We're kicking it old school in our home this year and decorating our holiday tree with homemade ornaments we created using Shrinky Dinks. Not only are Shrinky Dinks easy to work with -- you can use pencils, ink, printers, copiers -- but children will love seeing and overseeing the complete Shrinky Dink process from start to finish.

Though they were once a staple of children's entertainment back in the 1970s (although we must confess we were completely devastated that we never had any Shrinky Dinks), they are now only available mainly online and we were thrilled to find some. According to the Shrinky Dink Web site:

The kits of years past were manufactured by the major toy companies of the time, such as, Milton Bradley, Colorforms, Western Publishing, Skyline Toys and others. Those kits are no longer being produced and the existing intact kits are in the hands of Toy Collectors and Dealers, and we have found them selling from $20.00 to $75.00 on the internet.

Our son made a zebra and baby zebra and was completely fascinated with the entire Shrinky Dink process. You draw your design, color it, cut it out and pop it in the oven. Your Shrinky Dink will shrink to 1/3 of its original size and 9 times thicker.

Shrinky Dinks an easy, fun and inexpensive way to create holiday ornaments, necklace charms, sun catchers and a myriad of other items.