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Shrink Film Keepsake Keychains

Make these shrink film keepsake keychains with your students using Shrinky-Dink paper! These fun names will preserve how they wrote their name when they were first learning! We share how on Simply Kinder.

I am obsessed with these keepsake keychains!  Aren’t they adorable?  And they make an easy gift for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Christmas (or the holidays).  And we share the directions below so you can make these too with your class!

This resource works well with these activities:

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Make these shrink film keepsake keychains with your students using Shrinky-Dink paper! We share how on Simply Kinder.

What you need:

Make these shrink film keepsake keychains with your students using Shrinky-Dink paper! We share how on Simply Kinder.

We started with these fun notes to our moms.  Here’s how we made them:

  1. Prep the film.  Cut the film into rectangles and round the edges so they are not too pokey.  We cut ours 5 1/2 by 4 inches.
  2. Draw the blue and red lines with Sharpie on the shrink paper.
  3. Have students use a black Sharpie to write a letter.
  4. Punch the hole.  At first, I did the hole as far in as I could, but then I had trouble getting the keychains to go on them.  So do the hole closer to the edge of the paper.
  5. Bake them (see directions below).
Make these shrink film keepsake keychains with your students using Shrinky-Dink paper! These fun names will preserve how they wrote their name when they were first learning! We share how on Simply Kinder.

I love preserving student handwriting during kindergarten.  They are just so cute in how they write their names and these keychains are just too fun.  Here’s how we made them:

  1.  Prep the shrink film paper.  We drew 3 sets of lines per page with blue and red Sharpie markers.  The distance between the top line and the bottom line is 2 inches.  (See supply image).    If students have longer names you may want to turn the page horizontal and do 2 sets of lines per page.
  2. Have students write their names in black Sharpie marker.  I had them start about an inch in to give me room for later.
  3. Cut them out.  I cut them to size for their name.  Round the corners, so they are not too pokey when used.
  4. Punch the hole.  At first, I did the hole as far in as I could, but then I had trouble getting the keychains to go on them.  So do the hole closer to the edge of the paper.
Make these shrink film keepsake keychains with your students using Shrinky-Dink paper! These fun names will preserve how they wrote their name when they were first learning! We share how on Simply Kinder.

To bake them is so simple; I actually made a bigger deal out of this than I originally needed to. Of course, follow the directions on the package for your shrink film, but here is what we did.

  1.  Preheat oven at 300 degrees.
  2. We used a cookie sheet with tin foil on it.  It’s our crafting pan.  (I put parchment paper for the photo, but the directions said parchment not foil so both worked for us).
  3. Place on cookie sheet and cook for 2-3 minutes.  Some took 2 minutes, some took 3 and there was no rhyme or reason why.
  4. Remove from the oven and let them cool.  We pushed a towel over them when they came out and cooled so they were super flat.

Examples:

Check out these gorgeous examples that were shared by Jennifer Luce in our Simply Kinder Teacher Group Facebook page. Thank you so much for sharing your students’ handiwork with us!

Check out our Facebook video to see them actually shrink and keep reading for our tips, tricks, and FAQ!  (Be sure to like, comment, or share the video so your friends see it).

Tips and tricks and frequently asked questions, don’t make the mistakes I made.

  • They will curl, as seen above.  This is where I made the mistake. I freaked out and took them out and tried to flatten them.  Nope.  Let them keep cooking because after they curl, the flatten out on their own in the oven.
  • The directions said to seal them.  We did this on some and ruined them.  We used Modge Podge and it distorted some of the marker images.  I think this kind of sealing is more appropriate for painted projects.
  • Sometimes they will curl over and overlap.  Watch them. If that happens and it does not correct itself, open the oven and flatten it out super quick.  The moment the heat escapes the oven they start cooling.  This will happen on longer item and random ones.  Just watch and fix if needed.
  • You can over cook them.  Don’t do that.  LOL.  Whoops.
  • Give yourself a couple days to do these just in case you need to redo one so you have time to have the student rewrite their name.
  • We ordered SANDED shrinking film.  It came with a frosted color. We used the same pack of shrink paper on all of our projects.  You can also use clear. Either way, clear or frosted they will still look adorable!
  • We wrote on the shiney side, not the frosted side.  We also cooked them that way too. So frosted side down at all times.

I also want to start by saying these are not the easiest project in the world – especially if they don’t work as planned. I would suggest giving yourself a couple days time to redo any that don’t cook well and I would test out cooking them before you decide if this project is for you.  That being said, after 2-3 practice runs I was able to get them to work perfectly.  Stick with it, play with cooking times, and remember they cool very fast so open the oven, fix fast, and close the oven if they do not come out flat.  Check all the FAQ above for more tips and tricks.

Make these shrink film keepsake keychains with your students using Shrinky-Dink paper! These fun names will preserve how they wrote their name when they were first learning! We share how on Simply Kinder.

There you have it.  An amazing keepsake and gift your families will love!  We love to showcase our readers photos too.

Mrs. Hornsby shared these in our group here.  She picked up the the paper on Amazon from the above links, the keychains from Hobby Lobby, and added some keychain charms.  There are lots of options for keychain charms and they are not too expensive, click here to check some out. I feel like it really finished these little gifts well.  Thanks for sharing!

These beautiful examples were shared in our group from Malina Pakulak. She let each student choose a mini charm to add to the keychain. Thank you so much for sharing with us!

Maybe you are thinking these will make an amazing holiday gift?  We have some other options too!

Directed Drawing Calendar

Your students will love these directed drawing calendars.  Each month has a fun picture that is easy to draw and fun to color.  The calendar is editable too so you can use it year after year!  Click here to check it out.

Handprint Calendar from Simply Kinder. This no-fuss calendar will be a perfect gift for your families. It's editable so you can change the calendar year after year and it's one page per month so there is no fumbling with matching the backs of months to the front to get the order right. It's also super simple with no titles or poems so you can easily do your own handprint ideas or use the samples provided.

Or maybe you LOVE doing handprints?  We have the same calendar but with handprints.  You will want to start this one super early though!  Click here to check it out.

A fun Mother's Day Craft for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade students. You can pick whether they do the Mother's Day Craft, or Mother's Day Directed Drawing to go in the center to the O.

A fun Mother’s Day Craft for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade students. You can pick whether they do the Mother’s Day Craft, or Mother’s Day Directed Drawing to go in the center to the O.  Click here to check it out.

Shrinky Dink Father's Day Keychain dads will love. Print the template, color, cut, bake, and put on a keychain! The perfect Father's Day give for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade students to give their dads. Free Father's Day printable template from Simply Kinder.

And don’t forget dad!  Here are some Shrinky Dink Father’s Day Keychain dads will love. Print the template, color, cut, bake, and put on a keychain! The perfect Father’s Day gifts for preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade students to give their dads. Click here to get this free Father’s Day printable template from Simply Kinder.

Five Shrinky Dinks Keychain Projects

We have so much more for those Shrinky Dinks!  Click here to check out all of our ideas that make keepsakes!

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