Crystal Chemistry Garden Kit

Grow Colorful Creations

Want a fun science experiment kids will love? Did your child love their Cabbage Chemistry Set and want more experimental fun? Perhaps you need an afternoon activity that doesn’t involve any screen time. If you want the magic of science brought to life in your home, try growing a Crystal Chemistry Garden from KiwiCo.

KiwiCo Crystal Chemistry Garden on Amazon 

This kit comes with everything kids need to grow their own crystal garden. It includes a foldout mat to keep the work space neat, a base plate, felt tree and grass pieces, three colors of dye, salt, mixing solution, a beaker, a dropper, a stirring stick and gloves. The easy-to-follow instructions include illustrations for each step.

Once they open the box, kids can plant their garden any way they like. After they get the felt pieces in place, they add color with the handy red, green, and yellow dye bottles. The instructions include a useful guide to mixing the colors for different final results. After the entire garden gets placed and colored, the science fun begins.

Kids mix the ammonia, bluing solution, and salt into the provided container and stir with the stick. Using the dropper, they coat each piece of felt in their garden with the dark blue solution. Everything will turn dark blue, overlaying the dye colors they applied previously. As the salt solution dries, the dye colors will magically reappear with salt crystals that have picked up the dye. It takes 24 to 48 hours to see the crystals forming, starting at the highest point. 

Older kids can follow the instructions themselves with no issues, though you may want to supervise younger children. You’ll need scissors to clip the tips of the dye bottles off, which may be difficult for smaller hands. The included mat does a good job of containing any drips or spills, while the tray collects any extra solution or dye.

My son received this kit for his eighth birthday and whipped it out of the box first thing. He loved assembling the pieces, dyeing the plants, and measuring out the bluing solution. We’ve continued to watch it grow and blossom for more than a week, and highly recommend placing it somewhere kids can get a good look from many angles (but where they don’t need to touch it as the salt crystals remain fairly fragile).

If you want to let your child loose with the magic of science, don’t hesitate to give this chemistry kit a try.