We participate in Halloween at our house. I know some people feel convicted that it isn't for them. I respect that. We like to carve pumpkins, dress up and decorate the house for Halloween. Today we made a Shrinky Dink Halloween tree from a kit. We had a GREAT time. I know the kids loved it, but I think Hub was most excited. He is 34 and it was his first Shrinky Dink experience.
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| Note Hub's intense coloring concentration. |
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| Ooooooh! They're shrinking! |
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| Before: please note giant size of scary green vampire guy in middle. |
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| After: See that tiny green blob? Yeah, that's vampire guy. |
We tried to guess at how they work. The kids knew it had to do with heat, but weren't sure what was going on otherwise (I was with them). Hub thought it may have been 2 types of plastic. We researched it and found out it is just polystyrene (like a meat tray) stretched thin that shrinks and thickens with heat. We also learned, much to our excitement, that you can use things like a take-out container from the salad bar to make your own Shrinky Dinks! Just color with a marker and bake. How exciting!
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| Goofy just sat and admired it for some time afterward. |
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| Close up of the tree after we were done. I colored that cool red spider all by myself. |
Jim has never shrinky dinked either. I should look into that for us. It would be greeted with much excitement, I'm sure. Oh, and good lookin spider, my friend.
ReplyDeleteI cannot possibly convey the level of Paul's excitement. Jim would love it. Perhaps I can arrange some shrinky dinking next time you are in town.
ReplyDeleteThat is a fine looking tree. I have not done shrinky dinks with my kids yet. I'll have to ask if Dan has ever done them.
ReplyDeleteI've never done them. Is it a girl thing? I wonder about meat trays and chemicals coming off of that? I tend not to microwave in foam for that reason, but really around lunch I'd eat the foam if it had a nice layer of peanutbutter.
ReplyDelete@Dank, you don't use meat trays. It's just the same plastic used to make meat trays. Any plastic #6 will work as a shrinky dink. Bek, please rectify.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cool idea! I need to go get me some shrinky dinks!
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