How to Make a Shrinky Dink Koala Bear
No school lesson or homeschooling session about Australian animal life would be complete without a discussion of the koala bear. After the children have completed the unit, they can commemorate what they've learned by making a koala of their own in Shrinky Dink form. The koala will start out large and shrink to half of its size when placed in a heated oven.
Instructions
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1
Buy a package of Shrinky Dink sheets from the manufacturer's online store. (Follow the link in Resources.) The store offers Shrinky Dinks at $3 to $5 per package, which is even cheaper than on eBay.
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Use one Shrinky Dink sheet to make five koala bears. Set the sheet on a table, its rough side facing up.
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3
Use a gray pencil crayon to draw an outline of your koala bears. Make them larger than you want them to end up, because they are going to shrink.
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4
Color in the koala bears in with your white and gray pencil crayons. If you want any of the koala bears to look like cartoon characters, should color them some clothes.
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5
Turn on the oven and begin preheating it to 325 degrees.
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Use your scissors to cut out the koala bears. Leave a little bit of a clear space around the edges to allow for shrinking.
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Set your koala bears on a cookie sheet. Space them out so that they are not touching. If they touch, they may melt together.
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Put your cookie sheet in the oven. Set your timer to 1 minute.
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When the timer rings, remove the cookie sheet. Set the koala bears aside to cool off.
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Tips & Warnings
Punch a hole in your koala bear and thread a piece of string through the hole. Tie it off to form a necklace.
Cut a strip of magnet and stick it on the back of your koala bear. Hang the koala on your refrigerator as a decoration.
Observe your Shrinky Dink in the oven at all times. It can burn in less than 2 seconds.
Resources
- Photo Credit Benjamin Turner
