Using PicCollage And Tinkercad - AR/VR Development

 

For Pet Day 2026 our students across the school developed a range of ideas.   For our students in Room Two and Room Three, the senior classrooms with Year 7 and Year 8 students there was an overall theme of a 'Fairy Village' of recycled designs and fantastical village designs.

Our students took the opportunity to use these backgrounds for some creativity involving the use of Tinkercad (for its ability to design and create) and specifically the Tinkercad App and their iPads (which have the ability to project an image onto another location or place).   There are many examples of this process shown here on this blog  which you can click on the link here or use the search bar top right and  use the rag AR/VR.

Our students were given a tour of the displays and then asked to select something suitable that wouldn't look completely out of place in the display.   We then took our technology to the classrooms display and completed the projection process.  This took a few minutes as we had pre-prepared the designs or selected designs that we felt would work well.

One example was the process using the frog from the main Tinkercad interface.   This design has appeared on our blog in the past, as its one of our giant sized AR/VR figures that we showed off in February of this year.

Once the image had been snapped we weren't quite finished, the AR/VR process produces some creative designs but we have also for a number of years now then used additional apps to further enhance or alter the image that has been created.  Pic Collage has been a firm favourite with the ability to take the students image and use a variety of filters and now AR tools to change the image.   In the example shown left you can see the screenshot taken by the student in the process of then applying a filter which in this case was the B/W Pencil filter.   The student has then selected the frog and re-generated this part of the image so its stands out.   From here the final part of the process would be to crop the picture, although as it has been shown here you can see the design page from the Pic Collage app.

This image is another version of the same process - the student has open up the relatively new feature of the AI powered editing process whereby using prompts and writing the picture can undergo further developments and changes.

In this example shown left the frog is visible to the top right of the small pond, which is in a different location to the original as the student was experimenting with the best way to hide or place the frog striking a balance between placing it somewhere were it could be located to having it somewhere which look natural.  

The entire process for this was completed in a single block of time which from start to finish was twenty five minutes by a nine year old working under classroom supervision with the teacher.   There was no input into the creation or design process as the student was capable and able to complete it themselves.

In the image shown left the student used their creativity with a number of factors - they took a phot of their hand holding a bug, which they then regenerated and used the fairy village as the background.

Again this is a screenshot from the Pic Collage app so you can see how the students have applied the idea and the creativity and how it could be used in the classroom.   Obviously this is another example of using the design process that is provided by Tinkercad and applying it in a sense where a 3D Printed project is not the object - in this case it is the image which can then be used for a variety of purposes such as a display (or a colouring in page that is unique and specific to the students).

The Day Before Pet Day

 

Its our single biggest day of the year! (Well tomorrow it is) its our 2026 Auroa Primary School Pet Day.   On this day our students are going to be super busy showing their animal and their art displays.  As the displays were set up this afternoon we were able to get a sneak peak at some of the amazing work going on around our school.   Our senior school students (Year Seven and Year Eight) have used our school laser cutter to produce the frames for their digital photography as shown left.

The images have been taken by students using technology and then mounted within the custom made frames which have been printed out via MDF.

Some of the students have opted to print out pre-made designs while others have taken features like our local mountain, Mount Taranaki and included this in the design for the frame.

Although the laser cutting time for the frame has varied depending on the details and the additions to the frame.

The other creation that relates to our technology was the use of the laser cutter to produce additional material for the recycled dioramas.

Our senior students other big activity has been there amazing dioramas.   These scenes have had a number of details or features incorporated into their creation - but again students have used the laser cutter for additional details and features.

In the example shown left the idea of a path has been further refined by the arches that mark the path.   Other students have created and detailed doors and furniture which has then been mounted within the scene.

Our amazing AV teacher Mr Bloor is producing another one of his outstanding videos and we will make sure that we share that with you as soon as it is completed following tomorrows activities.

Two Years and Two Machines

In 2024 we used our then Snapmaker machines to produce a range of prints that were the spiral design that was popular at the time.  At the time a range of them had started appearing as part of some of the popular online sites where there were being sold to our students.  A number of students brought these into school and the classroom and we  then in turn located the .html code for these designs and printed our own version.

At the time we noted that the designs were quite robust and required to have some finishing on them, where we removed the 'rafting' or the excess waste PLA that was located in the groves or inside the prints.   Recently we again repeated this process with the change being it is now two years later and instead of using the Snapmaker we have used the Bambu H2D.

As shown left, the photograph has been taken from a design that we located from the Bamub Printer Labs online portal.   This design features a group of four complete designs - the four bases and the four inserts.   

Of note when comparing the two designs on the new version, shown left, there is no waste plastic/rafting which is contained within the groves of the design the designs are complete as shown and printed without the need for any removal.

Each spiral and insert used took thirty eight minutes to complete and used 40g of PLA this had a price point to produce one of the spirals of $0.45c.

This was relevant when considered producing this in large numbers for some kind of school event or fundraiser etc.   There is obvious potential to print with some colour variation or match up.

Pet Day 2026 is Nearly Here!

We've back at school in New Zealand and back for one of our most exciting weeks of the year - our annual School Pet Day.

This is when our students are able to bring pets to school and show their Lamb, Calves and other animals off in the best possible way.   This year we are also working hard on our art displays in the classroom and of course in Room Seven we are using our AR/VR skills and our design work such as our Tin Can Design that are also including a 3D Printed insect.  We have also been using Tinkercad and its AR/VR ability to ensure that we are creating, prototyping and working on our CAD design skills with out students.

Want to see what Pet Day is like at our school in New Zealand - well of course we have the amazing Mr Bloor and his videos such as our 2024 Pet Day Video which you can view by clicking on it here.

We also have some examples, work and great things to share.  Today in class we had a little time to work on our Tin Can Art Displays and also decided to look at using Tinkercad and its AR/VR features to have some fun.

Each photo on this page has a Tin Can theme but also has something that is not present in the actual scene as our students have AR/VR it into place.

In the very first photo it is the butterfly, in the second photo, immediately to the your left you can view the ladybird, but this is the 3D Print that we featured last week, so it is not present at all!

Later on we will be presenting another edition of 'Tinkercadhunt' when we use the Pet Day backgrounds as a project location.

There's also last years video from Mr Bloor below which you can watch with our students showing off some of their skills in art and animal care and responsibility! Can't wait until Thursday!

3D Printed Phone Stand: Fathers Day 2026 Revisited

 

Challenge: To produce a unique gift for Fathers Day 2026 that was created, designed and modified by a nine year old student.

Background: Earlier this year in New Zealand we celebrated Fathers Day.   While we focussed on producing a range of Fathers Day themed coasters we also had selected students who choose to work on other designed themed around this, although with time pressure and demand on the printing machines we also were unsure that we could realistically print all of the designs.

This design was in this category which had some inspiration from an earlier phone stand for Mothers Day from a different student.   The student worked off a basic seat or couch based design which included features such as a hole for the charging cord at the base of the design, was personalised with the name of the student who created the project shown on the base of the design (left) and then had further elements added to it, like the lip holding the phone in place.  All this was developed independently by the nine year old student.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu H2D, Bambu Bronze regular PLA.

Size: The print measures 100mm across the front and was 60mm wide.   The print was 60mm tall at the front of the design and 90mm tall at the back.  

Cost:  The print used 123g of PLA filament to complete - there was no support rafting for the print (in the photos with the font you can see the additional PLA that needs removing but it is a small amount, the lettering is essentially correct as it stands).  This meant that the project had a price point of $2.47c to complete.   This was one of the reasons that this item was featured as a business by one of our groups from our 2025 Auroa School Market Day.  We were able to create similar sized and designed models that were highly personalised and that we were able to produce and sell as a viable product.

Timeframe: To complete this print the printer was operating for three hours and two minutes.  This was at the standard default settings with the machine and Bambu Studio Labs. 

The dimensions of the print was ideal for holding a regular phone securely.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:   There could have been some adjustments to the lettering on the reverse of the design and potentially the student could have added some additional details to the print however the student was extremely pleased with the overall look and the functionality of it.   We have a multitude of designs that can be searched for with this theme on this blog if you search for 'phone stands'.

3D Printed Ladybird

 

Challenge: For a nine year old student to adapt and personalise a insect for 2026 Pet Day Art Display.

Background: This is another in the version of the insect challenge that was completed by our students in the final week of Term Three for 2026.   It is currently the school holidays but they're about to end and the students will be returning to school Monday to start working on our amazing term four projects.

This student had followed the process that we've described in detail previously.   This involved using our structured literacy to study the features of insects so that students knew what they needed to include in their design.   The student also researched Ladybird/Ladybugs and found and researched additional information about them (such as being able to identify them based on colour and the number of spots).

This is one of the projects and spots that has lost some of its recognition factor from its digital version (shown above) and the 3D printed versions shown left - this could be addressed by colour matching and using red as a base print colour.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Literacy Resources (for insect research), Bambu H2D, Bambu 'bronze' regular PLA.

Size: The print measures 30mm at the front is 40mm long and is 20mm high.  With these dimensions the print is still considerably larger than actual size, but the intention was to show off the students design skills.

Cost: To complete the print the project used 12g of PLA to print.   This had no rafting on the object and as a result the project had a price point of $0.23c to complete.

Timeframe: To complete this print the printer was operating for 31 minutes to print the insect and six minutes to warm up for a total of 37 minutes.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:    The spots of the print which are clearly visible in the digital version were not large enough to ensure that they were printed in the physical version, so these would need to have an expanded size so that they would be able to be visible.   Obviously the printing of the object and the colour matching is extremely important to ensure that it had heightened recognition factor.

Kaibot Robot Storage: Prototype

 

Challenge: To produce an original storage solution to house a Kaibot.    The storage needs to include space for the robot, and space for challenge cards above the storage.   The storage needs to personalised for another school and classroom.

Background: We are always looking for ways to help and spread projects to other schools and classrooms.  As an Apple Distinguished School we are also looking for other schools in the network to help.  The recent NZAIMS Tournament in Tauranga for Y7/8 was another example of this.   Normally after each game it is customary to sometimes offer a gift to the other team that were playing, in this case we presented the other team with glow-in-the-dark 3D Printing Badges and Keyrings.

In this example the Kaibot Robot needed to have potential storage.  The task was presented to all of the students in the classroom with a prompt using Chat GPT (as shown left).   The prompt created an image and details for the project which was then pushed out to the students via Seesaw.   The students were tasked with creating a design and were then tasked to AR/VR the created storage into the classroom setting to check on its viability.   You can see the design projection in the first photograph in this post.   When we then went through the selections from the classroom it was decided to move forward to a single physical print - which is detailed below.  Each student (from our class of twenty five eight and nine year olds) was allowed to buddy work with another individual or to work by themselves to complete the project and at this stage the publishing was restricted to the virtual completed tasks.

This allowed the students to review their designs, share them with others and then look and consider adaptions that might need to be made.   It also allowed the publishing of each students example via their Seesaw portfolio.    The teacher then made a decision about the number of prints that might be completed moving forward as the dimensions of the print were significant and realistically printing an entire class run of these objects would take time.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Chat GPT, Kaibot Website, Bambu P1S, Bambu Candy PLA (regular).

Size:   The print is 130mm across the front, is 100mm wide and is 80mm high.   This contrasts with the suggestions made in the ChatGPT prompt which suggested making a width of 300mm.   Although we don't physically have a Kaibot Robot one of the students has come up with the idea of printing a cube, or making a mock up of the same dimensions of the robot and use this as a design point.

The insert into the base of the storage is 100mm wide 30mm high and is 80mm deep.   The four storage bays at the top of the storage for the cards measures 25mm by 50mm.    Again the intention is to mock up a card of the correct dimensions and then apply it to this storage to see if it work.

Cost: The price point for producing this print is $3.47c on the basis of the print using 220g of PLA.   There was considerable rafting that was produced primarily by the insert where the robot is intended to be stored.   In theory this could be produced in different parts and then glued together however there would be questions about stability if this was the case.

Timeframe: To complete this print the Bambu P1S was operating for five hours and twenty minutes to complete the project.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The students need to consider the dimensions of what has been produced relative to the dimensions of the actual robot.  While at times there is an assumption that something will fit without there being an ability to move the object around and have space between the walls or the top of the object.   There is a slight ramp here although it has a steep angle so the consideration should be if the robot can make this up.  This has been a challenge when producing housing for Sphero Robots as shown in this laser cut project.

As noted the next step is to consider the effectiveness of the physical design.   If it does not work in conjunction with the robots how can we upscale or up-cycle this design? How can it be used for additional projects or converted for another purpose?

3D Printed Insect: Cartoon Bee

 

Challenge:   To create or modify an insect

Background: As stated we have one of our school events coming up, our 2026 Pet Day.   Students who were confident with their designs were able to create a range of insects from scratch.

Some of the students were a little less confident and in those cases we encouraged students to look at modifying or changing existing designs.   This bee has been featured on this blog before, as it was part of a previous challenge from November 2025 based around the theme of 'Bee's'.

In this instance the student wanted to experiment with it, make an attempt to personalise it and see if it would fit the design brief.   It should be noted from its design the legs of the bee are not featured and the bee is itself upright - with clear cartoon features.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1S, Bambu Pink PLA.

Size: The print measures 70mm across at the base and is 50mm high.   The base has a diameter of 40mm.

Cost: The print used 17g of PLA filament to complete the print (there was some support to assist the wings).   This had a price point of $0.34 for the printing.

Timeframe: To complete the print the print took 51 minutes to complete the print.   This consisted of the standard six minute warm up time and forty four minutes of printing of the actual object.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: 

As can be seen from the image shown left the student wanted to personalise the design by inserting her name into the base of the design.   This proved a little more tricky than the student anticipated as the design had a round shape and the lettering needed to be bent to fit in with the base.    The student obviously designed the object with the high recognition factor of the bees and therefore colour matching would be better served with this print, having it as a base of black or yellow and then applying the additional colour as spray painting to create the designed colour.

3D Printed Cart Holders - Bambu Labs

 

We are always looking for examples of resources that could potentially be made, created or designed for the classroom or students.

Recently one of our wonderful teachers was printing a set of card holders, while they were designed to hold the specific cards to a game they also could have a great potential in the classroom as a resource.

We have explained that we made the decision to change our printers to Bambu Labs/Bambu printers during 2025 replacing previous brands.    We are incredibly lucky to have three machines to run at our school.   Bambu Printers come with an extensive online data base of pre-made resources, pages and literally hundreds of designs about many topics.

In this instance these as standard card holders - they measure 90mm by 65mm and are 17mm high.   Crucially and this again demonstrates the powers of the machines the boxes have a width of 1nm and was produced without any support or waste plastic.

In a classroom environment it would be easily possible to personalise these boxes by including a name or a description on the outside of the box.    These boxes took five hours to print - however this included the printing of three boxes and three inserts.   This used  110g of PLA to complete the print and had a price point of $2.20c.

There are a number of students who play various card games here at school, and again the clear potential here is for this design to be used as a stepping point or an idea to encourage students with their own designs using part of this as a starting point.

3D Printing 2026: Lore Revision (Part Two)

 

This is the part two of our revision posts about the concepts the idea was to have 'discussion points' or thinking points about what is potential with 3D Printing and design tech - it was originally conceived as a couple of potential challenges as sometimes there are barriers either real or imagined that form the basis of 3D Printing.  These are only ideas or observations rather than hard opinions!

#5 The Teacher is aware of 3D Printing, but doesn't need to be an expert. (originally published in January).  This idea was based around the concept of the students being the best individuals to design and push the technology.   Evaluation: Successful - to date and its only been over ten years but there has yet to be a post from this teacher on this site.

#6 You don't need every PLA to complete your designs.   (originally published in February 2026).   This idea was based around the concept of keeping things simple with the printing and then doing things like spray painting or adding additional aspects to your print (like combing printing with laser cutting or adding LED).  It again revisits the idea or concept of potentially not using a 3D Printer as the end point for a project and instead considering adding additional aspects or details from a variety of technology.   Evaluation: Successful.

#7 Engage as much as possible with your local community - we try as much as possible to push examples out into the community either with other schools or other businesses and want to try and get as many people as possible aware of and using our technology.    There are examples of this all over our blog based around other schools we have produced work and projects for the community or other schools.

Evaluation: Successful.

#8 You don't need to be an engineer to 3D Print.    This was based on the technology that exists and not having to constantly repair the 3D Printers.    As a note its not something that has been achieved.  We run our three printers on a nearly daily basis, and why they are much more reliable than the past (its been over ten years, in the "old days" some of the printers needed to be rebuilt!) there are still issues from time to time.  We are very lucky to have a staff member who has an engineering background who loves to repair machines (which is not me) and I am aware of various schools having parents who undertake this role, if this wasn't the case it would be a potential issue as if a machine needed repair then that could be a barrier.  Our Bambu machines have require two part replacements in the last year.   Both of these were able to be completed on site by staff.    Evaluation: Not successful and something to be careful of.

Holiday Break: October 2026

For those of you who are unfamiliar with our location, we are located in rural New Zealand at the wonderful Auroa, South Taranaki.   We have great location, this photograph was taken today at lunchtime outside our school looking towards the maunga/mountain that dominates our landscape, Mount Taranaki.

Our students are currently on the second week of their two week break between terms three and four of 2026.  We will be back posting next week with our regular contributions.

In the meantime we are looking at a range of posts from last term that our students were working on. 

As we've mentioned in a post last week as such we don't have a massive seasonal celebration at the moment, and our friends in the USA obviously have a large volume of material themed around celebrations later this month.

We are printing a small selection of material primarily to encourage 'thinking' and design about it from students with this theme, including some of our Pumpkin AR/VR work from the end of term.

This design was located online and has a diameter of 50mm.   It is 30mm high.  It has used 22g of PLA to complete the print and has a price point of $0.45c.

While it would not suit a candle due to it being PLA printed it would potentially benefit from having an LED light inside of it.    Free .STL files such as this one are available in significant numbers and can be easily accessed for printing purposes.   We usually print a small number of such items where appropriate and ask students to consider or think about them.

3D Printing 2026: Lore Revision (Part One)

During the course of the year we've had a series of 'discussion' posts or focus challenges based around some thinking about the application of 3D Printing at our school and how it might be applied to other educational environment.

#1 You don't need more than one printer at your school to print your projects: (originally published in December 2025).   Evaluation: Not successful - we were attempting to complete all our prints on one machine this year however we have been switching between three machines depending on what has been available or what needed to be completed.   We had times when the Bambu H2D needed to have a nozzle replacement as a result of use, which meant we had to use of P1S to complete projects at that time.  Blog Tag to search for further information: Bambu H2D, Bambu P1S.

#2 All your 3D Print Projects don't need to end in a physical print. (originally published in January) Evaluation: Successful.   By using Tinkercad as a design tool with our iPads we have continued to follow a process to create and produce a digital outcome first and foremost before we make a physical print.  There are significant examples of this process and output on this blog for nearly every project that our students have completed and entire slideshows of summary work dedicated to this process.   Blog Tag to search for further information: AR/VR, Tinkercad AR/VR.

#3 Enhancing your projects by using non-standard PLA for different outputs. (originally published in January).   Evaluation: Successful.   We have used a range of filament this year again including a considerable amount of Bambu branded glow-in-the-dark and super glow-in-the-dark filaments.    Blog Tag to search for further information: glow-in-the-dark.

#4 Juniors can create! (originally published in January 2026) We wanted to challenge the notion that 3D Printing, CAD Design and creation is a senior school activity.   We have a classroom of Y4 students which is the core of nearly every print produced and showcased on this blog.   Evaluation: Successful. Blog Tag to search for further information: Anything that is not tagged Y7/8 is 'junior'.

This is part one of two.

3D Printed Ant: Standard Version

 

Challenge: To create an original and correct insect student (nine year old) designed 3D Print.

Background: As per the last few number of prints on this blog this is in preparation for our 2026 Pet Day.

As per the post from yesterday we experimented with using the P1P Bambu Printer and the Bambu H2D.   With the experience yesterday we printed on the Bambu H2D first and then followed up with P1S when the Bambu H2D didn't print the leg at the back.

As we suspected the print needs to be slowed down, by printing on the P1S we printed an identical design, an identical file but this was successful.   If we were using the Bambu H2D we would slow the process down.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1P, Bambu Blue PLA.

Size: The print measures 55mm wide across at the front from the tip of each leg.   The print has a length of 70mm and the print is 55mm high.  The student (who is nine years old) deliberately introduced the legs and antenna to ensure that they survived the printing process and were not too weak, although it did leave them looking decidedly oversized and blocky.

Cost: To produce this print the project used 38g of regular PLA.   This gave the project a price point of $0.38c.

Timeframe: To complete this print the printer was running for one hour and ten minutes.   This is typical for designs in this run of creations with these dimensions.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The ant when compared to others in the series does not have the facial definition that the others have.   The legs were increased in dimensions and size to ensure that they survived printed but now look somewhat comical and also are identical.   Finally the colour matching or the decorating, spraying etc of the print could be considered to enhance its presentation.   We still have a week of school before the Pet Day (which is in Term Four, the first week back after another week of holidays) and given the size of the print a reprint is a distinct possibility.

3D Printed Ant: Advanced Version

 

Challenge: Create a unique and detailed insect using Tinkercad to define and detail the features.

Background: Its been detailed on this blog for several weeks about the insect project which came from a focus on our 20206 Pet Day Art Display.

As part of the art display we've got a small 3D Print to go back and put on display with our art projects.   The challenge is based around shared literacy tasks - last term we researched, investigated and wrote about insects and analysed their characteristics and features.  This design was influenced by some of the earlier ants in the series that had the form and character correct but were lacking somewhat in some of the more detailed features.

When you view the face of the design you can see the student has opted for antenna, eyes and also the mouth has been based around viewing close up and magnification of various ants.   This student also went further making this a 'fire ant' and was able to adapt the colour palette on Tinkercad to do so.

There was a technical error that occurred with the printing of this design, one we are going to investigate further.  The student designed this as per our usual process - and one of the legs, at the back left, did not print successfully on the Bambu H2D - although it did on the P1S.    We believe based on a quick investigation that the speed of the H2D in this instance was too quick for the design, and the shaking and the movement of the printing process caused the fault in the process - this is the potentially the case as the smaller, cheaper machine was able to print the design successfully without any error.

The student who designed this print spent time to ensure the legs were shaped and had segmented detail on them.    There are grooves in the mouth of the ant and additional small details throughout the design.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu H2D, Bambu Blue PLA

Size: The print at present is 80mm long, is 40mm from the base of the feet to the stop of the segments.   The biggest body segment is 30mm by 30mm and the middle is 20mm by 20mm.

Cost: The print uses 67g of PLA to complete the print which included rafting.   This gave the print a price point of forty one cents to complete.

Timeframe: To complete the print the Bambu H2D was running for one hour and eight minutes.  A switch to a Bambu P1S would not significantly alter the timeframe.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: It is our clear intention to print this on the slower, smaller printer as we believe the print will be successful (we could also slow down the H2D).  The intention was to print a fire ant with a red base obviously the PLA used was red although potentially we could have made a two coloured print using the dual nozzles of the machines.   The legs also at present have the same pose on both sides the student has the ability and the skill to pose these differently and produce a design that is reflective of a more natural post.   As noted as well the width of both the legs and the antenna reflect the students desire to create a robust print that would survive handling.

This entire project was undertaken and completed (independently) by a nine year old cohort two student.

Using Tinkercad as an AR/VR Tool

 

We've posted about our favourite app that our students use with their iPads to develop design skills using Tinkercad as a projection AR/VR tool.

In this example shown left we've taken a basic design.  As somewhat of an aside at our school due to our rural location we don't typically celebrate this event, although there are a wealth of designs that are available about this theme. 

In this example we had a short window of time available to students to complete a design and have some creative licence with it.   It was not intended as a 3D Print project although we would conceivable do so if the right circumstance was completed - we were looking as original projects developed by the students that would make a viable print.

This activity was completed by eight year olds working with their iPads independently.   The design of the pumpkin was located online, the students modified them by adding the lettering above and then located places around the school where they could project the pumpkin.   They deliberately choose to build the designs as large as possible and choose a location where the background had objects that would automatically size the objects, 

In the first instances the students used the school courts, swimming pool and buildings.   The instructions from the screenshot are from the Tinkercad app.   The students then repeated the process at a second location, which was on the courts.   The Netball Court/Basketball court and its fence was the sizing (as was the bus) which again allowed the student to show the size of the AR/VR that they had created.

The final part of the display process was to take the students images and then apply them through a AR/VR image filter.  In this case as we have done in the past we used Pic Collage to take the image and modify it.   You can see the contrast between the two images the image above and the same image with its enhanced result with a change and colour and emphasis on different parts of the photograph.

Obviously we could have looked to turn this final image (once edited and cleaned up) into a cart or a poster.    This is a process that we have completed using the Christmas/Festive filter which you can view by clicking on the link here.

If you would like to see additional ideas following this theme then click on this summary post about the process and examples that you could use with a classroom of students.

3D Printed Insect - Generic Example

 

Challenge: To produce a unique and individual insect for display for the school Pet and Calf Day 2026.   You can view a highlight of last years event by clicking on the link here.

Background: This project has been detailed numerous times during the last few days and weeks - a small reminder that its school holidays in New Zealand and our students are going to be back in the classroom for Term Fur, the last quarter of the year for 2026 in a week and a half.

In case of the students designs we've had butterflies, stick insects and a range of bugs which we've detailed via this blog as students are printing one for display with our art pieces.   The students are also going to AR/VR their design into a couple of different locations around the school, one with the bug in its natural habitat and the second where the bug is going to be super sized, this is being completed by using the iPad and the TInkercad App.

This example shown left has all of the features that the students were looking to feature in their designs from the correct number of legs, located in the right position, the antenna, the head, thorax and abdomen.  As we have stated with this task the students have been able to access third party creations although we have made it clear that we expect that the students have personalised, modified or adapted these in a way that takes some of the design component and changes it.

Resources used to complete this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu H2D, Bambu Blue PLA

Size: The print is one of the smallest in the series.  It measures 40mm long and is 20mm wide.  The print currently stands 30mm to the head and the antenna are another 10mm higher.

Cost:   The print uses 8g of PLA to complete the print giving it a price point of $0.16c.

Timeframe: To complete this print on the Bambu H2D the print took forty minutes to complete which included the six minute warm up time (so the project print was just over half an hour) this was completed using the regulation default settings.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The biggest thing would be for the students to modify this in a way that shows that they can manipulate an image or a design to put their own stamp more onto it.  One thing that has sprung to mind is that the bug could be produced, in some number and they could be included throughout the classroom and we could put up something up for someone who could find each of the designs.

3D Printed Butterfly - Large

 

Challenge: To produce a 3D printed insect for a art display (as per the school pet day day at school).

Background: As per the descriptions that we have previously posted on this blog this was another example that was created via the process and for the Pet Day purpose for display with the tin can art.

In the example here the student wanted to create a unique butterfly that fitted the intention of the task.   We have previously looked at Butterflies as part of the literacy work that we were doing related to insects and other sub groups.   The students read about the creatures, spent time looking at the characteristics and also investigated examples of butterflies around the world.   One of the key concepts that the student wanted to convey with the design was using Tinkercad to create and show symmetry between the wings.

This example was created by an eight year old student who was working independently to complete the task.

Resources used to complete this print: Tinkercad App, iPad, Bambu H2D, Bambu blue PLA.   

Level of Difficulty: Medium - the print needs some attention (see below).   All of the designs in this series have had a basis in another design or something similar.   In this instance the wings that are shown here are from the main Tinkercad interface.

Size: The print is larger than a number of butterflies that have also been produced in this series.   The print measures 120mm from wing tip to wing tip.   The wingspan is 90mm high.    The print has a height of 30mm.   The antennas are 30mm in length and have a width of 0.5mm making them extremely thin.

Cost/Price: The print uses 48g of PLA to complete the print.  This gave the print a price point of $0.98c.

Timeframe: The print using the Bambu H2D had a total print time of three hours and forty five minutes.   This is three times the length of printing time of other prints in this series.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The stars that are on the wings of the butterflies need to be refined.  They are currently not down completely on the wings, there is some rafting underneath them, although it is not obvious.  The antenna are extremely thing - they require a minimum of handling to ensure that they do not break off.   The reverse of the butterfly is where the attention for details could be significantly improved.   The base of the wings are blank, they could have a layer and some details on them.   The feet of the butterflies need to be adapted - they currently are stumps and have not translated well to physical printing.

There is one final consideration as well - we have experimented extensively with the AR/VR of the Tinkercad App and discovered that it is excellent at a base or ground level projection.   Where it can struggle at times is when you attempt to move the projected image off the ground into the air or up a particular object - this would be something to consider when looking at locations to place this object.

3D Printed Cartoon Ladybird

 

Challenge: For junior student to create an original insect, from scratch, using Tinkercad

Background: As regular visitors to this site will know we have one of our big school events incoming - our Pet Day for 2026.  When this takes place at the start of term four we have some class displays - one of which is a 'tin-can design' however with this design we wanted to showcase of the students creativity.  In this case our students have used their design skills in Tinkercad to create an insect that goes with the design.

We had a range of designs based on the students understanding of insects (which we had also been covering with our literacy work specifically our information report writing).  

 In this instance the student wanted to place the emphasis on the comedic value of the design making it cartoon like with its design.   The legs for the animal are in theory underneath and the wings are not separated as such.    Finally if you see the original design that was shown above the student was able to colour match the design, when the printing was completed the base colour was blue as shown, ideally the student would have had the option of a red or black base - or even a better solution would have been for the ability of the H2D Machine to print with a combination of two colours.     This has been demonstrated previously with our Warriors Coaster or last years Christmas decoration with the colours of Father Christmas.    One option that was not completed but this would have made an exceptional AR/VR projection object with a significant base and strong image.

Resourced used to create this print: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu H2D, Bambu PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - as with the rest of the designs in this creation challenge the students were able to use their skills to create insects with a significant recognition factor.    

Size: The print measures 70mm across the front of the design and is 80mm long.   The design is 30mm high.

Cost/Price: The unit uses 30g of PLA filament to complete the print.  This has a price point of $0.58

Timeframe: This print took forty five minutes to complete.  This included a six minute timeframe for the printer to warm up and prepare for printing.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: As noted there are a couple of design features that could be developed for the purpose of making it more realistic - the legs if they were added to the design would cause it to be somewhat unbalanced.     At this stage the size of the design is another slight issue - at 80mm and 90mm this is significantly bigger than its real-life version.

School Holidays In New Zealand!

 

Thank you for this visit to this blog.   This blog has been featuring work from students from our school since 2014, with its first posts taking place in 2015.

Since then we have been posting regularly to showcase the work from our students at a small state school, that is also an Apple Distringuised School in Auroa, South Taranaki.

Primarily we focussed on sharing work related to 3D Printing but as time has evolved we have also shared work using our laser cutter, sticker machine and more general work involved Tinkercad.   

We also love to showcase work from our school such as our full sized DDR Dance Dance Revoultion machine and its students created videos.     We also have our famous Pinball Machine which has been adapted and customised to feature the teachers, students and staff of our wonderful school.

If you would like to see a summary of events, ideas and creations from our school you can look at our website or visit Mr Bloor's page which showcases much of an incredible special work.

If you would like to contact or talk to the teacher who is responsible for the management of this page you can contact them directly via email at:

myles.webb@gmail.com

Next term we have our famous Auroa School Pet Day in the first week of school.  For this event we have numerous tie ins with our work and technology.  In the examples that you can see with this post one of our students has 3D Designed an original butterfly (which is part of our 3D Printed insect series).    

In each of these dioramas from the school pet day the student from our classroom have taken their design, their iPad and used the Tinkercad App to project the butterfly onto the different sets of the diorama.

This was a test - the student who used the butterfly had a timeframe to work with that was extremely short.   They spent under five minutes completing the task, and did not have time to edit either the pictures or the butterfly.    In the general progression from here both would be edited to alter their composition, depth, colour and details.

We will spend time early net term and be creating a series of challenges based around this process - if you want to view last years work you can click on the link to that work here.   During the next two weeks we have a range of projects that we will be highlighting.  Our students will be back on board in full from Monday 12th October 2026.