EXPERIMENTS:  Borax

Ever wonder . . .  what you can do with borax?  (Borax is a laundry booster available in most large grocery stores.)  

Make Crystal Ornaments.  Time:  5 mins.

Ingredients:  Borax, water, pipe-cleaner, wide-mouth jar. 

Directions:  Heat 1 cup water almost to boiling; combine with 3 tablespoons borax in your jar.  Bend pipe-cleaner into an ornament shape and hang down into the solution (a pencil across the top of the jar does the trick).  Allow to sit overnight.  Enjoy your ornament!

Make Homemade Geodes.  Time:  5 mins.

Ingredients:  clean eggshell halves, borax, water, food coloring.

Directions:  Make the borax/hot water solution described in the crystal ornament experiment.  Add food coloring to make the geode color you prefer.  Place the clean eggshell halves back in the egg carton and fill each with the colored borax solution.  Allow to sit overnight, then pour out the excess water and allow to dry completely.

Make Slime.  Time:  5 mins.

Ingredients:  borax, washable white glue, water, food coloring (optional), plastic baggie.

Directions:  Combine 1/2 c. water and 1/2 tablespoon borax; stir until dissolved.  Separately, mix 1/4 c. water and 1/4 c. glue; add food coloring as desired.  Combine both mixtures in the plastic baggie until slime is formed!  Refrigerate when not using to prolong usefulness.