What Should You Buy for a Kid Who Loves Drawing but Has Outgrown Coloring Books?
Buy a shrink art kit — specifically, the Christmas Shrink Art DIY Craft Kit. It turns a kid's own drawing into something hard, finished, and keepable: a charm, a keychain, or a Christmas ornament, instead of one more paper page that ends up in the recycling.
If your kid finishes coloring books in a weekend and then asks for another one, the problem is not a shortage of books. It is that coloring has no second act: the page gets colored, admired for a day, and filed away. A kid who genuinely loves to draw wants the next step — their own drawing, made into a real thing.
Why do coloring books stop working for a kid who loves to draw?
Three signs tell you the coloring-book phase is over. First, the kid stops coloring inside the lines on purpose and starts drawing their own characters in the margins — the book is now just expensive paper. Second, finished books pile up with nowhere to go; nobody frames page 47 of a dinosaur book. Third, the kid asks for "real" art supplies, which usually means they want their work to matter beyond the kitchen table.
What is shrink art, and how does it work?
Shrink art starts where drawing already lives: the kid draws and colors a design on a special plastic sheet. Then an adult bakes it in a regular oven for a few minutes. The sheet shrinks to a fraction of its size, thickens, and hardens into a small, sturdy charm — and the colors get darker and brighter as it shrinks, which is the part kids gasp at.
That shrinking moment is why it works as the post-coloring-book step. The kid does the creative part, the oven does the magic part, and every finished piece has an obvious job: keychain, backpack charm, gift tag, or tree ornament.
Which shrink art kit should you buy first?
Start with the Christmas Shrink Art DIY Craft Kit ($27.99). It is a Christmas-themed shrink plastic set built around making charms, so every finished piece arrives with a purpose: ornaments for the tree, gift tags for presents, keychains for friends.
Before you buy, run the Keep Test: does the finished piece get worn, hung, or gifted? Can the kid's own drawing — not just a pre-printed design — become the piece? Will it still exist next month? The Christmas kit passes all three, because charms and ornaments are made to be kept.
| Kit | What you get | Ages | Price* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christmas Shrink Art DIY Craft Kit (our pick) | Christmas-themed shrink plastic charm-making set | Kids (adult handles the oven) | $27.99 |
| Shrinky Dinks Jewelry Kit | 68-piece set: pre-cut shapes, pencils, beads, hoops, barrettes | 5+ | varies by retailer |
| Ooly 28-Piece Shrinking Art Kit | 20 pre-cut charms, no cutting needed | Kids | $14.95 |
| Bright Stripes Shrinkadoo Jewelry Making Kit | 90 pre-cut shapes, markers, chains, key clips | Kids | $21.99 |
| Grafix Shrink Film, 50-sheet pack | Blank sanded sheets only — draw anything, supply your own findings | Kids with adult help | varies by retailer |
\*Prices checked 2026-11-03; retailer prices vary, and deals come and go.
Shrinky Dinks Jewelry Kit — the classic. Pros: the original brand, a generous 68-piece box, and pre-cut shapes that skip the scissor step entirely. Cons: it leans jewelry-only, so a kid who wants ornaments or gift tags has to improvise, and the oven step still needs an adult.
Ooly 28-Piece Shrinking Art Kit — the low-mess pick. Pros: 20 pre-cut charms mean zero cutting and fast cleanup, and at $14.95 it is the cheapest way to test whether your kid likes shrink art at all. Cons: the finished charms run small and can get lost, and 20 designs do not last long once a kid is hooked.
Bright Stripes Shrinkadoo Jewelry Making Kit — the variety pick. Pros: 90 pre-cut shapes plus markers, chains, and key clips cover bracelets, necklaces, and bag charms in one box. Cons: it is still a jewelry kit first, so Christmas ornaments and gift tags are an afterthought, and younger kids will need help with the findings.
Grafix Shrink Film 50-pack — the blank-canvas pick. Pros: 50 big sanded sheets give total freedom — any drawing, any size, as many tries as the kid wants. Cons: it is sheets only, so you must buy pencils, keychains, and findings separately, and a first-timer has to figure out cutting, hole-punching, and baking alone.
The Christmas kit wins for a first purchase because it solves the "now what?" problem: the theme hands every finished piece a job, and the holiday timing means the kid's drawings become gifts within days.
Is shrink art safe, and what age is it really for?
The honest answer has two parts. The drawing and coloring part is safe for any school-age kid who can handle pencils and small pieces. The oven part is strictly an adult job: the plastic gets hot, the baking tray gets hot, and small finished charms are not for toddlers who still mouth objects.
That split is actually a feature. A 5-year-old can color a pre-cut shape while you run the oven; an 8-year-old can design, cut, and color the whole piece and just hand you the tray. Keep finished charms away from children under 3, and never microwave shrink plastic — a regular oven is the only way to bake it.
What can kids actually make with it at Christmas?
This is where the Christmas kit earns its price. A kid's drawing of the family dog becomes a gift tag on Grandma's present; a hand-drawn snowman becomes a tree ornament with the year on the back; a set of matching charms becomes the class gift exchange, each one different because each one started as a different drawing.
That last point matters more than it sounds. Most Christmas crafts for kids produce 24 identical objects. Shrink art produces 24 originals. When relatives ask "who made this?" the answer is a name, not a brand — and that is why these ornaments survive in the ornament box year after year while foam stickers do not.
What if the drawing shrinks wrong?
Three things go wrong, and all three are fixable. If the sheet curls in the oven, leave it alone — it flattens itself as it finishes shrinking, and poking it mid-bake causes wrinkles. If a charm sticks to the tray, bake on parchment paper next time, not bare metal. If colors look pale after shrinking, the drawing needed heavier coloring before baking — shrink art rewards bold, pressed-hard color. And punch the keychain hole before baking, not after: a hole in hard shrunken plastic cracks, while one punched in the soft sheet shrinks neatly with the design.
Frequently Asked Questions
My kid already has markers and sketchbooks. Is this different enough? Yes. Markers and sketchbooks make more paper; shrink art turns a drawing into a hard object the kid can wear, hang, or give away.
Can a kid do shrink art alone? They can draw, color, and cut alone, but an adult must handle the oven step.
How long does one project take? Drawing takes as long as the kid wants; baking takes only a few minutes per batch.
Is the Christmas kit only useful at Christmas? No. Charms, keychains, and gift tags work year-round — Christmas just gives the first batch an instant audience and a tree to hang on.
What should I buy if my kid tries it and loves it? A blank-sheet pack like Grafix, so their own drawings — not pre-cut shapes — become the next twenty projects.
The bottom line: when a kid has outgrown coloring books, do not buy a bigger coloring book. Buy the Christmas Shrink Art DIY Craft Kit and let their next drawing become something the family keeps.