The first thing I have to say about this activity it that it’s sticky, messy and doesn’t always work, but when it does it’s pretty amazing. Our rock candy recipe has been perfected from many, many attempts to get it to work, so hopefully we’ve done most of the hard work for you.
The first time we tried nothing grew at all as the solution wasn’t concentrated enough, the second time we made it too concentrated and the whole solution crystallised. The third time it worked!!
Rock Candy Recipe
3 cups of caster sugar
1 cup of water
A lolly stick or circle of wire. Or some string.
A Jar,
Sellotape
Some sparkles and/or food colouring ( optional )
Rock Candy Instructions
Dissolve the sugar in the water, as soon as it’s dissolved, remove the heat and leave to cool a little bit. If you can get a bit more sugar to dissolve then thats a good thing. You want a saturated solution.
Pour the solution into a glass jar and suspend the lolly stick, we used some sellotape to hold it in place. Don’t let it touch the bottom or the sides or the jar.
Alternatively you could tie some string to a pencil and rest the pencil on top of the jar with the string hanging in the jar.
You should see crystals start to form after a few days.
We made a lolly and a circle to hang on the Christmas tree. I was a bit disapppointed with the circle, but we will be trying again with a star!
Why does sugar crystallise?
A crystal is a solid material with a naturally geometrically regular form. Some take millions of years to form, such as diamonds. The sugar crystals we made above take just a few days.
Most minerals dissolved in water will form crystals given enough time and space. The shape of the crystal formed depends on the mineral’s molecule shape.
In the case of our sugar crystals there are two process at work.
Evaporation – the water evaporates slowly meaning the solution becomes more saturated, so the sugar molecules come out of solution and collect on the string/wire or stick.
Precipitation – the solution we made was very concentrated which means there was too much solute to remain dissolved in the water, therefore it starts to precipitate.
from fun to mum
December 12, 2011 at 1:23 pmThis is amazing! such a genius idea!!!!
I might even try and convince husband to give it a go…baby still too little for this.
ScienceSparks
December 14, 2011 at 9:40 pmFun for adults too!
susankmann
December 12, 2011 at 1:29 pmooh I love this. Definitely going to try it with my little ones. Thanks for sharing. x
ScienceSparks
December 14, 2011 at 9:40 pmThank you, good luck with it x
MsXpat
December 12, 2011 at 4:33 pmwow how beautiful and magical. i guess xmas at your house will be a ‘bomb’, lol
Actually Mummy...
December 12, 2011 at 6:15 pmHow cool is that?? Your kids must love being your kids!
ScienceSparks
December 14, 2011 at 9:39 pmAhhh, thank you. I do try hard. xx
The Iowa Farmer's Wife
December 12, 2011 at 8:31 pmToo cool! We just read a book about these being the entry for a Science Fair! It’s called My Blue Ribbon Day (or The Blue Ribbon Day). We’ll definitely have to try these sometime!
Rebekah @ The Golden Gleam
December 12, 2011 at 8:54 pmThese are amazing!!
ScienceSparks
December 14, 2011 at 9:39 pmThank you. xx
Melissa @The Chocolate Muffin Tree
December 13, 2011 at 5:00 amAwesome idea and for an ornament too!
ScienceSparks
December 14, 2011 at 9:38 pmawww, thanks. xx
Heather
December 13, 2011 at 3:39 pmThat is really cool!
ScienceSparks
December 14, 2011 at 9:38 pmThank you. x
Rachel
December 15, 2011 at 5:10 amLove this idea! My boys will have tons of fun with this. So glad I found your blog (through ABC & 123) – I’m a new follower.
ScienceSparks
December 15, 2011 at 9:17 amSo glad you liked it. x
Marissa
December 16, 2011 at 6:05 amthis is so cool! I’d love you to add this to my What We Wore and Made Party over at http://raegunwear.blogspot.com/search/label/WWWMW
Kelli
December 16, 2011 at 9:19 amHi! I think that this is just great!
I would LOVE for you to stop in and link this up in my Homeschooling on the Cheap! Link up. It is fairly new and I post it every Thursday. IT stays up all week. I’m looking for ideas on things homeschoolers can do. This looks like something for sure!
Thank you, Kelli
http://3boysandadog.com/deals/2011/homeschooling-on-the-cheap-12152011/
LoeLaLoep (Heidi)
December 16, 2011 at 9:35 amThey look great, especially with the pink. I’m a very impatient person but still I might try to make this 😉
Almost Unschoolers
December 18, 2011 at 9:32 pmWe’ve had the worst time trying to grow sugar crystals! I’m glad you finally managed it 🙂
Beth
December 18, 2011 at 9:47 pmThis is amazing!! What a cool, cool activity!!! We are definitely going to be trying this!!! I am your newest follower! I’d love for you to follow me back, if you want to =) I also wanted to invite you to link up to TGIF Linky Party – http://livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/search/label/Linkey%20Parties – I know my readers would love this!! Merry Christmas,
Beth
Ticia
January 7, 2012 at 3:49 pmMy daughter approves of the one that looks like a bracelet!
Thanks for linking up to Science Sunday (yes I am this late on commenting).
Aly
November 28, 2012 at 4:31 pmMy kids have brought these home with the yoghurt pot and lollipop stick before.I’ll have to get them to try making a bracelet.
maggy, red ted art
November 28, 2012 at 5:19 pmFantastic! What a perfect Christmas Science Craft.
Thanks for sharing on Kids Get Crafty!
Maggy
Katie
December 1, 2012 at 10:21 pmMy kids would be beyond excited to make their own candy. And this is such as simple recipe!
ScienceSparks
December 3, 2012 at 9:47 amis it simple, although it did take us a few goes!