Virtual Pinball 2026 - Auroa School Table Preview!

 

Our students are getting very excited about the first major event of 2026 as its just around the corner! We've got our very special 2026 Auroa Primary School Virtual Pinball Tournament featuring our customised Auroa School Virtual Pinball Machine! Want to check out the table? Watch above!

Virtual Pinball at Auroa Primary School

 

Its tournament time at Auroa Primary School! Its the 2026 Auroa Primary School in association with Sonic Vision Studios - Virtual Pinball Competition.

We previously revealed our entrants for 2026 in Mr Bloors amazing video that we posted on this blog and you can view via his amazing Youtube page here.

The students are starting to practise, practise, practise as only some of the teams are going to make it through to our grand final!

You will be able to follow that here and will be posting additional updates and also a video shortly of some of the practise.

The table itself is a copy of a 1908s Classic Pinball Table called 'Tag Team' from 1985.   While we have maintained the playfield as it is a virtual table we have replaced the images with those of the students from Auroa Primary School as shown left, so students are now the bonuses and the images on our own virtual pinball table!

This machine is now sitting proudly in the hall of our school as is a second slightly smaller machine that allows the students to 

play the table in preparation!

Excitement is building as we move towards the first competition of Auroa School Virtual Pinball for 2026!

Engineering and Teacher Purchase Bargains - Clearance 'Bricks'

 

As someone who has spent time locating 'bargains' for purchase for use in the classroom 3D Printing and Engineering also allows at times a keen eye to spot certain items.

This example has come from a large supermarket chain in New Zealand that to entice customers during various promotions including the gifting of items when points are purchased.   This "Bricks' branded set is one of the base sets for a recent promotion, that has now ended and as a result the supermarket chain appears to be putting the remaining stock on clearance.   This example was purchased locally from one such store for $1.00.    There are some obvious potential examples that could tie in with creation, engineering and 3D Printing - the set is a 'half of a house' and there is the clear possibility to add sections to the building.  

There is also a set of stickers/decals that come with the set - again these are something that we have produced in the past as this can be created and printed using the Roland Studios Versa Sign Maker.

Already this year we have purchased thrift shop items to allow the students to design replacement pieces and also used a massive backdrop to AR/VR designs onto our volcano setting (which was also on an end of line special).

3D Printed Flying Challenge V2

 

Challenge: To use Tinkercad to design something that is original that is able to fly the furthest distance.

Equipment Used: iPad, Tinkercad, Bambu H2D, Bambu PLA.

Background: As previously detailed on this blog this challenge started off as an independent activity which one of the students brought to school and wanted to print.   This led to a general discussion about the concepts of flight, size, weight etc.     Students in the classroom then started to print a variety of objects that met the brief.    Early on in the discussions students started to realise that the shape of the disc and the way in which it could be launched were important to determine success.   We also started to have conversations about how the information could be recorded related to flight, distance and measurement.    The student who designed this print wanted to ensure that they had a pattern on their design (as shown) that did not interrupt the flight (as other students had made designs with irregular shapes or high objects that were not balanced).

This student also used the Tinkercad AR/VR function to use their design and their iPad and project their design in super sized portions around the school in different locations.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this is an introductory task which was completed by a Y4 student who is part of the second cohort of students this year.   They were able to complete it without the need for any input based around other designs that they had seen.  Although not visible in the screen shots they also inserted their initials subtlety into the side of the print.

Size: The print measures 130mm across and this was the diameter of the print.   The print had a width of 20mm and was 10nm thick.

Cost/Price: The print used 32g of filament to complete the print.   This had a price point of $0.82 making it an achievable classroom or small group project.

Timeframe: Using the Bambu H2D the project took one hour and ten minutes to complete.  

What we would do/Next Steps for the students: This is going to be a hybrid STEM/Mathematics lesson based around concepts of aerodynamic flight and measuring, graphing and displaying the information that the students are going to be able to gather.   There is a small issue with the printer at present that needs attention (as can be seen in the photograph) but this is essentially the first time that we've need to maintain the machine since August (which is just a basic clean of the plate).   The students were able to see clearly in this instance that the plate was not printing equally on both sides so we had a discussion about why this was and what we could do about it.

3D Printing and Laser Cutting Sphero Resources

 

Not only do we have a range of 3D Printing and other machines available for our students to use we also have other technology that can be used and created.

Sphero Robots are a coding robot that we have had at our school for a number of years.   We find these robots work very well with our junior and middle school students and overtime we have created a number of resources with the technology to use in conjunction with the robots.

An obvious example is the town and the garage designed to work with a Sphero Robot.  We have students when they feel confident in using the 'drive' option with the robot and have used the coding maps that we look to include challenges and tasks involving the building.

Although its showing its age this building and garage was built using the school laser cutter.   With dimensions of 300mm across, 220mm deep or long and 150mm high - this is too large to 3D Print.   This size  allows the robot the ability to choose either entrance to go into.

The design was cut with MDF and then had a layer of regular cardboard applied to provide the texture that can be seen in the photograph.    We also use blocks or rods combined with the building to increase the level of difficulty.

We have also created a range of other resources that combine with the technology.    In 2024 we looked at creating paddles to work in conjunction with the robots which are waterproof.   You can view this post here.   This was also detailed when we experimented with creation boats and using Pixton Comic Creator to create a series of posters to explain the students work - you can view examples of this by clicking on this link here.

While Tinkercad is a free web based software for the year that we used Pixton in 2024 we paid a subscription for the students to have access to the full range of Pixton creation, allowing us to create a range of student generated media that relate to both Tinkercad, 3D Printing and Sphero robots - as shown left.

We also used Pixton to publish the 3D Printed designs of the students to present and explain what they have made and created for their designs.    This might be an option for schools concerned with the privacy of the students (as their images in these presentations are represented by avatar figure of the students).

This year we are looking at the students creating additional resources that are 3D Printed to use in combination with the Sphero Robots.     The students are currently thinking about ideas about what they can use to create to them move forward to the prototyping stage.

3D Printed Projects: Mothers Day 2026 Summary

 

We are approaching Mothers Day for 2026 in New Zealand and we have several students who have targeted projects based around this event.

The 'couch' which has been developed extensively and featured on this blog twice.  In its first form it was an idea for a project as a regular phone stand as detailed in this post about the print.

The print was further developed by the student from a generic project into one specifically focussed on a Mothers Day gift.   The print has evolved again as it has been now spray painted and has now a charging point included into the base of the design where the phone will be based.    This is now completed and ready to be presented as a gift.   This was completed independently by a seven year old student designing for the first time this year (for three months) and used their iPad, the Tinkercad App and the Bambu H2D.

This print shown left was completed by a middle school student in 2017.   At the time that this print was designed and completed we were using Ultimaker 2 machines (which we then replaced with Snapmaker machines before moving last year to Bambu Machines).    Despite being a number of years ago it was also designed using Tinkercad and iPad.

This was a significant print however in the years since it was completed the technology has moved on significantly and we would imagine the printing time and other aspects of the design would be improved.

You can also view this personalised Key Holder themed for Mothers Day from 2019.   In 2020 We created gift key rings/utility rings.  You can view all of these potential projects by clicking on the link and we would also suggest as a point of ideas you could view the Market Day 2025 ideas from our students as a number of those projects could easily be converted.

We've had a number of projects for personalised creations at the moment that offer a perfect example of something that could be created for Mothers Day.

In some of the examples the students have put the initials of the person that they were designed for.   In the instance shown left the prints used 32g of PLA to complete the print.     This has a price point of $0.33 for the pair.   The prints took thirty three minutes to complete.

There are a large number of examples on this blog from this activity which you can locate by using the search bar in the top right hand corner and the search bar phrase 'earrings'.

This would be an ideal project with a minimum printing time that would allow a class of students to complete the task in a relative short order.   We have also produced a slideshow dealing with this specific lesson, designed for a teacher taking their first steps in 3D Printing you can locate this by clicking on the link here.

Finally we have offered students the opportunity to create an original design which we are intending to print prior to Mothers Day.

An early design has come from this seven year old in the classroom who wanted to create an original and unique trophy that they could award to their 'number one Mum'.   With this design the student has used a combination of the main Tinkercad interface shapes and used 'scribble' to rate the handles and design the top of the trophy.   We printed this as an example to show the class and the student is intending to refine it.

The design at present is 70mm high, 60mm wide at the base.   It used 51g of PLA filament to complete with a price point of $1.27.    The print took two hours and twenty two minutes to complete using the Bambu H2D.

Senior Tech - Roland Versa Sign Maker

 

This is an update from a post that we made on Wednesday, detailing the use of the sticker machine, the Roland Versa Sign maker.    In this example from our Y7/8 students during technology (our DPE program) the students have used Gimp to create virtual images  which are then printed and applied onto the base of the machine which have been printed using the Bambu H2D.

The students were responsible for the design, creation and information displayed on the labels which were then applied as mini-decals on the side of the machine.

The full range of photographs and images from the work can be seen via the companion Facebook page for this site.  You can click on the link to the Facebook page here.