Borax Crystal Hearts… This is by far one of my all time favorite craft with the kids. My girls and I were amazed, and these hearts are actually quite beautiful.

Do your kids love crafts? Mine are messy little artists. So anytime I find a new activity we can all do together, I’m on it!

We started this experiment in the evening and my little one woke up like it was Christmas morning! Because she was so excited she ran to the kitchen counter to check her jar and all we heard was… Mom come look! Hey Mom! Mom come see the crystals! Needless to say, this was a huge hit!

So let’s get started, and be sure to visit the TIPS & TRICKS section below!

SUPPLIES

BORAX: You can purchase Borax on Amazon. You can also find it at Walmart. Borax is a multi-purpose cleaner and laundry booster, so it can be found in the laundry detergent isle near the OxiClean.

PIPE CLEANERS: We all know these are sold everywhere! So if you have kids or do crafts, I’m sure you have them at home.

MASON JARS: This does require a glass jar that the crystals can grow onto.

STRING: We used white yarn, but anything to suspend the crystals into the jar would work. Yarn, ribbon, string…

POPSICLE STICKS: Again, what you have on hand is fine. You’ll be using this to hold the string onto the top of the jar. Popsicle sticks, kitchen skewers, wooden dowels…

DIRECTIONS

1. Start by boiling water. We’ll be using hot hot water to add the Borax power to.

2. While your water starts to boil, grab those pipe cleaners and shape them into hearts. Twist the ends to form one shape.

3. Once your pipe cleaners are now hearts, you can attach the string to them. We chose to turn them upside down and hang so the entire heart could be submerged under water.

4. Once strung up, tie the string to your popsicle stick. Make sure your heart is not touching the bottom or sides of the jar.

5. For this next step, I used a glass measuring cup. A 1:4 ratio, so 2 cups of boiling water and 1/4 cup of Borax powder. Stir until somewhat dissolved and pour into your mason jar. Pour the mixture in until your heart is covered. Try not to go past your heart as the crystals will form on anything under the water, including the string.

6. Set those jars aside for the night.

7. Good morning sunshine! You now have magical heart crystals.

7. Remove the hearts from the jars and place on a paper towel to dry.

8. Once dry, remove the old yarn and hang with a prettier ribbon. You’ve got yourself a Borax Crystal Heart!

These look gorgeous hanging in the window. When the sunlight catches the crystals, they just sparkle!

TIPS & TRICKS

Different pipe cleaners provide different results. The iridescent sparkly pipe cleaners produce large crystals, and the traditional pipe cleaners produce smaller crystals almost like snow.

When making your heart shape, make sure it fits through the mouth of the mason jar. Once the crystals have formed it will no longer bend to remove it.

If using large mason jars, you may be able to fit two in a jar. Just make sure they are not touching each other, the sides of the jar or the bottom.

We filled the water and Borax mixture to just the tip top of the heart shape. If you overfill and the water is on your string, that will become crystalized too.

After we made out jars, I dipped a kitchen rag into the boiling water and wiped down my counter and stovetop just to be safe.

If you’re left with formed crystals in your mason jars the next day, just boil more water and melt them from the jars.

Let me know if you make this Valentine heart candle and share a picture on Instagram or Facebook or leave a comment below! Enjoy and thank you for reading!

Check out other Valentine craft ideas…

Valentine coffee filter hearts

Valentine button art