Have you ever wondered how to make Shrinky Dinks?  You know, shrinky dinks, the thin plastic that shrinks in the oven. To make DIY shrinky dinks you need to save your #6 plastic containers (like the clear containers from the salad bar).

shrinky dinks

DIY Shrinky Dinks

Save the whole container, even the textured sides, and bottoms. It all works and flattens out nicely.  The ridges on the sides give a nice space to color!  We burned up most of the afternoon making  DIY shrink plastic and used every bit of my large stash of #6 containers and were left wanting more! When your plastic runs out you might be interested in this huge list of kids crafts and activities, this summer bucket list and these free coloring pages. So many ideas to keep kids busy and engaged!

What is a Shrinky Dink?

Shrinky Dinks are children’s activity that was hugely popular in the 80’s.  Special plastic sheets when heated in an oven, shrink to small hard pieces without altering their color or shape.

How do you make Shrinky Dinks?

You can purchase the special plastic sheets (affiliate link) and follow manufacturer instructions. Typically, shrinky dink plastic if first colored on with permanent markers or colored pencils. Next cut out the shapes and bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for about 1-3 minutes. At first, the Shrinky Dinks will curl up, but then they will flatten back out. Once they flatten back out, bake for 30 more seconds.

Homemade Shrinky Dinks Supplies

It is really an easy activity. All you need is:

  • permanent markers
  • regular hole punch
  • #6 plastic
  • oven
  • cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil or parchment paper
  • scissors to cut the plastic

How to make Shrinky Dinks

Here is the shrinky dink instruction you need!  Cut a shape out of the plastic (plastic shrinks about 1/3 of the original size). Our 2″ circle became about 3/4″ when shrunk.

shrinky dinks

Color one side of the shape with a permanent marker.  The color becomes more intense once it shrinks. If you are wanting to attach your shape to something don’t forget to punch a hole before placing in the oven.

Place the plastic on a thin cookie sheet (not the insulated type) covered with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Bake plastic at 350 degrees for 2- 3 minutes. Each oven is different so watch closely. You will see the plastic curl up and then it will flatten back out. It does give off some fumes so we left a window open for ventilation!

How to make Shrinky Dinks tutorial

We added a jump ring to some of our shapes and strung on cording along with beads to make necklaces.

Homemade Shrinky Dinks Supplies

Some of the small shapes we placed on id wire rings along with some beads to make beverage markers.

Ball started as a 2″ circle, finished size was about 3/4″
Tag started 3″ long by 1 3/4″ wide, finished size was about 1 1/4″ long by just under 3/4″ wide

What is a Shrinky Dink?

On a larger shaped tag (starting size 4″ long by 2 3/4″ wide) we placed a clip so it could be a zipper pull. Punch two holes side by side to make the finished hole big enough for the clip. I think these zipper pulls would  make the cutest Valentine’s -attach a note that says “You pull at my heart!”

What is a Shrinky Dink

How do you make a shrinky dink ring?

Then we really got rolling and made rings.  Our shrinky dink rings are a bit sloppy but we are still wearing them. It took some trial and error to find the right size. For my size, I started with a strip 5″ long by about 1″ to 1 1/2″ wide. Pull it immediately from the oven and quickly while it is still very hot wrap it around a Chap-stick tube. My son needed to make his 5 1/2 inches long and I (an adult must do this part–it is hot and you must work fast!) wrapped it around a child’s chunky marker. If you make a mistake and get a miss-shaped ring or it is too long just send it back into the oven. Once it is warm it can be trimmed with scissors, it will also flatten back out and you can give it another go. For more information on making shrinky dink rings you will want to visit Planet June. Here rings are lovely!

How do you make a shrinky dink ring

After we had used every piece of plastic my son said ———bracelets!  We could make bracelets. So we are now saving more plastic!

Homemade Shrinky Dinks Tips:

  • I was able to use a regular ink pad and stamp designs on the plain plastic with great results!
  • Look for the #6 stamp on the bottom of the clear containers
  • #6 – PS: polystyrene is used in takeout food containers. It has been found to leach styrene–a neurotoxin and possible human carcinogen–and has been banned in cities like Portland, Ore. and San Francisco.  Okay, so there is a downside to the craft! Using a toaster oven outside might be the best thing to do!
  • I remember my grandmother melting white Styrofoam cups in the oven enough to make them look like hats. I think she did something for Mother’s Day with them!
  • I did think the melting plastic left a lingering odor in my oven. Before using my oven for food I turned it on to 400 degrees and let it bake for about 20 minutes to get rid of the smell. Again, a small toaster oven reserved for craft projects and used in a well-ventilated area (like outside) is the safest way to make homemade shrinky dinks!

What do you use to color on Shrinky Drink Plastic?

To color the recycled plastic, it is best to use sharpie permanent markers. The colors darken as the plastic shrinks. Colored pencils work great on store bought sheets. The commercial sheets have a rough surface.   Clear smooth sheets or the recycled #6 plastic will need to be sanded lightly in order for the color stick onto the plastic.

I would love to keep you fully stocked with creative ideas, yummy recipes, fun crafts, and loads of free printables. Subscribe to Skip to my Lou to get new ideas delivered to your inbox. Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram for all my latest updates.


About Cindy Hopper

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Comments

  1. We used to use the Styrofoam cups to make mini flower pots. Color designs on them before you shrink them, then make shrinky flowers to go in them on pipe cleaner stems. They were party favors.

    Like others have mentioned, I also have a toaster oven dedicated to crafts. Mostly for Sculpey. And I use it outside.

  2. Some plastic plates are coded number 6. These come in opaque colors and make wonderful beads. for more how to’s using shrinky dink type plastic try the Lucky Squirrel web site. Lucky has great how to’s

  3. Thanks so much for this!!!! Can’t wait to do this with my girls. I LOVE the idea, and the saying, to use the zipper pulls for valentines 🙂 So how many #6 containers would I need to make 32 tags/hearts? hmmm. Thanks again!!

  4. Oh, this looks SO fun…it makes me want to go buy something in #6 plastics just to do this! (I don’t normally get salad bar stuff or anything else I can think of that comes in #6 – phooey!)

  5. We use our toaster oven and put the item on a piece of brown paper bag. I haven’t noticed a smell (maybe the odor of burned crumbs on the bottom covers it up?).

    @Diana: I read that about sandpaper, too. I tried it once – it’s a royal pain, so I gave up. It might be easier with flat plastic (mine was shaped), or maybe I had the wrong grit of sandpaper. Whatever the reason, I gave up on that!

    @Jennifer: plastic containers that salad comes in, grocery store muffins, Trader Joe’s Joe-Joe cookies, stuff like that. It’s more brittle than a milk container, usually clear and see-through, and often shaped or textured.

    It is very very magical to watch shaped things (like the muffin cups, or the salad boxes) flatten out!

  6. how very neat! And I love how they go from being flat and thin to slightly chunky looking…
    as for the smell and possible carcinogen- couldn’t you do this as a summer time activity and do it in a toaster oven (one dedicated to crafting) and do it outside? just a thought!
    thanks for the tute- love it!!!!

  7. Oh my! I’ve *never* seen this idea before and I *love* shrinky dinks! Thank you for this idea and the instructions…

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