Kid drawings are simply the best! I’m not sure what’s cuter, their way of drawing everyday objects or the way they write their letters, but preserving the current stage of creativity is always a good idea. This Christmas preserve their artwork in the cutest mini form, when making fun and interactive Shrinky Dinks Christmas Ornaments.
My parents didn’t have any grandkids and then suddenly they had 5 under 5.
For the past few years, for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Christmas we’ve been trying to come up with gifting ideas that use their actual likeness or are made with their own adorable hands. We recently got the kids together to create these fun interactive Shrinky Dinks Christmas Ornaments to don their tree this year.
There’s little time to get all 5 kids together besides holidays and birthdays so we took the Thanksgiving holiday as an opportunity to get this craft done so this isn’t a true spoiler for my parents who were somewhat around that busy holiday date when the kids were crafting away.
Supplies:
- Shrinky Dinks Ruff ‘n Ready
- Colored Pencils
- Hole Punch
- Pipe Cleaners
- Beads
There are many different varieties of Shrinky Dinks but the Ruff and Ready sheets are my favorite as they are easy to color with colored pencils. Many of the others require alcohol based inks or permanent markers which are not as kid friendly in my book! They come in a multi pack so there are plenty of sheets for creative kids crafts!
These sheets are 8×10” so I cut them into (4) 4×5” rectangles and punched 2 holes on top of each. Before shrinking in the oven, it’s important to punch holes if you plan to turn them into something else as you won’t be able to punch a hole in them after.
Let the kids get creative with their drawings! I suggested they draw pictures of their grandparents or something Christmas-y and let them each make 2, making sure to sign their name. This is what the little artists created.
After fully coloring, you can watch the Shrinky Dinks magic in the toaster oven! Place the designs shiny side up onto a piece of foil on the tray. When put into a toaster oven set at 325 degrees, the ornaments shrink to about 1/3 of their original size and are 9 times stronger.
They do tend to curl and then uncurl the as it bakes a little longer. Upon taking them out, I usually tap them a little flatter with my oven mitt so it can cool flat. The size went from 4 x 5″ to approximately 1.625 x 2.25″.
After cooling, kids can thread pipe cleaners through and add beads to decorate.
These Shrinky Dinks Ornaments are a super fun way to capture a simple moment in time with kid artwork that can be seen for years to come!
Other Grandparent gift ideas:
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