Inside: Help your kids make shrinky dink keychains into friendship gifts that are sweet and help our kids show kindness towards their friends.
My youngest daughter has been on a mission to make new friends.
One of her close friends just moved across the country.
Her best friend doesn’t have the same recess time as her.
And a few of the kids she was playing with don’t always make kind choices.
To encourage my daughter to spend time with kids who are kind all the time, I asked her teacher for suggestions. Because teachers always know who the kind kids are.
So we’ve been talking about what makes a good friend.
I’m teaching my daughter how to be an includer.
And each day as she gets out of my car for school, I remind my daughter to play with the kids from the “list.”
She’s excited because we’re setting up playdates after school with friends from the list.
But my daughter wanted to give them a little token that showed her new friends how much she appreciated them.
So we busted out the old school shrinky dinks from my childhood to make shrinky dink keychains that make easy and sweet friendship gifts.
Helping Our Kids Be a Good Friend
We are on purpose raising our kids to be kind.
And part of that means teaching them to be a good friend.
It also includes guiding them away from “mean girls” and mean girl behavior.
Related: What to Do If You Think Your Kids is the “Mean Girl”
A good friend is a cheerleader who encourages and cheers on and cheers up others.
A good friend thinks about what they say and works hard not to hurt feelings on purpose.
And a good friend is thoughtful and generous.
So my daughter wanted to make her new friends a little gift and use her creativity.
Supplies Needed for Shrinky Dink Keychains
Brown paper bag (lunch bag cut up)
Cookie sheet
Scissors
How to Make Shrinky Dink Keychains
1. Cut up Shrinky Dinks to rectangles about 1 inch by 3 inches
2. Using sharpies, have your child write or copy friendship messages onto the Shrinky Dinks.
You are kind.
You are a good friend.
You are an amazing friend.
I’m glad you’re my friend.
3. Hole punch the edge of the shrinky dink with two hole punches (the hole will shrink).
4. Cut the corners off the edges of the rectangle because they will get sharp.
5. Cut open the brown paper lunch bag and place it on a cookie sheet. Place the shrinky dinks on top of the brown paper bag.
6. Follow the directions on the shrinky dink instruction sheet for how long to bake them. 
7. Once the shrinky dinks are out of the oven and they cool, thread yarn through the hole.
Add beads and a keychain ring.
8. Tie a knot in the yarn.
9. Then let your kids pass them out to their friends so they can clip them onto their backpacks.
These shrinky dink keychains are literally and figuratively a small token of friendship.
But it’s a meaningful and thoughtful one.
Because it signifies the start of a great friendship.
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