It's fun to grow your own crystals. However, some crystals are easier and safer to grow than others. Here's my list of the top crystal growing projects, based on how easy and quick the crystals are to grow, how safe the project is, and how pretty the crystals are. [Photo: Alum crystal that was grown overnight.

Crystal Growing Basics Getting Started with Crystals

Crystals that you can grow at home are grown from solutions in water. To grow a crystal, you dissolve a chemical in water, then either evaporate the water or cool the solution so that the substance starts to crystallize. You do this by dissolving as much of your crystal-growing chemical as possible in hot or boiling water. This produces what is called a saturated solution. Filter your saturated solution through a coffee filter or paper towel so that no undissolved chemical gets into the container where you are growing the crystals. You may wish to hang string or a seed crystal in the growing solution to provide a surface for the crystals to form. You want water to be able to evaporate from the solution, so don't seal the container. You can place a coffee filter or paper towel over your solution to keep it clean. Crystals grow larger if they are undisturbed. You can watch them the progress of your crystal growth, but don't pick up or shake the container. Some crystals grow in a few hours or overnight (e.g., alum crystals or magic crystal garden), but most crystals take a week or two to reach full size.

Top Crystal Growing Projects Easy, Fast, Safe, Beautiful Crystals

This is a list of top crystal growing projects. These crystals grow reliably and are generally considered safe for kids (and adults) to grow.

Alum Crystals

Alum crystals are probably the most reliable crystals you can grow. You can get nice results overnight, plus you are using a cooking ingredient so you don't need to stress about safety.

Sugar Crystals or Rock Candy

The sugar crystals that make up rock candy aren't as quick or easy to grow as alum crystals, but they taste great and can be made in any color of the rainbow.

Borax Crystal Snowflake

Borax is used as a natural cleaner. The crystals will grow around overnight around any shape you can create, making this a quick and eye-catching project.

Copper Sulfate Crystals

These crystals are a vibrant blue color. They are easy to grow and among the most spectacular crystals to keep as display specimens.

Charcoal Crystal Garden

This is a classic crystal-growing project in which you mix salt and ammonia and laundry bluing on top of charcoal briquettes or a sponge.

Table Salt Crystals

Table salt or sodium chloride crystals are not the easiest crystals to grow, but the solution is non-toxic and everyone has the necessary ingredients!
Ammonium Phosphate Crystals
You probably don't have this chemical sitting around the house, but if you buy a crystal-growing kit, this is the compound that is used to grow the crystals. You can use these instructions to grow any color of ammonium phosphate crystal from scratch or you can use it as a guide to grow crystals if you lost the instructions to a kit, such as the Smithsonian crystal-growing kit.

Epsom Salt Crystals

Epsom salt crystals are clear crystals that are easy to grow. Another 'plus' is that it's easy to find Epsom salts in the pharmacy or laundry sections of most stores.
Benzoic Acid Snow Globe

This project is a little more advanced, but the results are worth it. You can cause non-toxic benzoic acid to form crystals in a water globe to make your very own customized snow globe.

Purple Chromium Alum Crystals

It's easy to make a clear crystal with a purple-colored crystal heart! Chromium alum crystals are easy-to-grow purple crystals. Once you have a purple crystal, simply drop your crystal into a saturated solution of ordinary kitchen alum to surround it with a clear exterior.

Glow in the Dark Geode

Do you want to make your own geode? There are several ways you can do this. One of the easiest is to use a clean eggshell as your crystal growing container. If you paint the surface of the shell with glow-in-the-dark paint first then you can create a glowing crystal geode.