remember shrinky dinks?

Recently I discovered that you can buy Shrinky Dink paper at your local Michael's store. I have fond memories of coloring Smurf Shrinky Dinks as a kid and then watching them grow smaller in the oven until they were only a fraction of their original size, thick and stiff. I knew that this was a pass-time that no kid could scoff at so I bought a package and tucked them away for a quite afternoon when we needed something creative to do. I also purchased a 36 count package of assorted permanent markers... You can never have enough colors when embarking on a coloring adventure!

We tried a few small things a couple of weeks ago, before we went to visit Grammy and everyone has been begging me to do more ever since. So today after we put Lulu down for her nap and finished up our reading we pulled the Shrinky Dinks out again. Here is a sampling of what we made.

Pictures drawn on half sheets of paper, before they went into the oven.

My picture (on the right) curled up and got stuck together, I had to pry it apart with a butter knife and a chop stick (I know, strange choice of tools, they were the first things I saw when I opened the drawer) while it was still in the oven. I thought it would be ruined...

But it turned out alright, only minor damage and mostly just noticeable to me.

Here is a picture to show you what they looked like before and after, it is crazy how much they shrink!

Look how cute and tiny this butterfly is!

I am not usually one to be telling people to go and and buy something, but this is so much fun (for your kids and you)! The paper that I got is white and glossy so you have to use permanent ink on it, but if you get the etched paper I think you can use colored pencils, stamps, regular markers... the options are limitless! I used my paper punches to cut out the flowers and butterflies, but you can easily cut by hand too, or just color a whole sheet like a piece of paper!

Happy Shrinky Dinking!