DIY Shrinky Dinks from Upcycled Plastic Containers-Little Sprouts

Morris and Bloomberg enlisted their children—three from each household—to help assemble the kits. Just be cautious you don’t rub off your beautiful colors when you are done. (I also made some “Paw Patrol” ones because I have children who LOVE “Paw Patrol” and because we are working with a clear medium, you can trace!) I started by outlining all of my shapes with black, and then went back and colored them all in. Scientists who want manipulate the properties of certain materials work with nano-scale patterns printed with those materials.

If you want a more colourful version just add the appropriate flag. Make a personal jewellery pendant by creating a shrink of your country or state. A really cool shrinky dink idea, I love the way she got the fingers to curl. Cookie cutters were used to get the Christmas shapes for these lights. The guide walks you through designing colorful patterns on shrink plastic, cutting out earring shapes, baking them to shrink, and assembling the final pieces.

Kids’ Crafts & Learning Activities:

It’s like a magic art project – you draw on the shrink film, heat it up, and watch it shrink! These have always been a student favorite! Tiny designs have more possibility of the sides touching each other when they curl up in the heat. The reason I recommended not making your designs too small is because of this curling. Don’t freak out if your DIY Shrinky dinks start to curl up.

• Experimenting with different colors and mixing techniques can create unique effects on Shrinky Dinks.
• Using colored pencils on Shrinky Dinks can create soft tones or pastel hues.
• With the circle selected and the lock icon closed, change the size to .75” to make the outer edge of the hole.
• This humble beginning sparked a crafting revolution, showcasing the powerful potential of parental creativity.

Where to purchase materials:

For a more dimensional look, you can use deco pens or fabric paint after shrinking to create raised designs or add detailed outlines. Gel pens add fun metallic or glittery effects, while chalk markers can give a soft, pastel-like finish. Sharpie paint pens offer vibrant colors with precise control, making them ideal for detailed designs. Click here to get your Shrinky Dink sheets and have them ready for crafting some shrinky dink keepsakes! If you’re looking for a fun, creative way to capture your child’s handprint and turn it into a lasting memory, Shrinky Dink keepsakes are the perfect craft! This will make sure they cool nice and flat!

Fun and Easy DIY Shrinky Dink Craft Ideas

The passing decades have not diminished their appeal and my 7th graders absolutely LOVE creating designs using this shrinkable plastic. I am a product of the 70’s and “Shrinky Dinks” was a favorite childhood craft activity! Shrink plastic is fantastic for creating unique, lightweight jewelry pieces. It’s simpler than you might think!

Pentalic Colored Pencils

This injection of money and know-how added a new shine of professionalism. The fun part is that you do not have to be a master artist to make really adorable crafts using shrink film. If you’d like to check out more ways you can use your Cricut check out these posts! Once they are flat again you’ll want to cook for about 30 seconds longer.

Materials needed

And then, with my seventh graders, they had a little bit more freedom as well, creating the key rings. So if you are interested in learning more about the NOW Conference and registering for the conference, take a look at the AOEU website and click on the NOW Conference tab. And then, reason number three is just the opportunity for hands on learning.

Cutting Out Shrinky Dinks

Some crafters even shrinky dink plastic began experimenting with Shrinky Dinks to make unique jewelry and custom decorations, showing that this simple plastic had uses beyond just childhood play. Some children even used them to make customized name tags, accessories for their dolls, or miniature artwork to trade with friends. Shrinky Dinks started as large, thin sheets of plastic that kids could draw on with colored pencils or markers. This accidental invention soon became a household name, and by 1975, Shrinky Dinks hit store shelves, quickly becoming a beloved craft for children across America. The discovery was both simple and fascinating—kids could color and customize the plastic before baking it, watching it transform into a hardened miniature version of their artwork. Either send it to me by email or share it on my facebook page– I’d love to add it to my Shrinky Dinks Fun Pinterest Board!