UPDATED: Best "Toys" for kids and Borax snowflake recipe with pictures

This is an unusual post for me, but with the Holidays coming up, it was a good reminder about what matters most to our kids.  I like the posts on this Geek Dad website, so enjoy his Top 5, and then his 6th Best toy for kids.

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2011/12/6th-best-toy/

I promised my borax snowflake recipe, so here it is.  You will need powdered borax, pipe cleaners (white is best), wide mouth quart jar, a pencil, and boiling water.  I make these each year with my kids and classes that I visit, and they always turn out well.  If you save them, they do change from sparkly to white/opaque, but they keep their shape and I have some ornaments that my kids made years ago.  Enjoy the season!

My son made this apple with colored pipe cleaners... very cool!

My daughter cut a white pipe cleaner into 4 shorter pieces to do this snowflake.

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/boraxsnowflake.htm