-Free Craft for Kids

These beautiful pipe cleaner crystal ornaments are the perfect mix of science and craft. Instead of using borax, we’ll make them with a borax substitute safe crystal-growing solution (such as table salt, sugar, or Epsom salts). Kids can create sparkling snowflakes, icicles, or gems while learning about how crystals form.

Now, these Pipe Cleaner Crystal Decorations are a blast from my past, something that I remember doing at my Playgroup before I started school, but you can not get Borax now, so need to use Borax substitute (I got mine from the chemist).

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Materials

• Pipe cleaners (white for icicles, coloured for gems and ornaments)
• Heatproof glass jar or mason jar
• Hot water (handled by an adult)
• Borax-free crystal substitute (choose one):
  • Table salt (slow growth, easy to source)
  • Sugar (edible crystals if grown on string instead of pipe cleaners)
  • Epsom salts (needle-like crystals, quick results)
  • Alum (food-safe, often used for pickling)
• Spoon for stirring
• Pencil, popsicle stick, or skewer to balance the ornament
• String or cotton thread

How to Make Pipe Cleaner Crystal Decorations

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Shape Your Pipe Cleaners – Bend pipe cleaners into snowflakes, stars, icicles, or other festive shapes. Tie a piece of string to the top.

Prepare the Solution (Adults Only) – Heat water until steaming. Slowly stir in your chosen crystal-growing ingredient until no more dissolves (a supersaturated solution).

Suspend the Ornament Pour the solution into a jar. Balance a pencil across the rim and let the ornament hang freely without touching the sides.

Watch the Crystals Grow – Leave overnight or longer. As the water cools and evaporates, crystals form on the pipe cleaners, creating beautiful ornaments.

Variations & STEM Fun

• Salt Crystals – Best for snowy, frosty-looking ornaments.
• Sugar Crystals – Turn into a science fair project about edible rock candy.
• Epsom Salt Crystals – Quick growth with long needle-like crystals.
• Alum Crystals – Food-safe and great for larger, gem-like shapes.

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Why This Craft Works for Families

• Borax-free → safe for kids and classrooms.
• A hands-on way to explore STEM concepts like saturation and crystallisation.
• Doubles as a fun Christmas craft for decorating.

The Science Part

Crystals are solids that are formed by a regular, repeating pattern of molecules connected together. Most crystals come in geometric shapes with sharp, straight edges and smooth sides.

Crystals can form when a supersaturated liquid that contains a dissolved mineral cools. In this activity, a supersaturated solution was made using hot water and a borax alternative (a soft crystal). The hot water caused the water molecules to move further away from each other so that more of the borax could dissolve into the solution. Once the solution reaches a point where it cannot dissolve any more borax, it becomes supersaturated. As the solution cools, the water molecules come closer together again causing the forming borax crystals to cling to the pipe cleaner.