11/18/12: The Incredible Shrinky Dinks Maker

Next up in my Holiday Gift Guide is The Incredible Shrinky Dinks Maker from Big Time Toys.  

I love Shrinky Dinks!  They have been around forever, well at least since October of 1973.  They were very popular when I was a kid and they have stood the test of time as my kids like them just as much.

I wanted to introduce you to the new Incredible Shrinky Dinks Maker.  It allows kids to be right in the action and be able to put their own Shrinky Dinks in to the Maker and also watch them shrink from above.

Here is Evan coloring his pre-made Shrinky Dink.  This is one from the Sponge Bob collection.  They have quite a few licensed character Shrinky Dinks.

You can also trace and color your own on to the paper.  The Shrinky Dinks paper comes with the Shrinky Dink Maker along with a bunch of different images to trace.

Here is one of the ready made sets with the images printed on them.

This is what The Incredible Shrinky Dink Maker looks like.  In the front the orange area is a compartment that you can store Shrinky Dinks, the pencils, or whatever you would like.

The top of the compartment is clear so you can see in and watch them shrink which is the best part of making Shrinky Dinks and the highlight of this toy for my kids.

Here is Sponge Bob pre-shrinking on the tray that goes in to the Maker.

Here he is in the Shrinky Dinks Maker.

And now you can see how small he got compared to his buddy Patrick who hasn't been shrunk yet.

Here is what it looks like in the box as I saw them for the first time at Time to Play's Holiday Showcase in New York.

Some examples of Shrinky Dinks before and after.

My summary:

Overall I think it is a great toy that allows kids to be able to put their Shrinky Dinks in and out of the Maker, however I would supervise them.  Of course you can still shrink them the old fashioned way like we used to do in the oven but even with the light on it is hard to see them fully as they shrink and you don't want the kids handling them putting them in to the oven or taking them out.  The one benefit to the oven is that you can shrink more than one at once.  In the Incredible Shrinky Dinks Maker you can also shrink one at a time but you can involve the whole family in the fun.  It retails for $29.99.

Like them on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ShrinkyDinks

Disclosure:  I received this toy for review purposes.  No other compensation was received and all opinions are my own.