Turn trash into treasure?? Really?! No, but you can turn trash into a fun craft and it's cheap!
Do you remember Shrinky Dinks from the good ole days? You can still find them in some places but they can be too expensive to buy for a whole class. I have a cheaper alternative that will have you dumpster diving like a pro.
All you need are some permanent markers, an oven (in my case, a toaster oven), and some #6 plastic with this symbol on it:
I have a good source for this plastic. The cafeteria at my school uses it for salad containers. I enjoy eating salads but I eat them more often because I need the plastic so my kiddos can make their own Shrinky Dinks. I've been known to dig through the trash to get more (embarassing, I know).
All you need to do is draw on small pieces of plastic with a permanent marker and cut around the design. If you plan to turn your Shrinky Dink into a charm for a necklace or bracelet, you'll need to punch a hole in it with a regular paper hole punch. To shrink the plastic, put it in an oven preheated to about 275-300 degrees. It only takes a couple of minutes for the plastic to shrink so don't wander off. During the shrinking process it will curl up and look like it is ruined but then it lays down flat again.
For Mother's Day my class made their mothers a Shrinky Dink key chain. I gave them some clip art heart samples for them to trace. Once the plastic shrunk I added a jump ring and some key chain hardware that I found at Walmart. I think they turned out really cute.
Before you go, let me share some other news...
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