Yes, it's true, I've become a Shrinky Dinkaholic -- if there is such a thing. It all started a few months ago when I pulled out my daughter's book of Shrinky Dinks. We'd had it for awhile, but my daughter's not the craftiest of kids and can't seem to sit still for longer than five minutes at a time. But it was a dreary Friday night with nothing to do. I suggested she make a decoration for the present we'd bought for a birthday party she was going to the next day.

Since then we haven't looked back. Shrinky Dinks are so much fun! Whether you're an accomplished artist, or just want to copy the designs that the book provides, Shrinky Dinks can keep you and your kids occupied for hours. The Shrinky Dink book provides six sheets of plastic paper (with a papery side for drawing and colouring on), that, when heated in the oven, shrinks to 44% of its original size. The book also provides lots of traceable figures for you use in case you're not a Picasso or van Gogh. In fact, that first night we made new figures for about two hours. What makes it so much fun is that the end result is so nice and you don't have to be a brilliant artist to see great results.

Being the drawing-challenged that I am, I chose to copy designs from the book and use the suggested colour scheme for my drawings. For colouring you can use markers or coloured pencils, just not crayons because according to the instructions, wax could catch fire in the oven. (Pencils, paints and markers are not included with the book.)

Yes, you need to use an oven, so you need an adult to do the actual shrinking part. We cut out our masterpieces, put them on foil on a cookie sheet and placed in a preheated oven (300 degrees). It took us a few times to get the shrinking part right and in the end, the best "shrinking" place in our oven was the bottom rack. It only takes a minute or two to shrink your works of art and you have to watch them carefully so you'll know when they're done, but watching them shrink and curl is one of the funnest parts! When they have cooled they're rock hard and the book cautions not to cut square or pointy edges as they will be sharp with shrunken.

One of things I really like about the Shrinky Dinks is the intense colour and impressive looking detail once your piece has shrunken down. The Shrinky Dinks book gives you all kinds of ideas of things to make as well: pendants for necklaces, earring dangly pieces (hooks not included), alphabet letters for making cards and signs, "paper" dolls with outfits, etc.

We have had a lot of fun with Shrinky Dinks since our first discovery, and I now find I'm asking my daughter if she has any birthday parties coming up so we can make some decorations for the gifts!

Great rainy day/indoor day fun!