Shrinky Dink Pet ID Tags { For Stuffed Animals }

Is your house filled with stuffed animals? It seems like when we go to bed ours multiply! When I was going through my craft closet I found some Shrinky Dinks sheets and immediately knew what we’d do with it. Shrinky Dinks are one of those crafts that my kids get equally excited about which isn’t always the case with a three and a half year age gap. These DIY Pet ID Tags are fun to make and fun to play with. My daughter loved the pretend play aspect of the craft and my son loved the creative side.

1. Gather your materials. You will need Shrinky Dinks sheets , cookie sheet, a brown paper bag , hole punch, sharpies or colored pencils, scissors, some hemp cord and of course a couple stuffed animal buddies.
2. Start by reading the directions on your Shrinky Dink package and set your oven to the recommended temperature.
3. Cut the shape of the tag you want. My daughter wanted hearts and my son wanted octagons.
4. Punch a hole with the hole punch. You need to do this before baking!
5. Using the sharpies design and decorate. We started with the pet’s names. My daughter was super creative with her cat’s name. I wrote the names for my daughter and my son wrote his own. I didn’t add them because I didn’t want my phone number online but my son suggested we put them on in case we lose the pets. That could be a great way work on learning phone numbers too! My daughter was eager to watch her’s shrink but my son worked a lot longer on this project than normal. That totally tickled me! I love finding activities that he really gets into.
6. Pop them on the cookie sheet. Time to shrink them!
7. Let cool and add the cord.
8. Pop them on and play! After we added the tags the pets joined us outside for a picnic lunch.

Books About Pets

Not Norman: A Goldfish Story by Kelly Bennet is a story about a little boy and his disappointing pet fish Norman. All great children’s books slip a lesson between the pages and this one is about how our first impressions aren’t always right. Friendships can take a while to grow but once they do they are solid, even with a pet fish named Norman.

I Got Two Dogs: (Book and CD)by John Lithgow will delight you. The book comes with a CD and I urge you to play it, hearing a book by the author is always amazing, but this song was thoroughly entertaining. As a dog lover who fondly remembers my childhood dog eating all the lasagnas at my first boy-girl dinner party, I can relate to the naughty but lovable dogs. The message is about devotion and unconditional love and you don’t have to be a dog lover to get that.

Bad Cat by Tracy-Lee McGuiness-Kelly . Bad Cat lives in the city, the big stinky he calls it. No matter where he goes, trouble seems to follow. Or does it? People are annoyed or upset with Bad Cat until they realize his actions actually had positive outcomes, but by that time Bad Cat was on the run again. This is one of my favorite stories, one about innocent behavior and making quick judgements. It’s a great story to share with kids, illustrating that something good can be found in most actions if you look. I love Bad Cat’s innocent behavior, similar to that of a child. ( review by Carrie Anne)