It seemed like they were everywhere when I was a kid, but over the years have become harder and harder to find. The toy set itself was invented in 1973 by Betty Morris and Kathryn Bloomberg, who were devising a boy scouts toy for their children.

Shrinky Dinks - Etsy UK Plastic Shrinky Dinks - Etsy UK

I don’t get take out often but several people bring me their containers to use with the kids for crafts. It won’t take very long for them to shrink up, only about 2 to 3 minutes, so I DO NOT recommend walking away from your oven. However, oily or waxy substances (such as cheap colored pencils, [ clarification needed] crayons or oil paint) are not suitable because they melt or burn in high heat. We'd color in the characters on the plastic sheets, cut them out and poke a hole at the top so we could hang them later. In 2014, a team from Harvard University and MIT used Shrinky Dinks to create self-assembling robots.Cut the design into your preferred shape, then lay your shrinky dink on an aluminum-lined baking tray, rough-side-up. You can use them with the kids or use them to make some really special Valentine’s day gifts for your kids. Shrinky Dinks were soon licensed to be manufactured by the major toy companies of the time such as Milton Bradley, Colorforms, Western Publishing and Skyline Toys. If you plan to make it into a charm, it’s a good idea to use a hole puncher to put a hole in the plastic before you shrink it.

Shrinky Dinks - DoYouRemember.co.uk forums Shrinky Dinks - DoYouRemember.co.uk forums

I found some at my local Dollar Tree, when I bought an aluminum pan to bake brownies in to bring to an event.You may also want to take a toaster oven outside to avoid fumes inside, or preheat the grill and shrink them in there. Take fine sandpaper and lightly scratch the entire surface of the plastic so it’s rough and will hold the color of your medium. Just like with my other retro crafts projects (like my crumple tie dye shirts), when I heard I could DIY Shrinky Dinks, I was super excited to dig into it.