With the end of the year quickly approaching, the way we celebrate with our students will definitely look different this year. Sadly, we are not going to be able carry out our end of year celebrations, reflect together and create memory books, or compete as a class during field day or other school wide events. So doing what educators always do when faced with something new, we adapt and change! This year I wanted to give my students something as an end of year gift, but just converting what we normally do didn’t really fit. Our end of year celebration usually consists of a painting party where students leave their mark in my classroom by painting ceiling tiles. And my usual gift of rainbow treats just doesn’t feel right this year with all that is going on.
Using Bitmojis to Celebrate
So like most interACTIVE ideas, this one came on my morning walk. Bitmojis are not only fun for adults, but kids love and relate to them as well. And as most good ideas, I started with “Hmmmm, I wonder if I can….” and that led me to experimenting with Bitmoji and my childhood favorite Shrinky Dinks to create a fun end of year gift that hopefully my students will keep with them.
Creating a Bitmoji Keychain
To make these key chains you will need a few supplies. I have linked as many as I could:
Shrinky DInk craft sheets (I prefer the Frosted White kind because they were solid white and the Bitmoji image was darker.)
Keyhook keychains
Single hole punch
White or colored card stock
Step #1: To get started, you need to find the Bitmoji that you would like to use. Try searching words like summer, love, and support for some fun image ideas. I knew I wanted to leave a message for students to go along with the keychain itself so I chose my Bitmoji based on my message/poem.
Step #2: If you are using the traditional clear Shrinky Dink sheets, the first thing you need to do is mirror that image so that it prints backwards. This will enable you to print on the rough side of the Shrinky Dink sheet, but students will read and look at the Bitmoji from the smooth, clear side.
If you are using the Frosted White Creative Pack Shrinky Dink sheets: You will just need to skip down to step #3.
Step #3: After your image is chosen (and mirrored if needed), go ahead and size the image on your slide. I arranged 4 Bitmojis per slide and they shrunk plenty small. I would not recommend putting more than 4 on a page or they will be too small to get your keychain pieces through.
Step #5: Once your slide is ready, you are set to print. If you are using the traditional sheets where one side is slippery and one side is frosted, you will want to put the rough or “frosted” side is the side the printer inks on. If you are using the Frosted White sheets, both sides are the same. You may want to do a test print to see which way your printer works—for my printer, I placed the frosted side up.
Set #6: One the sheets are printed, go ahead and cut out the Bitmoji images. Once they are cut out use the hold punch to create a hole in the sheet. This is important to do before baking because once shrunk you cannot put a hole into them for the keychain pieces.
(I didn’t have a single hole punch but it’s easy enough to line up your pieces with a 3 hole punch)
Once ready, follow the baking directions on the package. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. For mine, I spaced apart the pieces on a baking sheet lined with a paper bag. You can also use tin foil or parchment paper. They curl when put into the oven, and then uncurl. I waited about 30 seconds after they uncurled and then brought out. It was around 3 minutes total. I then removed the charms from the pan and laid them out on the counter, flattened them and let cool.
** Tip **-When taking your shrunk charms out of the oven, make sure to press them down on a flat surface while still warm. I placed them on the kitchen counter and used a dishtowel. This will make the charm smooth and flat. Otherwise it will harden rather bumpy and uneven.
As you can see below there are noticeable differences between the two different types of Shrinky Dinks material. The traditional Frosted Rough and Ready has a clear, shiny side and a more frosty side and shrunk a little smaller when baked. The Frosted White sheets are clearly a solid white and are a tad larger. Either kind will do but if I had a choice I would definitely go with the Frosted White sheets.
Don’t mind my backwards Bitmoji on the left! This is when I started experimenting and was before I realized I should inverse the image.
Once cooled, you can begin the process of attaching the key chain pieces to the Bitmoji charms. You can use all sorts of different key chain pieces, but I chose to use key hooks because I was afraid the charms might break as I worked to put them on the traditional round keychain holders. I took the keychains and used a small piece of tape to attach them to my message cards. I found a sweet message online that I altered to fit my class and just created the card on slides. You could print on either white or colored card stock.
I get to see my students on Friday one last time as they drive through our carline to picked up all their bagged materials. I am excited to hand them this small gift as a way of letting them know I enjoyed being their teacher, that I will miss them this summer, and that I can’t wait to see them roaming campus again soon!
Until next time—stay #interACTIVE!
~👗➕👓
If you are looking for other Bitmoji related ideas, check out these posts:
Building a Bitmoji Classroom (Free resources!)
How to Animate Yourself in a Virtual Classroom
Creating a Virtual Classroom with Buncee (Free Resources!)
If you are looking for other fun, engaging and interACTIVE lesson ideas, check out our book, The InterACTIVE Class!
