Call me Cryshmael. Some weeks ago – never mind how long precisely – having money in our purse, Katie and I found something particular of interest to us at the store, and we thought we would test it and see the narwhaly part of the world. Yes, whenever we find ourselves growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly October in our souls, we account it high time to test Klutz’s “Grow Your Own Crystal Narwhal” kit as soon as we can.* Take it away, Katie!
Klutz designed the “Grow Your Own Crystal Narwhal” kit for children ages 8 and up and it retails for $12.99. If narwhals aren’t your favorite, Klutz also has kits to grow a crystal fox, unicorn or dragon. But it’s science! It’s crystals! It’s a narwhal! And who doesn’t love adorable narwhals?
The kit provides the basic pieces to get started. Namely an instructional booklet, 2 pipe cleaners, crystal powder, a plastic narwhal figurine, and a little paper backdrop to pose the finished product on.
However, you will have to fill in some gaps with items you may or may not have already at home: 2 heatproof glass jars with lids (I used old jelly jars, but Bell jars would totally work), measuring cups and spoons, a plastic plate, and a pot holder or trivet. Most importantly, you need to use distilled water to make the crystal growing solutions. I bought a gallon of distilled water at the grocery store for 99 cents.
You start by making a crystal “seeding solution” and saturate the pipe cleaners you’ve attached to your narwhal in the solution. I also saturated 3 pom-poms to create “icebergs” and tried to turn the remaining white pipe cleaner into “coral.” Let the narwhal (and optional icebergs and coral) dry overnight.
Next, you make a crystal “growing solution” and let the narwhal soak in the solution for 4-8 hours. If you made the solution correctly, crystals will grow on the pipe cleaners. Let the narwhal dry overnight, then do a second round of soaking in the growing solution. If your experiment worked, you finish with a beautiful narwhal with a crystal tusk, water spout and tail!
One suggestion…I had to get a bit creative with my glass jar because there wasn’t enough growing solution liquid to fully cover my narwhal. I simply rolled up a dish towel and rested my jar at an angle so the pipe cleaners were submerged.
Another suggestion is using something other than your fingers to remove the narwhal from the liquid after it is done soaking. I used a wood skewer, but you can also use a plastic spoon or tongs. In fact, every time I handled the narwhal or any of the experiment materials, I thoroughly washed my hands to remove residual crystal powder (which is aluminum potassium sulfate, or alum).
Place the crystal narwhal on the provided paper backdrop, and you are done!
It took me 4 days to finish the project. But I allowed extra soaking time for the pom-pom “icebergs” to grow bigger crystals, so technically you can wrap up the experiment in 3 days. There is a great deal of adult supervision to complete this kit. I fully agree with the suggested age range of 8 and older with adult assistance. There is no way a child should work with stove tops, microwaves, boiling water, and chemicals without an adult present.
Here are my rankings…
KIT: 4 out of 5
Being asked to supply so many additional items in order to get the experiment to properly work is a bit of a bummer.
INSTRUCTION MANUAL: 5 out of 5
Klutz does a great job with the manual. It thoroughly explains how to do the experiment, the science behind crystals, fun facts about narwhals, important safety information, and provides a detailed troubleshooting guide if your crystals aren’t properly growing.
EXPERIMENT: 3.5 out of 5
There are a lot of tedious steps that could possibly frustrate the younger experimenters. You also have to commit several days from start to finish.
AWESOMENESS: 5 out of 5
You grow crystals! So cool!
KATIE SAYS:
This crystal narwhal kit shines! Recommended!
*All due respect to Moby Dick by Herman Melville. We couldn’t resist!
I also like Twisteez because, unlike craft stems and 
And it’s not just for kiddie art projects! In researching this post, I learned that Twisteez was invented by 2 artists – Harold and Kiki Rabinowitz – 55 years ago. Together, with their 6 children, it has bloomed into a family-owned business. They have an 
Twisteez wire is, however, a bit more expensive then the aforementioned pipe cleaners and sparkle stems. It comes in 30″ long strands, bundled together in packs of 50 ($10-$13) and 200 ($35-$42). You can also get 60″ long bundles of 50 for around $23-$30.
It started with an excited text from Katie: “Check out this LEGO set!” The accompanying image made my heart go pitter pat. LEGO has created a fairy tale pop-up book. I think it took oh…maybe 15 seconds for me to order one for blog testing? The set was Katie’s discovery, so she gets to do the honors. Take it away, Katie!
The set retails between $50-$70. There are 859 pieces in the box and the suggested age range is 12+. The instruction manual is a novel in its own right, weighing in at a hefty 162 pages. I loved that at the start of the instruction manual, LEGO introduced the fan designers who came up with the original idea for the pop-up book, as well as the LEGO designers who helped bring the book to LEGO life.
LEGO also provided the history of pop-up books, which date back to the 13th century, and briefly discussed the two fairy tales that are a part of the set. Along with words of encouragement to “Create your own fairy tale!” and “Build your own story…,” the instructions to build your LEGO set starts.
The instructions have you build the Little Red Riding Hood cottage first. As I attached the pieces inside the book covers, I wasn’t sure the cottage would properly fold down and create the pop-up book illusion. But it really works!
My *only* complaint – and perhaps it is merely a humble suggestion – is that the little windmill blades in the Jack and the Beanstalk tiny town should have been a different color. They sort of blend into the white clouds surrounding them.
It took me about three hours to put the LEGO set together. I do agree with the suggested age range of 12+. The complexity of the set would be tough for younger kids to complete on their own, but they could probably build it with assistance from an adult.