Printable Shrinky Dinks for the 4th of July

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These printable shrinky dinks for the 4th of July are so much fun to make. We love making all kinds of shrinky dinks. Did you know you can even make your own DIY shrinky dinks from upcycled plastic?

The images on shrinky dinks shrink to 1/3 of their original size. So you can fit about 6 patterns on a page for a small necklace or keychain.

Plastics for Shrinky Dinks

There are different plastics you can use, from the DIY plastic mentioned above, to store-bought plastics. I like to get the kind that is opaque or pre-sanded, because if you get the crystal clear kind, you have to spend time roughing up the surface for great color contact. If you want to know the best colors to use on shrinky dinks, check this out.

These are the shrinky dink plastics I like best.

Shrinky Dinks Directions

What you need:

• blank shrinky dink material
• paper
• printable patterns
• sharpie markers, acrylic paint, colored pencils, or roll up crayons
• scissors
• hole punch
• oven
• cookie sheet or pie plate either disposable or covered in foil or parchment paper
• keychain or necklace material if you want to make a keychain or necklace

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees
• Print the printable shrinky dink for 4th of July on paper or onto the shrinky dink plastic if you have a printer that doesn’t produce heat. Don’t do it if you’re not sure! Just use paper if there is any question.
• Position the shrinky dink plastic over the printout for tracing. 
• The shrinky dink material should be positioned rough side up.
• Trace the image.
• Color the image in.
• Cut out the shrinky dink. Leave a border of uncolored material around the image so you don’t end up with sharp or fragile pieces.
• Punch a hole at the top of the shrinky dink.
• Place the shrinky dink on a cookie sheet or pie plate with the rough side up and the smooth side down.
• Put it in the oven. It happens in about a minute. It will curl up and then flatten out. Once it flattens, wait 30 seconds. Then remove it from the oven.
• Let cool for 10 minutes.

Temperature for Shrinky Dinks

325 seems to be the optimal temperature for baking the shrinky dinks for the 4th of July but definitely follow the package instructions if you buy store-bought plastic.

If the shrinky dinks curl up too much, they can stick together at the top and not unfold, you can simply take a spatula and try to pry it apart while it’s hot and smash it flat, then cook 30 seconds more to get a good flat finished project.

Here are the free printable shrinky dink patterns for 4th of July!

Shrinky Dink Ideas

For more free printable shrinky dink patterns:

• Check out the DIY shrinky dinks post linked at the top of this post for garden and Valentine patterns.
• Christmas Ornament Shrinky Dink patterns
• Handprint keychain shrinky dinks
• St. Patricks day shrinky dink patterns
• Halloween Shrinky Dink patterns
• For more homemade art supplies to use with your kids, check this out too!