Shrinky Dinks – Review

I love Shrinky Dinks! I have said it before and I will say it again! I love classic toys that are making a comeback! If you don’t remember them from your own childhood, let me explain that Shrinky Dinks are clear sheets of an incredible plastic material that you use colored pencils on to make art, then cut them out, bake, and the material shrinks to a third of its original size and becomes 9 times as thick. The plastic is transparent, so you can even trace art from books or photocopy pictures to help create something special.

My kids had never heard of them and I was shocked that neither had Tired Dad Andy! We all grabbed colored pencils and used some creativity to get to work.

Grant and Andy worked on miniature Nintendo Marios with accessories.

Avery and I did a cat and a Disney Snow White.

Later we added SpongeBob Squarepants, a rainbow, a pair of ladybugs, skater guys, and even an ice cream cone and a vase of flowers were added.

After coloring we carefully cut the shapes out and followed the directions. We pre-heated the oven and laid the pieces on brown paper bag covered baking sheets and waited and watched.

The kids were glued to the oven door watching in amazement as their art shrunk up before their eyes!

We laughed about it and marveled at the tiny finished products. Some of the art curled as it baked and if this happens there are helpful tips to re-bake for a few extra minutes and then they lay flat again.

Here are a few of our finished products:

You can use the tiny finished Shrink Dinks to make jewelry, hair clips, Christmas ornaments, to decorate just about anything, or just for play! We are going to use ours in hair clips, as zipper pulls, and as a special card tie on decoration. Avery also wanted to make some doll play accessories.

What We Love About Shrinky Dinks:

• They are great boredom busters
• They got the kids to be creative
• The kids were “unplugged” and having fun
• I played with them when I was little and I think that it’s cool that we can all like the same toys!
• They are reasonably priced
• You can actually use them in different projects after the original coloring and decorating and shrinking process is done
• The shrinking process was cool to watch! Think about it, what else shrinks?!

The kids were proud to take their Shrinky Dinks to school the next day to show friends! Shrinky Dinks also have new licensed character kits including Dora, Spongebob, and Hello Kitty or project kits to make princess charm bracelets.

The products were provided for review. No compensation was received. The honest opinions are my own and that of my family.