It has become a tradition in our house to make shrinky dinks this time of year.  They are a super easy project to do with kids, and you may even have everything you need already at your house!

You’ll need:

• Number 6 plastic sheets – raid your recycling bin; if you don’t have any the big plastic salad containers from the grocery store are usually #6 or you can order actual shrinky dink plastic online
• sharpies
• a hole puncher
• string
• cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil

To begin, cut the plastic into sheets.  Remember it will shrink by about half to 2/3 so cut your pieces appropriately.  We just cut out the bottoms of the salad bar containers.

Decorate!

Be sure to punch a hole in your shrinky dink before you bake it or you won’t have anywhere to put your string when it’s baked.  Don’t put it too close to the edge.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees then put the shrinky dinks on the foil lined tray and set them in the oven.  Turn your light on so you can watch them shrink!  This is my favorite picture from the process: watching my husband and preteen stepson on their knees in front of the oven like little kids waiting for the cookies to come out of the oven.  They’ll only cook 1-3 minutes.  Take them out when they’ve shrunk by half to 2/3.

We read that they will curl up but then lay back down to be flat.  Ours didn’t lay back down very nicely on the first batch so then we started using a big flat spoon to push them down a little while they were still hot in the oven to help with their shape.

I made this heart and a series of little hearts then tied them together into a special ornament for my hubby.

Tie a string through the hole you punched and you have a homemade ornament.  This would be a fun gift for kids to make for family members!  We now have shrinky dink ornaments all over our tree.  They make for fun Christmas memories.