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  • Writer's pictureCGEST Staff

STEMing for Kids: Crystal Pumpkin

By: Christine Leavitt

Fall is here, and if you have been in stores lately, you have likely seen pumpkins and Halloween décor. If your kids enjoy bedazzling, you can make a crystal pumpkin! The supplies you will need to bedazzle your pumpkins are the following:

  1. Small Pumpkin (that is the size of a gourd) or a Gourd

  2. Borax Powder

  3. Water

  4. Glass container that the pumpkin can fit in

  5. Tablespoon


You will need to use enough water to cover your pumpkin/gourd while it is submerged into your glass container. For each cup of water that you use, you will want to add 3 tablespoons of Borax powder.


Boil the water and mix in the needed Borax until well dissolved (the mixture will be cloudy).


Pour the mixture into your glass container after giving it a chance to cool down (so it is warm and not boiling).


Put your pumpkin/gourd in the glass container so that it is suspended midway in the glass and not touching the bottom.


The water and Borax mixture needs to fully cover the pumpkin/gourd, which will require placing something on top of the container to push the pumpkin/gourd down (as it will float).


While you are watching your pumpkin/gourd grow crystals, it is the perfect time to talk about the science! Why does Borax, mixed with water, make crystals grow on pumpkins? As explained on the CMSC webpage, Borax is an example of crystal – “a solid with flat sides and a symmetrical shape because its molecules are arranged in a unique, repeating pattern.”


Every crystal has a repeating pattern based on its unique shape. They may be big or little, but they all have the same “shape”. Salt, sugar, and Epsom salts are all examples of crystals. Salt crystals are always cube-shaped while snow crystals form a six-sided structure.


Hot water holds more borax crystals than cold water. That’s because heated water molecules move farther apart, making room for more of the borax crystals to dissolve. When no more of the solution can be dissolved, you have reached saturation.


As this solution cools, the water molecules move closer together again. Now there’s less room for the solution to hold onto as much of the dissolved borax. Crystals begin to form and build on one another as the water lets go of the excess and evaporates.


This is such a fun and cool activity to do with your kids this fall!


Written by:

Christine Leavitt

Graduate Research Assistant

Women and Gender Studies

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