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Styrofoam Tray Shrink Art

Making styrofoam shrink art was one of those fun childhood memories I have from being a kid.  My mom would clean off the meat or veggie trays from the grocery store, give it to us kids to draw on, then we would watch in awe as our creations shrunk before our very eyes in the oven.


I really wanted to do the same thing with my kids so I (silly-me) tried to find a tutorial of the sort on the Internet.  I did this mostly because I didn't know the temperature the oven needed to be or how long it should be in there.  Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't find one!  The closest thing I found was this website, but there were no pictures or anything.  I decided to wing it - it couldn't be that hard, right?


And, yes, this craft is super easy.  First, I gave the boys a clean tray and a bunch of markers for them to draw with.


I had to convince them to color a lot since they were only making small markings.


We put their creations on an aluminum-covered baking sheet, and put it in the oven at 350 degrees.


They shrunk really fast!  It was only about two minutes.  The styrofoam curled up, but once I pulled it out, I was able to flatten it without too much trouble.  I was actually surprised that it wasn't that hot.


Here is what they looked like when they came out.  The boys thought it was great.




Next time I do this (since I always seem to have these trays in my house), I think I'll try to make them into ornaments.  I'll need to make a big hole in the styrofoam since it will shrink a lot and then try to thread ribbon through it.
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Comments

  1. Nate BOctober 12, 2011 at 12:00 PM

    Fun! I remember doing that too.

    Can't you just make the hole after its shrunk?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AlishaOctober 12, 2011 at 1:09 PM

    No, the styrofoam is really hard once it shrinks. I think you would crack it if you managed to make a hole in it at all.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ElizabethNovember 11, 2011 at 10:04 PM

    Okay, now I totally want to do this with Caleb. But I'm wracking my brain, I don't think anything I buy comes on styrofoam. I buy my meat in plastic wrap tubes...I'm going to have to keep my eyes out, maybe some veggies...if not I'll get some styrofoam plates or cups just for this. It would be worth it. I did this with cups for a Christmas tree ornament (that I never ended up making): you were supposed to shrink them, then spray paint them black to make a hat for a snowman (which you make out of a lightbulb); you stick on "googly eyes" and a carrot nose out of orange felt or something, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AlishaNovember 11, 2011 at 10:08 PM

    I saw a craft idea similar to yours for the styrofoam cups - except instead of a snowman it was a pilgrim hat. Thanksgiving idea, perhaps?

    ReplyDelete

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