When Spin Master and Marshmallow teamed up they had a huge game plan on place. Create a cross market advertising campaign to promote both divisions of the company. The Spin Master Toys Shrinky Dink Room Décor Kit is just one of the examples of a good idea that was poorly planned and executed. What makes this a bad idea? They cut corners and deviated from the original Shrinky Dink format. Instead of an all inclusive activity kit, kids these days get some blank plastic sheets, templates that they use to draw out their own designs and a suggestion sheet. I'm not saying that the art supplies that came with the Shrinky Dink sets were anything great but they were nice to have around.

I was lucky enough to come across more than a few different Shrinky Dink kits and sets when they were on clearance. Most of them were girlie and filled with flowers, hearts, teddy bears and all the things that make little girls smile but there were a few that were made just for boys. Most of these kits and sets had a $9.99 suggested retail price so when I saw them priced anywhere from $1.50 to $2.50, I couldn’t pass up getting them. After having a number of these "new and improved" sets [Spin Masters words, not mine] I can safely say that they are not even close to being worth the suggested retail price.

Spin Master Toys Shrinky Dinks Room Decor Kit

I pity the porr girl that has only this set to accessorize with. There are a total of twenty six different designs in the kit; you receive four standard sized pieces of Shrinky Dink paper that you use to draw the images on. The old school Shrinky Dinks had the designs already printed on them and, in my opinion, were a lot nice to work with. The 'new school' ones require time and patience to draw out the images and then cut them out. You do have to be careful when cutting them out, rough edges could be extremely dangerous once the plastic is shrunk down. The Shrinky Dinks are make the same way, in a regular or toaster oven for five to eight minutes. This is one of the reasons that parental supervision is stressed over and over again on the box as well as on the suggestion sheet.

Some of the designs that you can make from the provided templates include rainbows, stars, hearts, teddy bears, rainbows, butterflies, smiley faces, more rainbows, flowers and hearts. What you choose to make depends on your creativity; since there are only four Shrinky Dink sheets you can’t go completely crazy and make huge designs but you can buy extra plastic sheets if you run out. These extra sheets can be found at craft stores like Jo-Anne Fabrics or Michaels but I have also seen them in scrapbook stores as well. I suggest using a permanent marker to draw out the images but only after you have figured out what design you want to work with or images you want to combine. The templates can be used over and over again so all you need to do is buy more plastic Shrinky sheets.

So what do you so with these things when you are done tracing, coloring and baking them? Well, Spin Master has a few suggestions; "use them around your room to add some color and flair". Wow. Could they have possibly gone into a little more detail? Annabelle used a couple of them on the pull string for her ceiling fan. This of course meant that we had to reinforce the string because it would surely see a lot more use. She was smart though, she punched holes in them before we put them in the oven so she could easily hang them from things without having to use glue. After that she was on a quest to try to find uses for them; the vertical blinds were her first target but I drew the line when she wanted to put them on the collars for the dogs. I can't see a Rottweiler sporting a Shrinky Dink rainbow and being all that happy about it.

The Bottom Line

This could be a nice activity set if you are having a birthday party and want something for girls to do. They get to make something unique and take it home with them and clean up is generally nothing more than vacuuming up the pieces of plastic that are snipped off the sheets. With that being said, you will need more than a few sets to keep them entertained or occupied for more than a half hour. As much as I hate to say it, in regards to some sets you are better off looking for basic clip art images on line then printing them and buying the Shrinky Dink sheets instead of spending ten dollars for something like this. I really hate to bash Spin Master because generally they have some awesome products but their Shrinky Dink line has really gone down hill over the past few years. Would it really kill them to throw in some colored pencils?


As always, thanks for the visit…

~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~

© 2007 Freak369


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Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 1.75
Type of Toy: Arts and Crafts
Age Range of Child: Kids to Teens