nursecramer or other science teachers!

[Jalapeñomel]

Have you ever done the science of shrinky dinks in your classroom?  I'm thinking of doing this for the three day week before the holidays as a way to do something fun, but not totally deviate from science. 

If you've done it, do you have suggestions/materials/lesson plans you'd be willing to share?

TIA

[tacokick]

I did this years ago. No lesson plans but I used the blank shrinky dink plastic and they drew nature/science pictures on them to shrink.

[Jalapeñomel]

Dec 10, 2015 8:45:55 GMT -5 tacokick said:

I did this years ago. No lesson plans but I used the blank shrinky dink plastic and they drew nature/science pictures on them to shrink.

I want them to look a bit at the spectrum of those elements and then why some plastics shrink and others don't.  I guess we could just talk about it and do it, because I'm not sure how much they'd absorb anyway. 

[spitforspat]

I used to work in a children's museum and we did Shrinky Dinks in our camps. We'd discuss polymers - what they are, how they're found in plastics, what happens when they're heated. We'd also talk about a scientist that used Shrinky dinks to make some type of computer chip (I think? I'm a bit fuzzy...it's been awhile).

www.wired.com/2007/12/from-wired-scie/

[tacokick]

We did talk about plastic and melted/tried to shrink other plastic. Part of a soda bottle, plastic wrap and those little plastic beads that you can melt together to make a pattern.

[Jalapeñomel]

Fantastic! Thank you!!!