Shrinky Dinks with the Kiddos

Do you remember my post a few weeks ago about DIY ShrinkyDinks using any #6 plastic? Well, I brought this craft into my class at the daycare, and it was a huge hit! 

I was able to get a large take-out container from my local grocery store. It was meant for one of those huge rectangular pizzas, and the lid was made of #6 plastic! *yay* 

I cut the lid up into 24 rectangles, about 2”x3” each. I rounded the corners of each rectangle, and hole punched them each near the top. 

Since my class spends the afternoon in the basement of the daycare, far away from the kitchen, I had to bring my toaster oven to bake the shrinky dinks. I think it was nicer to go that route anyways, because then each child got to watch their shrinky dink do its magical shrinking, rather than baking them all at once in the daycare kitchen oven. 

Here are some pictures of their creations: 

There was one boy who didn’t want his shrunk. Something to do with Pokémon… I didn’t really understand. After some debate, I conceded, and his shrinky dink was left un-shrunken. 

I did spray these shrinky dinks with an acrylic spray sealer. Walmart was sold out of the spray I usually use, Rust-Olium Painter’s Choice clear gloss, so I went with Krylon Acrylic Crystal Clear satin instead. As it dried it turned cloudy white, which was unfortunate (especially given the “crystal clean” name), but it offered the sealing protection that I was going for. The children didn’t seem to notice. They were just excited to take them home and show their parents.