I didn’t grow up in the US, so “shrinky dinks” were not part of my childhood. Indeed, until people started mentioning them as a possible “craft” for my kids, I didn’t know anything at all about them. Everyone whom I talked to about them thought they were great for kids, so I got a box of Shrinky Dinks Cool Gear by Faber and Castell.
I didn’t bother to look at what came in the box, but it was rather disappointing: 5 sheets of shrinky dinks (about 30 images, I think), 8 small color pencils, two keyrings, one super-cheapy chain, one plastic cord and 8 shells. There was also a small hole puncher and some self-sticking magnets. So basically you can make 4 “gear” type of items, a bunch of magnets and have a few shrinky dinks left over. That seems quite little for $15. After doing some more looking around in Amazon (after I ordered 🙁 ) I found some better deals, like Shrinky Dinks Jewelry by Alex, which include more images and more play items – and is substantially cheaper. Well, live and learn.
One other thing to keep in mind when ordering this set is that the drawings are the type that would be likely to appeal to boys more than to girls (race cars, sports equipment, etc.). Still, my girls did not seem to notice, though they did chose to color the more gender-neutral images first.
As for the craft itself, it’s a good way to spend a few minutes – coloring the picture, baking them, waiting for them to cool down and then affixing them to something. But there isn’t that much entertainment value for the price – the kids were amused at seeing the large pictures turn into such little things, but they probably enjoyed the coloring most of all. In all, it just was not worth the $15 or so that I paid for the kit 🙁

One toy that was worth its price was Sculpey clay. We got the Sculpey III Multipack – Bright Ideas, which comes with 10 different colors of clay, very bright colors. It also retails for about $15, but we bought it at Joann with a 50% off coupon. Still, given how much fun my kids had with it, it would have been worth the full price.
Basically, sculpey is clay – as in playdough type clay. It starts off a little hard, but after you roll it and handle it a bit, it becomes as plyable as play dough. The advantage is that you can also bake it and harden it – so you can make everything from a bead to a sculpture out of it. Of course, what you end up with is mostly linked to your particular sculptural talent – which doesn’t run very high in my family. But the important part is that the kids had a great time playing with the dough and expressing their creativity.
Now, if it was up to me I would have chosen more muted colors, but of course, it’s for the kids and they like stuff that’s bright. Still, they followed my lead and made beads and pendants (and some figurines), which we’ll turn into necklaces tomorrow and thus extend the fun 🙂