Growing Stalagmites and Stalactites

How 'bout a holla for some home-brewed science fun!?

We recently grew our very own stalagmites and stalactites on our kitchen counter over the course of a few days.

It was so fun to watch and measure their growth all week (for me and my kids--I'm such a nerd sometimes). 

To make them, you essentially drip a super saturated salt solution from a cotton or wool thread, but I read a few warnings online that table salt doesn't work very well, so we went with epsom salts dyed green (for a little extra thrill), and I thought it turned out great. Our epsom salts had a peppermint fragrance though, so our kitchen smelled a little funky for a few days though.... :)

Lots of fun with minimal effort though. Great way to keep kids engaged and curious all summer long.

This is the "protocol" we used when making ours: ScienceCompany 

Have a great day!

 

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