3D Printing First Novice Print of 2026

 

Challenge: For an eight year old to produce their first independent project.

Background: As noted elsewhere on this blog, this is the first challenge for the students in the classroom.  All work described is being completed independently using just an iPad with no previous experience in the use of Tinkercad.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this is an introductory task for students completed in thirty minutes from start to finish by an eight year old who hasn't used Tinkercad before.

Size: The print measured 90mm across was 90mm high and 5mm wide.   It is made this size as it is intended for the student to use it as a bag tag.   If it was a key ring it would not be suitable.

Cost: This was completed on the Bambu H2D.  Using the Bambulab software we can determine that the print used 18g of filament to be produced and it had a projected cost of $0.44c.   Regular white PLA was used to complete this print.

Timeframe: The completed time for the print was 32 minutes.  It was part of a class set where we were realistically using the main school printer to print a set of fifteen projects over the course of two days.  It was intended to get a project completed by a student, get them excited and get them thinking about future possibilities.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: Nil - completed as hoped.  We used students who had experience from last year to use Tinkercad and also a Flipped video from this site.

3D Printing Week One in the Classroom

What happened in Week One of Auroa Primary School for 2026 in regards to Digital Design:

To complete work in the first week of school students used their iPads and accessed the Tinkercad website to log into their online design accounts, used the Tinkercad software and created their first designs.

Currently we have not used the Tinkercad app or completed any AR/VR work.

Cohort One: This is the new group of students to the classroom who have had no previous experience with using Tinkercad. They are eight year olds who are developing and exploring their use of Tinkercad for the first time this year. They have a regular iPad to create all of their designs. One of the students has access to their own 3D Printer however they are using it more for printing pre-made items rather than original design at this stage.

We were able to assess their efforts by using the Tinkercad Classroom Interface.   An effort was made to print as many of these initial designs as possible to give the students a physically created print to think about and have as an output.    As non of the prints were sized to take more than one hour (on the Bambu H2D) and there were 15 students in this group this was achievable.

Cohort Two: Students (eight years old) who used Tinkercad for one year.   These students had grasped many of the principals and ideas and used Tinkercad actively for some time.   For these students we allowed them to tutor or help the other students on the first day and on the second day start the rebuild of the toy farmhouse to replace the doors etc.   They were measuring, designing, checking and then problem solving to think about a hinge and how the door might be able to be swung open.  For the purpose of sizing the students used some examples of the name badges. We are hoping that this will lead to the sharing of ideas with the other group of students once they have completed designs. It is our intention to complete another seperate lesson next week for both groups before combing challenges from this point forward as all the students will have the fundamental design skills that are required to start working on projects. Next week we want to focus on the 'stencil' idea from last year as we want the students to master the concept of using 'hole' to insert and modify basic shapes.

3D Printing 101: Class Prints Cohort One

 

For the start of the school year we are aiming as quickly as possible to use our block of afternoon to introduce students to Tinkercad and begin the process of having the students develop their skills.

For the first challenges we have two distinct groups of students.   The first are the students who spent last year in the classroom and have worked with Tinkercad for a school year.

The other group of students are novices who have not used Tinkercad previously.   We are a 1:1 iPad ADS School - we are very fortunate that every student has an iPad.   The students have a class Tinkercad account and use it to design.    The first task should be very familiar to regular visitors of this blog - we typically call it 'badge' and you can of course use the search bar top right to locate many previous examples.

The core learning was done via the students utilising the 'experts' in the classroom and also the flipped video that we mentioned yesterday.   This tutorial video is the number visited page on this site - 

The intention is to up skill the students.   Once the task was completed we checked the criteria with the students prints.   We looked at the composition, the balance and the criteria.    Students needed to have their name on the design, a shape and a hole to create the purpose for the print.

We allocated thirty minutes for this time to include the design, and then reviewing the design in Tinkercad.   We did not use the AR/VR function of the design at this point but were able to rotate the students designs and creations.

The class currently consists of twenty students.   There are fifteen students in the cohort who are starting to design.    Each of the prints have a different completion time as the sizes vary but in the example shown left the print measures 90mm by 90mm and is 8mm wide.

In this version shown left the student opted to have their name sunk down into the design, instead of sticking out, this again is something of a design 'trick' of 3D Printing designs while the obvious design would be to pull the letters above the base line in this example as a design feature.   Once this was completed the second part of the challenge was to complete the process again for another person (so it could be assessed differently from the first) and include two additional features.   This had the students starting to understand the concept of using the shapes and design contained within Tinkercad.

3D Printed Mt Taranaki Progression

 

We have started using the print that we discussed yesterday as our first AR/VR task for the year.   We have detailed in the past how we have used this function of Tinkercad and the Tinkercad App to project images around our school - including making them supersized to show details and features that might otherwise not be noticed.

This is the 3D Print of our local Mountain that we are working through with our students.   We started discussing how we can develop this idea, this display and think about the features and how we might present it to our classroom and school.

The mountain is a hugely iconic local image that dominates the landscape and our community.   In the image shown below the model of the mountain being held in front of the mountain itself - the mountain is currently obscured by cloud cover - however we will repeat the process when the conditions are suitable. 

Already with discussions with the students some of the features of the mountain have come up as part of the physical model being available.

We are going to use the .stl file for all students to be able to produce an original AR/VR image of the mountain and project it around the school creating a visual display to start off the school year.

At the same time we are also undertaking our very first 3D Prints and original designs - we have spilt this into two distinct cohorts.   The first group of students have begun the process of working on the AR/VR and the functional repair of the 'Farm Building' that was purchased from a thrift shop which has a number of elements needing to be repair and replaced.

The second group of students is following a flipped video concept from 2019 - this is a fundamental skills starting with the use of Tinkercad where the students create a basic design.   This post here is amongst the most popular on this site.

3D Printed Mt Taranaki

This is the view from outside our school - just before the start of the 2026 school year.

Mt Taranaki is in the picture which is an iconic and hugely significant local dominating feature.  It is also a prominent part of our Mihi Whakatu (greeting) that our students need to be able to identify and recite for a foundational part of our school.

We wanted to try and think of other ways to show and connect to the mountain for our students.   We were able to locate a .stl file of the mountain and print it out by sourcing it via Thingiverse.  This is one of several sites that has a considerable number of freely available files in a range of topics.   We wanted to locate the .stl file as this is the primary way to import files into Tinkercad.  By having the print in Tinkercad we can do several tasks.

Firstly it allows the students to experience and hold a physical topographical map of the mountain and point out areas of significance.   In the case of the mountain we have the main peak and another peak that is part of the mountain but on our side.

We also of course now that we have the .stl file have the ability to use the Tinkercad App and AR/VR the mountain into different locations around the school and to look at it in terms of turning it into some kind of art project.

Finally again as we've been doing recently we used the glow-in-the-dark filament to complete the project.

The print was completed using the Bambu H2D - it took two hours to complete, used 47g of filament according to Bambu Studios used filament that was worth $1.20.

3D Printed Map (of New Zeaaland)

 

This week we're returning to school in New Zealand - Auroa Primary School is back this Thursday with a new wonderful group of students.  One of the first activities is based around where our students are from and what is important to them.

We are looking at the possibilities of including some AR/VR design and 3D Printing into it.   Two things of importance are the map of New Zealand/Aotearoa as we look at our location and where our students are from.

This ,stl image was sourced from Thingiverse and printed in under one hour.   It is able to be printed as shown and has considerable geographic accuracy.   It is not complete - there are issues with Ninety Mile Beach/Te Oneroa-a-Tone and Stewart Island/Rakiura.

The print will give our students an aspect to think about their location and where we are from.   We also want to think about how we might use this as part of a design to feature or display something in the classroom hence the decision to complete the print with glow-in-the-dark filament.

The print measures 20cm from the bottom to the top is 40mm wide for most of the print - and 60mm at the widest point.    The print is only 10mm thick in most places - it was stretched further however this tended to have the peaks looking out of scale.   We are going to look at the opportunity to back it onto something such as a piece of MDF.

3D Printed iPad Stand: Revised

 

Challenge: This was part of our 2025 School Market Day projects - the group that was based around creating and developing iPad and iPhone stands.

Background: Students in the junior classroom who were seven and eight year olds used the Tinkercad app to develop of range of iPads for order.   They used the basic template that was available on template and then used the design tools to remodel and develop the designs.

The degree of difficulty varied depending on the design - you can see examples of this work here which featured on this blog in 2025 - including the 'Willy Wonka' design which this 2026 remix was based on.

As a point of interest this print was printed with super glow-in-the-dark filament.   


Level of Difficulty: This design was created independently by students (and modified by the teacher later) and is based heavily on the Tinkercad template - which some adjustment.   To a student who is capable of using Tinkercad and the Tinkercad app the design would only take a few minutes to personalise.  This would rank as a medium level task for students to complete independently.

Size: As this intended to hold an iPad successfully the dimensions of the print reflect this.   The print measures 140mm across and is 120mm long.  The base is 20mm thick.   The backing plate at the back is 140mm high, 135mm wide and was also 20mm thick.   This print was completed with a base infill of 20% (which is essentially the standard for every print ever published on this blog).

Cost: This is a significant print - including 'rafting' to support the print as it is being completed (although like most Bambu H2D prints it is minimal) the print used 238g of plastic.   This meant that the cost of the print was just over $6.00 NZD.   It would have been slightly higher as super-glow-in-the-dark filament was used (although this is minimal).    We were charging $8.00 for items like this at our School Market Day to cover the entire project and costs.

Timeframe: This is one of the significant Bambu H2D School projects that we are printing - and the purpose of the print reflects that.   While some of the phone stands have come in at the two to three hour mark this print took six and a half hours to print.    

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

We mentioned at the time of the School Market Day but the students would have been able to make more of an impact if they had shown and demonstrated some of the stands prior to the event - we have found that they have had a very positive reception since and tend to be something that has an actual functionality to them (as opposed to for instance being something static or a 'toy').   While this was a remix of an existing project it is anticipated that there will be additional versions of these that will take place in the coming school year, which starts this Thursday.

3D Printed iPad Stand Imperfection Project - Part Two

 

This projects has several elements to it that are going to mean that it will be a talking point for the students this year.    Firstly it was deliberately printed using glow-in-the-dark filament as a talking point or a discussion point to have with students.   

The student wanted to have the design for the project on the front - while it has been completed it lacks a little of the detailing that would have made it accurate as we would have liked.   The logo for the school, something we spent considerable time looking at during the course of this project has been completed to a degree that the student was happy with however it could have had more relation (in terms of the central koru, the flares that come off it).   A positive for the print was that it holds a iPhone or similar device without any issues.   The little 'tacks' that are featured on the outer rim of the print have impressively been held in place during printing - although they are extremely small and detailed.

The back of the design is currently blank - as shown by the photograph on the left.  The intention from the student was to use the sticker making machine to take a logo from the school, print it as an oval design and then attach it to the print.  This has been done previously on some of the iPhone as shown in these exemplars on this post.

We would not have attempted to print this project had we not had the Bambu H2D available.

We are using this in conjunction with some of the other ideas featured in our 'idea's box' as a way to encourage students thinking and design creativity.

Laser Cut Coasters - Two Years Later

We have recently posted about the process of using the 3D Printers (Bambu H2D) to create a coaster for use for hot drinks.  You can click on the link to that example here using 'scribble' to create the project here.

The durability of the PLA filament meant that this is a positive use however the print time is one hour.   As an alternative for this we have in the past used the school laser cutter to produce coasters.  These were a prominent feature of our 2023 School Market Day in the Senior School.  You can click on the link to see examples of this here (in Mr Bloors amazing summary video of the event).

In the examples shown in this print they are coaters that were made and have been in use since 2023 - of note they have been sealed to protect them.  As a standard MDF cut that had not been sprayed with sealant we would expect there to be staining and some damage to the design and the coaster.     The print time for the project was approximately ten minutes for each of the individual coasters.

How might it be relevant to your classroom or your school? 

The design is simple - in both cases the design template was available online, it was imported into software by a senior student and they applied it to the laser cutter.   

If your school was holding a market day or fundraising event this is something that could be created.   If you have extension students who require a task to complete this is something that they could complete.

There are additional examples of how our (senior students) have used laser cutter from school projects here.

3D Printed iPhone Stand: Imperfection Project

 

Challenge: To produce a unique iPhone stand.   As this was part of the 2025 School Market Day the focus for our students in this case was on innovation, creation and personalisation.

This task was created by a eight year old student using their iPad and the Tinkercad App.  The student also used the Tinkercad App to AR/VR their design.

Background: This print is going to be used as a teaching point this year - due to its imperfections and details there are a number of points of interest.

Lego Lettering cluster (viewed from the front of the design).   This was designed to be built around a lego brick as the centrepiece.  The clustering of the 'Lego' lettering looks untidy and is overlapping in places.  This needs to be reimagined and discussed with the students about how the lego brick could feature more details and address the spacing.

The lego layering on the top of the iPad.   The spacing between the studs is not consistent, some of them are also not in a line.  By discussing with the students we would like them to think about how they could replicate the stud so that it was even and spaced correctly.

The back of the iPad stand has a lego face figure.  While the figure is distinctive it could have some further adjustment (the eyes are slightly out of balance) the general dimension of the figure itself.

The overall dimensions of the print need to also be looked at and potentially addressed.   This print was obviously printed in glow-in-the-dark filament as a further discussion point for the students.

Level of Difficulty: Medium this task was completed independently and needs revision, so would something that would need a longer timeframe than an a basic task.

Size: The print base at the front measures 120mm across at the front and is 90mm long.  The thickness of the base is 5mm.   The panel at the back is also 120mm across however it is 10mm thick and 120mm high.

Cost: The iPad used 60g of filament to complete the print.   This was identified as costing $2.10 of PLA according to the Bambu studios costing software.   There would be a slight increase due to the nature of the PLA.   

Timeframe: The print took two and half hours to complete on the Bambu H2D.   Given the details of the print this is not something that we will intend to complete using the Snapmaker.

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

This project is intended as a project where we can discuss what needs to be addressed and what could be reworked.  It is printed as such and intended there is considerable level of revision for this print.

We anticipate that we will be updating this print later in the school year.   Our students are currently on their end of year holidays in New Zealand and will be returning shortly to school - we will back from our break next week with the students and should be posting shortly after that.

3D Printing Overview: Site Posters

 

These posters are summary posters of this site, highlighting some of the more significant projects and posts from the last twelve months.   Each QR code from the poster is linked to one of the summary posts on this site.   This is also going to be available as a file via Facebook and other formats.

3D Printed Money Box - 2025 Edition

 

Challenge: For student to produce an original money box using Tinkercad to complete the process.  Student was an eight year old designing independently.

Background: This was the last week of school where the students had time to explore the possibility of what they might be able to create.   We had the students construct, build and develop a range of prints and during the end of year break (which is occurring now) we selected a number of prints that have value moving forward.  In this instance while the design is simple and straightforward we believe that it will encourage other students to develop their creation skills - and for students who will require more of a challenge there is the issue of the student designing a way to lock the box and have a underside base panel for access for what is put into the box.

As can be viewed by the photographs showing this design the print was completed using glow-in-the-dark filament this was done just to give the project a novelty factor, it was not required for the print in general.

Level of Difficulty - Low at present, but the potential is clearly there for an upgrade based around how this print might be refined and reworked.  The student in this case was an eight year old who had been using Tinkercad for the year so was confident to work independently to complete the visible access of the task.  The face design is relatively basic and the details could have been developed further.  The hat has featured a number of times in various prints this year and is available as an item search on Tinkercad.

Size: The print measures 100mm wide, was 75mm deep and 60mm high.   The hat extended a further 40mm from the corner of the box upwards.

Cost: Using the software that is present with Bambu studio the print is determined to use 130g of PLA to complete the project and the cost of these PLA was identified as being $3.27.   Of note as this was completed with the Bambu H2D and there was a minimal amount of waste PLA with the print.

Timeframe: From the dimension of the print and the details of the print it was a significant print - it took four hours and forty five minutes to complete, which makes it using the Bambu H2D one of the larger prints that we completed during the school year.

What we would do differently/next steps for the student: As can clearly be shown left the student has yet to complete the underside base panel to secure items to go into the money box.   This is not as simple as it seems as the student needs to develop a locking mechanism to work within the dimensions that have already been printed.   This would be a task that a number of students could complete.    As noted previously the details on the top of the box, such as a the face could have further additions made to it.   The balance between adding details and not overpowering the print is also an issue that would need to worked out.

This was a 2025 design that was a reworked 2024 money box - view it by clicking on the link here.

3D Printed Cookie Cutter V3.0

 

Challenge: For students to create a original, unique cookie cutter with a 'festive' theme.

Background: This challenge was undertaken by the students prior to the end of the 2025 School year here in New Zealand.  The challenge was using the idea for the students to design a cookie cutter that could be used to create the festive themed design shown left.

The student used the basic geometric shapes to create the image of the tree and used the scribble tool to design the base of the tree.   The handle to press the shape was created using two layers of geometric shapes, cylinders and rectangles before the final layer in place consisted of another cylinder and finally a ball at the top.  

Although this sounds somewhat complicated the student was an eight year old student who was able to work independently to complete the task.  

Level of Difficulty: Medium - this task was able to be completed but the elements needed to work in conjunction with each other.   The other issue is the size, although this would appear quite large (see below) the students would be better suited for a larger item than a smaller one.

Size: The print measures 190mm high and was 140mm wide.   The print was 10mm thick/wide for the sides.   The handle extended 100mm from the base of the design.

Cost: According to the Bambu inbuilt software 54g of filament was used to create this print and and the cost of the print was $1.35.   

Timeframe: This print was completed in ninety minutes using the Bambu H2D on the standard default settings.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: Although it isn't obvious there is a design aspect of this print that needs to be addressed.

As shown clearly left there should be on the underside of the print a 'blade' or 'cutting edge' that was created by having an additional ledge added to it (as it stands at the moment it cuts by squashing.   The other issue was the detail of the design that went with the shape.  The theme was festive and the student made a wise choice choosing such a simple image - however it was clear that they could have used more detailed layering to show the levels of the tree and the base in particular looked quite basic.

There is also the potential for the idea to work in other formats in particular with a stamp or something similar.   This design was a previously visited print and idea.

You can click on this link here to find out additional information about this print challenge for the junior students. To view additional projects related to this topic you can use the search bar top right and use 'cookie' as the keyword or you can click on this link to see further examples from 2025.

3D Printed Cup Coaster - with 'scribble'

 

Challenge: To produce an original item for consideration for market day 2025.

Background: This was one of the ideas that students had at the time when we were planning ideas and designs for our school market day in 2025.   This was an original prototype that the students created that subsequently didn't advance past the planning stage, however once the year was completed we started looking at projects that were otherwise not developed due to time constraints such as printer machine availability.

This design was recently identified as having potential and will be something that we will look at developing with the class of students who will be starting in February of 2026.  In this example the students utilised the design template (something that you could easily push out to the entire class via their Tinkercad accounts) and then added the design that is shown in the middle of the coaster.

The middle design was created by a eight year old student using the 'scribble' tool which allows the free creation of a particular shape and then applies it into a design.   In this case the student has opted very sensibly to sink the design into the base of the coaster (as of course having done so it doesn't affect the balance of the cup).

In this example the lip of the holder extends 7mm however this could easily be increased which would increase the stability.   Personalisation of this design is also a very obvious next step for the student.

Level of Difficulty: This is low as the base of the design was located by the student, downloaded and then added to.   Creating the layering required to make a coaster is a very simple two step process, as is the decoration in the base.   The eight year old was able to complete this independently without any teacher input.

Size: The print measured 110mm across was 10mm thick.  These dimensions worked perfectly for a regular cup however the obvious potential would be to customise this design in either direction (including super sized) depending on the requirements.

Cost: Using the Bambu Studio auto costing information the print uses 34g of filament.   The cost to produce a print with this filament is 85c.   For a standard roll of filament that would be 1kg costing $30.00 we would be able to produce 29 of these prints - which given the potential cost (and print time) would mean it would be a potential market day future item.

Timeframe: The print took under one hour to print (55 minutes).   Obviously any adaption of the size of this print would cause an adjustment to the time.   This was also completed with the Bambu H2D using a standard printer (such as the Snapmaker) would mean that we would expect the print to take twice as long (and there also likely to be less definition with the shaping).

What we would do Differently/Next steps for the students: This is potentially an excellent introductory task one that realistically a class could complete  as the print time is not impossible to imagine that it could not be completed during the course of a week.    

3D Printing History: Revisiting Previous Past Projects

 

We have mentioned that the quality and details that are produced by the 3D Printers that we use at school has increased significantly over the course of time.   Even in the short space of the last few years the quality, speed and detailing that is possible has increased significantly.

By using Tinkercad as a design tool for the students and in particular the classroom option the students accounts are still managed by the school - which means the designs previously created by the students are still accessible.

In particular there are designs and creations that previously were created that we are now in the process of revisiting.  An example that we are currently looking at is this design shown left.  Originally it was designed by a student in May 2024.   In both cases the print was completed with glow-in-the-dark filament - however when the two prints are compared to each other there is a clear difference from the quality of the finish.

The original finish is shown left.   The new version was completed by the Bambu H2D while the original (left) was the Snapmaker machine.   We have indicated that in 2026 we intend to be using the Snapmaker occasionally and the vast majority of the prints will be completed on the Bambu H2D.

The difference is particularly clear around the lettering on the print - which is much more detailed and sharp using the Bambu H2D.   The other significant factor is the time concerned.   With the Bamhu H2D the print time is fifty minutes - significantly under the original time.

The process is now to review the last three years of classroom designs (2023-2025) and identify projects or prints that were not attempted previously or where attempted but the details proved to be too challenging for the technology at the time.   We also have limited prints that date back much further than this, with the original .stl files to a number of projects and as a point of interest we will be selecting some of these to run them again using the newer printers.

It is still just under two weeks until our 2026 School year starts with our new classroom, we will be returning to our regular schedule of posting from then, thank you for your visit in the meantime.

2026 Ideas Box

Each year we look to start by having the students experience some 3D Prints that have already been made - if you are a regular follower of this site you will recognise some of the hundred or so projects that make up this box.

They are a mixture of prints in different media using both the Snapmaker machines and Bambu H2D which have been designed or located by our students.

The students are able to play with the designs look for ideas and generally use it as a resource box.   We have of course further information and details about all of the projects because nearly all of them have featured on this blog in one form or another.

3D Printing Lore #5 - The Teacher is Aware

We've been looking at some basic facts about 3D Printing that might be discussion or talking points for individuals (teachers) or adults or groups who might dip their toes into 3D Printing from a practical stand point and considering some of the obstacles.   Every school has a different situation a different set of circumstances that dictate how projects might work which could be simple as resources or ongoing funding for something as basic as PLA.   We have a focus on creation and innovation at our school and are incredibly lucky that we can use the technology in a way that we do.   

Previously with regards to lore or challenges:

#1. You don't need more than a single printer to print in a school environment.

#2 You don't need to 3D Print all of your students 3D Printing projects

#3 3D Print using glow-i-the-dark or other filament is easy

#4 Juniors can 3D Print just as well as seniors

Each of these four points has a small post about examples of how you might approach the concept or the challenge that it could face.   The fifth 'lore' concept for 2026 is 'The teacher is aware'.

The skill set that a teacher needs to create or encourage 3D Printing needs to be an awareness but not a mastery or experience to any particular level.   While teaching and encouraging creativity are incredibly important in teaching any part of the curriculum the practical terms is that the teacher in this case is not particularly skilled in designing or creation.  Over time an awareness of what might work or what might not work has become a bit more obvious (although as the technology improves drastically as the machines improve as shown from what the students were doing in 2014 compared to what students have been completing in 2025

One main reasons for this site is to encourage the use of technology within classroom and school environments and locations.    Hence examples like this slideshow below - it is intended to allow a teacher with minimum experience to complete the process of creating ear rings with a class of students, in this example the class who worked on this project was seven and eight year olds however it is quite possible that this could work on a variety of levels.   It was intended as a basic 101 project for someone who might be working on 3D printing with students for the first time:

 

 Note from the author of the blog:

This site was always intended as a way to share the use of technology - it was originally just a 3D Printing site but as the technology has evolved over time (yes we really did start posting in 2014) other options have become available to the point now even the name of the site is in question.   Originally it was only ever going to be a 'blog' as this teacher had previously worked on successful class blogs in the past (this archive clsas blog for example has now had 1.3 million page views and is more popular now when active) however recent events have meant that we are preparing to launch on several other formats in the near future, although the intention is for this site to remain more or less the same, at least at the time of writing this (January 2026).  

3D Junior Printing: Angel Exemplar

 

Challenge: To use Tinkercad and scribble to create a unique decoration/cookie cutter.

Background: During Christmas 2025 we had a range of projects that we were working on as the year came to an end.  We also wanted to look at projects that students could complete independently and also potentially festive, and this design was made as part of the cookie cutter challenge for our students.

While some students had worked on complex designs including versions that included handles, such as the examples that were shown in these posts.   This student is a skilled designer and was able to consistently able to produce creations and prints of the highest quality.   This design was deliberately kept as simple as possible by the student - balancing the shape and the viability of the design.   This was created in under ten minutes by a seven year old student.

This would be an ideal introductory task for a student starting to work on a 3D Printing challenge.    It was completed with an iPad and followed a similar process to some of our earlier design.   The student wanted to consider using this design as also a bunting - hence the reason that it was printed using super glow in the dark PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Low.   This would be a basic introductory task for someone with students starting 3D Printing if you are a teacher looking for a first step with 3D Printing this would be a great place to start.

Size: This print was 60mm high, 50mm wide and 10mm thick.   This was quite a small design however it could easily be up-scaled to something similar.   Resizing would have taken the student just a few seconds to drag and drop the design.

Cost: We made a conscious decision to use the Bambu H2D printer to complete this task as potentially we would be producing a number of prints (if this would be used as bunting or a decoration).    By using the Bambu inbuilt software we can determine that this print used 6.5g of filament and this was determined to cost $0.16 per produce per unit.   It would have been slightly higher had non glow-in-the-dark PLA used.

Timeframe: Twenty minutes using the Bambu H2D.   Had we used one of the schools Snapmaker the print would have been successful but would have taken twice the time.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: This was a straight-forward task with a basic simple outcome that was easily completed, although potentially the student could have placed more emphasis on the details involved in the silhouette however this wouldn't necessarily have translated to a better final product.

You can view a post about Cookie Cutters from 2019 here on this blog,  this 'cat' themed design from 2017 a scribble version of a Christmas hat from the same series in 2025, 

Resources for Potential 3D Printing Part Two

As we are preparing to start the 2026 School year later this month we are continuing to look for objects that the students might be able to use in conjunction with 3D Printing and/or AR/VR modelling and creation using iPads + Tinkercad.

Recently we posted about the farm building that we are going to be working on and we have also discovered a range of backgrounds in a department store clearance.

We've another object adding to the group - as we recently purchased from a second hand thrift shop a 'BoomTrix' Kinnetic Launch (as pictured).

The set was broken when it was purchased as several of the stands were missing - and this is what attracted it to being purchased.   As we have a set of objects which are engaging and can promote problem solving the hands on aspect of the design will work potentially like the Dolls House project from 2025.

Currently contained in the set is the taller tower, the bounce pads and the target finish line.   The tallest tower is 270mm high and 200mm wide at the base, but could do with a clearer launch ramp.

Each of the current mini trampolines are 90mm across, there were some cardboard targets and jump options (like a cardboard hoop) that have broken in the process of the use - however these are ideal for a 3D Print based on their size and design.   

We also have the benefit of the packaging of the product which clearly shows the ball passing through a target and the message should be clearly able to give ideas for the students to create.   The use of Tinkercad will allow the students the ability to AR/VR the designs and put it in place with the rest of the objects, which are intended to work in sequence.   Tinkercad also has ability to motion test objects which we could use to simulate the ball bearing dropping before we move towards 3D Printing of the potential additions to the set.

3D Printing Lore - Juniors can 3D Print

 

We've been creating a set of teaching points to consider relating to challenging the thinking of teachers and educators with the use or application at a regular state school.

Previously we've already stated three:

#1 You don't need more than one machine to 3D print with your students at school.  This year we are anticipating using a single machine for our classroom and the majority of the 3D Printing work at our school.

#2 You don't need to 3D print all of your 3D printing projects.  We again this year will be creating and designing a number of projects but not all of them will make it to the printing stage - a number will be published as AR/VR images and other designs.

#3 3D Printing Glow in the Dark - changing filament to a different kind of printing is increasingly simple and adds dimensions, texture and a different aspect to the students designs.

#4 Juniors Can 3D Print.  This blog has gone through several stages of development, starting with its initial years the designs and creations were completed by senior students.   Since 2022 the prints, designs and creations on this site have been generally created by students who are seven and eight years old.

One of the biggest misconceptions that is currently met by many teachers is that 3D Printing is for seniors (older students) and not something that juniors are capable of or necessarily have the skills to complete, which was very much my own line of thinking when I changed classroom levels to the junior school - nothing could be further from the truth.   Students have consistently and constantly shown great aptitude to use Tinkercad to develop and plan, adapt and create a wide range of projects for the most part completely independently of the teacher.

A case in point which we are highlighting now is the 'cyclops' storage print which came as a result of introducing the 'eyes' sticker sheet shown above to the students.   When given to the students as a challenge the idea was to produce a character using an eye as the starting point.

Students in the classroom produced a range of ideas and one of the seven year old students created the design featured on this page.  They did so independently of the teacher, with the exception of the 'eye'.   The concept, the idea, the design and process was all completed by the student who then in turn handed the final .stl file to the teacher for the teacher to print.  There was no input or guidance and was completed by a student in their first year using Tinkercad.

The design took just over one hour to print, details of the full process and how it modified over time can be seen on this post here, followed by the final design which is described here.

Non Printing 3D Printing Ideas: Updated 2025 Slideshow

 

We have published a number of slideshows on this blog detailing various projects and information, we are currently in the process of converting these into Powerpoint presentations and Keynote presentations.

These slideshows have a theme or focus about a range of activities and ideas.   This slideshow is the non 3D printing ideas, that is ideas that are designed using #Tinkercad and destined not to be completed as a 3D Print but another form of publishing including a number of ideas based around using the #Tinkercad AR/VR app option as a publishing option.

School Market Day Ideas - 2025 Overview

Every second year at Auroa Primary School we have a major School event, our School Market Day.  On this day students run businesses with a focus on invocation, creativity and personalisation and we have the local community come to school for the event to purchase items and see what our students have created.   This is a major undertaking for the school.   This slideshow is an updated selection of ideas that the students were involved in creating (from seven to twelve years of age) using iPads and Tinkercad, Mac Books and Sketchup (for laser cutting).   We have also included Sonic Vision Studios amazing summary videos of the events.

We are looking forward to being back at School at the end of January with our new classroom of students with new designs, creations and projects.

Using Resources to Combine with AR/VR

 

3D Printing and Technology design has been an engaging and successful tool to use with the students.    As we been evolving projects and ideas we are always looking for items that would work in conjunction with the technology.  An obvious example from 2025 was the Dolls House Project which combined a physical object with a strong virtual component.  Another was the 'eyes' which became the 'cyclops' challenge which led to the creation of an original storage project.

Some of the items located to use like this has come from 'bargain shops' or second hand shops - like the toy farm that is being used for 'AR/VR project work in 2026.

Just this week, in the holidays in New Zealand at a large franchise store we located another item from the 'clearance' section that should prove very useful with the students this year.   We found two large backdrops.   These backdrops are themed 'Island' with a tropical volcano scene and 'Construction'.   The scale of the these backdrops are large - they measure 1.8m high and are 2/5m wide.  As a backdrop the intention is to put them on a classroom wall and then have the students create something to be placed in front of the backdrop and AR/VR it into place using the students iPad and the Tinkercad app.    The price to purchase both backdrops (it was clearance) was $2.00 each.

2025 Year in Review - Tinkercad Hunt

In October 2025 we had our Auroa Primary School Pet Day - this is the biggest event as part of the school year, where there are a range of activities, one of which is the whimsical diorama build.

We took this as an opportunity to refine our students 3D building skills - by using the dioramas as the background for some unique Tinkercad building!  With the students using their iPads to take photographs of the display the students then used their iPads and the Tinkercad App to create something that could fit into the scene.   When the students had completed the design they then took their iPads back to the diorama and added the creation, the object into the scene virtually and took a photograph of the final result.  This taught the students about the composition and the design details and also refined their design skills.  In the example shown top left in the Christmas grotto scene the 'Snowman' that dominates the front left of the design is not actually there!

This task was completed by a class of seven and eight year olds independently and the slideshow below shows a range of photographs taken by the students on the day.   We will be trying again with this process and this task next year in several forms.