3D Printed Minecraft Axolotl

 

Challenge: To produce a unique copy of a Minecraft item or creature using an iPad, Tinkercad App and Minecraft Education.

Background: This task has been detailed over the past week or so occurring in our classroom with our Year Four students (seven and eight year olds) in different forms.

The original tasks dates back to September 2026 and you can also click here to view a summary of last years Minecraft themed posts.   As the term is coming to an end its one of the challenges that we have decided to revisit with our classroom of students this year, some of which had the opportunity to complete this challenge last year as a seven year old.  Minecraft Education was the starting point where we tasked the students with locating and making effective screenshots of a range of animals contained within the program.   They were challenged to select one of the animals that they had a screenshot of and replicate the animal using the Tinkercad App on their iPads.

Depending on the animal there were certain challenges that were associated with replicating the object or animal in Tinkercad.  The design needed to have clear recognition factor and be an accurate representation of the original.

This student attempted to complete the axolotl.  We have previously featured the early versions of this design where the student was using AR/VR to project the design around the school and also test its viability and its likelihood of success if it was printed.

Level of Diffculty: Hard this had elements that needed to be completed and completed accurately the student who is involved in this is a cohort two student who has already demonstrated some exceptional design skills this year, as in his own time he was responsible for producing this bottle.   This is arguably the hardest kind of animal that he could have selected to replicate.

Size: The print measures 160mm by 60mm for the main body and has legs that are an additional 40mm from the base of the animal.  Of note is the width of the tail piece which is 1mm wide as is the line dividing the back of the creature.

Cost/Price: According to Bambu Lab Studios the print design used 70g of PLA to produce at a cost of $1.73.

Timeframe: The print took two hours and five minutes to produce on regular Bambu lab print settings.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: The biggest issue of this design moving forward we be the purpose of the design, other than a novelty toy, which is something its potentially not suited to, owing to the thin spine and the tail.   Storage is the obvious answer and the student is going to explore looking at introducing either holes or a box shape into the back of the design.  They also want to spray paint the design so that it matches the colour shown in the AR/VR design.