Upcycled Shrinky Dinks

By Roudi Tarek of C is for Craft

The Shrinky Dinks you buy in the store shrink to approximately a third of their original size and actually become nine times thicker after just two magic minutes in the toaster oven. I’ve found another kid-friendly way to make these plastic toys by reusing old containers! Here’s how:

Materials:

  • plastic container (with the “6” sign, as pictured in Step 1)
  • scissors
  • permanent markers
  • small sheet of aluminum foil
  • hole punch (optional)
  • toaster or conventional oven

Instructions

    recycled

    1. Trim the edges off of your plastic container, leaving a flat surface. Make sure your plastic has that “6” sign or it won’t work properly!


    2. Draw and color your shape. It can be anything you want! I’m not great at freehand drawing, so I taped my plastic to my computer monitor and traced my drawingladybug like so:


    3. Cut and measure your plastic. Mine was between 2-3 inches long. If you want to make a necklace or keychain, now is a good time to punch a hole in the top of your item.

      4. necklace


    4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.


    5. Rip or cut a piece of aluminum foil and place it on your oven rack. Place your plastic ornament on the foil tray.

      6. foil


    6. Watch it shrink! At first the plastic will curl like crazy, but eventually it will be flat and tiny. Baking should take one to three minutes.


    7. Let the plastic cool for a minute or so after taking it out of the oven.shrunken

      8. Enjoy your homemade Shrinky Dinks!

Rodaina (Roudi) Tarek is a crafter from Egypt who loves to create and document the precious moments. She shares her crafty mess, photography and kids' crafts at C is for Craft, a blog full of love, joy and DIY projects!

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  • Rose

    I would be deeply concerned about VOCs (volatile organic compounds). Any time you have off-gassing from a product, and I imagine the plastic will emit these chemicals as it reforms, it affects your health and can cause disease. Please consider this carefully.

  • TreeFrogZ

    It’s really hard to find #6 containers, does anyone know if it works with other plastics?