Snowflakes Project

I found a fun project that has to do with snowflakes. I doesn't really explain why or how snowflakes form, but it's a neat little art project that kids can do that we can hang around the room. Below are the materials and instructions to the project.

Crystal Snow Art

What you need:
white construction paper
red constructions paper
black construction paper
white glossy paper
4 plastic containers
water
alum
pickling salt
epsom salts
white granulated sugar
q-tips

What to do:

Put 1/2 cup of water into each of the 4 containers.

Add 2 tablespoons of each of the following to each of the containers. (Alum, pickling salt, white granulated sugar, epsom salts.)

You should have four containers containing 1/2 cup of water and one of the ingredients.

Guess which of the colored papers will make the best snow art picture. Write your answer on a piece of paper if there are several children taking part in the experiment.

Dip a Q-Tip in one of the containers and draw a picture on the black paper.

Using another Q-Tip dip it in a different container and draw on the red construction paper. Do the same with the remaining containers and paper.

Let your projects dry completely. Use a magnifying glass to view the crystals and geodes made by the salts, sugar and alum.

I found this project at:

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/science_for_kids/111983