The Goob & The Bean: Crafty Kids- Shrinky Dinks!!

If you've never made a shrinky dink before, you are missing out. I made shrinky dinks all throughout my childhood, and I love them. The other day Jesse and I were bored, and I suggested we make shrinky dinks. He looked at me oddly and said, "Shrinky... what??" Alas! He had no idea what a shrinky dink was!! This had to be remedied.

So today I went out and bought sandpaper. (I also bought him sushi for dinner, which was ultra handy because the plastic lids from takeout containers are ideal for shrinky dinks) He used the lid from The Bean's birthday cake, and I used the lid from the sushi.

You'll Need:
Scissors
Colored pencils
Flat #6 plastic, usually found on takeout lids from delis and restaurants (#6 works the best, #1 also works, but it's thinner and shrinks less. #5... well, don't use that one)
Foil
Sandpaper (we used 80 grit and it worked perfectly. It needs to be relatively rough)
Access to an oven
Tongs

(click the images for a larger view)

Instructions:
- Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F. and set your oven rack to the lowest position.
- Wash your plastic pieces, especially if they were used for food.
- Cut out shapes with the scissors (remember, if you cut a hole for string, the hole will shrink too!!)
- Sand the plastic pieces on one side, making sure to get all of it rough. The colored pencils won't stick if there aren't a lot of grooves.
- Color the pieces on the rough side however you'd like. You can trace shapes and characters from coloring books if you don't want to freehand.
- Make a tray out of foil to set your plastic pieces on
- Put your shrinky dink on the foil tray and put it in the oven
- Watch it! It will shrink quickly. Don't worry when it starts to curl, it will curl a LOT but then it will flatten out all by itself.
- Once it's flat (or close to flat) remove the tray from the oven with the tongs. You then have about 10 seconds to shape or flatten it before it sets completely.
- Let it cool, and enjoy. :)