Shrinky Dinks

(In an effort to craft with my 5 year old daughter and turn off the TV, we do a lot of projects. We are running a series of posts about the kits that we did in our house. I’ll tell you all about them and how it all worked out. You can also read about the Paper Bead Maker, the Jeweled Heart Box, Goldie Blox and the Parade Float and the Hummingbird Stain Glass Window. )

My daughter and I worked on some Shrinky Dinks one afternoon. This project was from a kit and it was actually great.

Inisde the box this is what we got.

The pencils were such a welcome surprise. That meant that we did not end up with the Sharpies everywhere. (Everywhere. Those suckers do not come off!) This box came with lots of little pre-made, pre-cut little animations. Some heads, some tops and some bottoms were included.


She colored this little set in and we baked it.

Shrinky Dinks are thrilling and scary in equal measure when they are in the oven. They curl when they melt, and it is always a nail biter if they will uncurl or if they will fold over and melt onto themselves. We had a wild moment when we were beating our creature with a spatula. I noticed later that she suffered a little tiny crack in the leg of her pants, but it is not sharp or dangerous and I didn’t see it right away. So, we will chalk that under “live and learn”.

A needle nose pliers will help with the jump rings.
I love the way this little girl turned out.  I think it is charming. My daughter got NO help in the coloring phase at all. And the pencils were a fantastic element of the kit. They offered great coverage for very little effort.  (I don’t know if they are special in some way that allows them to bake or if colored pencils are all created equal and you could try with a set you have on hand.)

I know you can go get shrinky dink film at the store, bust out the sharpies and away you go. But I loved the structure of this kit. I did not have to trace the shapes for my kid or cut them out for her. What they gave us in the kit appealed to her (and to me) and she felt more autonomous then if I had stepped in and done more.  This is just a great project overall and I highly recommend this box if you are looking for a little bit more formality and prep work done. Happy Shrinking!