National Geographic JM00670 Blue Crystal Growing Kit (Assorted)

Really impressed with this kit! We grew a large crystal about 8cm high. Tips: 1) When you watch the video tutorials for this type of crystal it specifies to keep the blue one in the DARK. So we kept in a cupboard up high in the kitchen. 2) we also read that slow cooling helps, so we made up the crystal liquid, dropped in the seed rock and dunked the pot in 1 inch of hot water in a steel saucepan for about 2 hours. We then transferred to the cupboard. I guess you could skip this step if doing the crystal in summer though! We weren’t! It was 4c outside and 16c inside! 3) Use a container to grow it in, that you are happy to display afterwards. Or consider a large opening at the top of your container. Otherwise you end up snapping a lot of crystal shards off trying to pull the crystal out of the growing pot. This happened to us and even though damage was minimal it was unnecessary, we only took it out because my 7 year old was adament he had to hold it. For best results use a glass jar with a lid, so you have a pot for storage afterwards! 4) We left our crystal for about 12 days. The growing was continuous over the days, no doubt it would be even bigger if we continued to leave it. 5) Basic chemistry will teach you that any outside element can completely change the compounds and chemical reactions. So make sure anything you use is thoroughly clean, with no soap residue, dust or cleaning sprays present.