You will need:

 Clean Glass Jar
 Cotton String
 Scissors
 Pencil
 1-2 Cups boiling water (get your parents help)
 2-4 Cups white sugar (use approximately twice as much sugar as water)
 Sauce pan
 Stirring spoon
 Tissue
 Notebook
 Tape (optional)
 Camera (optional)

Step 1:  Have an adult place the water in a sauce pan and heat over medium.  Sugar will dissolved more easily if the water is boiling or almost boiling.  Stir sugar into the water ¼ C at a time.  Completely dissolve the sugar into the water each time.  You will know that the sugar is dissolved if the solution is clear and no crystals remain.  If you see sugar crystals in the bottom of your pan that will not dissolve then you have saturated your water.  Set the pan aside to cool while you prepare the jar and string.

Step 2:  Tie a piece of string to a pencil and hang the string in the glass jar.  If your string is not rough, have an adult fray the string slightly with scissors.  Rest the pencil across the top of your jar and tape it in place if necessary.  Make sure that the string does not touch the bottom or sides of the jar. 

Step 3:  Once the sugar solution has cooled for 10-15 minutes pour the solution into the glass jar.  Cover lightly with a tissue and place the jar in a cool location out of the way.

Step 4:  Leave the string in place over night for small crystals.  Leave the string in place for several days or weeks to grow large crystals.  Sugar crystals grow best in a cool location with low humidity.  Do not move the jar or remove the string often because it can slow the crystal growth.

Observe:
Check your crystals daily.  Document your experiment in your notebook each day with notes, drawings and/or photos.  We would love to see photos of your crystals!

• Clean Jar
• String (we prefer cotton)
• Scissors
• Tape (optional)
• Pencil
• 1-2 Cups boiling water (kids, get your parents help)
• 1-2 Cups table salt
• Notebook
• Camera (optional)

Step 1:  Boil the water and then transfer it to your clean jar.

Step 2:  Pour in enough salt to saturate the water.  Stir until all of the salt that can dissolve is dissolved.  If you see salt crystals in the bottom of your jar that will not dissolve then you have probably saturated your water and are ready for Step 3.

Step 3:  Tie a piece of string to a pencil and hang the string in the water.  Rest the pencil across the top of your jar and tape it in place if necessary.  Make sure that the string does not touch any of the salt at the bottom of the jar.

Step 4:  Leave the string in place over night.

Observe:

The next day, take the string out of the jar and observe if salt crystals have formed on the string.  Salt crystals may take some time to get large so if you want to grow large crystals, replace the salt water solution daily.  Don’t forget to document your experiment.   We would love to see photos of your crystals.  You are now a true Mini Me Geologist!

For more experiment and project ideas as well as word finds and cross word puzzles, check out the Dig Into Geology section of our website.