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, 

3D Printed Christmas Tree: Junior Example

Challenge: To produce an original and suitable Christmas tree with potential to include LED lighting.
 

Background: Please note school has now concluded for 2025, our students and our teacher will be back at this stage in February 2026.   In the meantime we are finishing off the year with a series of posts wrapping up 2025 and also including some of the 'best of' highlights of the year,

This challenge was set for the entire class with a range of challenges during the last weeks of school based around the creation of Christmas Trees.   Students created a range of Christmas Trees and AR/VR them into cards and also various challenges around the school.

This challenge was slightly different in that the students (this was created by a seven year old student) had to design a tree and then ultimately the goal was printing the tree and looking at the possibility of using LED lights to light up the tree - similar to how we had worked some of the projects related to our school Market Day for 2025.  

The intention was to include LED lights and potentially use glow-in-the-dark filament to pop the print.

Level of Difficultly: High.   This had a number of elements that the student designed working in conjunction with each other.  Key to this print was how would the LED lights be hung from this design - this was the 'ring' that can be seen wrapping its way around the design.   

Size: The print measures 100mm high, has a base that is 80mm in diameter.   This is the base which extends the furtherest, the tree itself extends 50mm in diameter from the base.

Cost: 72g of filament was used in the production of this tree.  The cost according to Bambu Lab with its price point identifying that the $1.72 to produce the tree.

Timeframe: Three and a half hours using the Bambu H2D.  This was used as during the design the detail that was included (in the groves and in some of the decorations).   We would not have attempted to complete this print using the Snapmaker.  A relatively simple design was completed with grooves (which was intended for the LED lighting).

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students: This is a straightforward print in some ways, in other ways (the LED lights) there are complex elements to the prints.   Some of the decoration on this tree looked fine in Tinkercad but didn't translate really well to the printed version.

We are very reluctant to complete prints that had a large level of rafting (waste plastic).  This print had a notable print support under each of the levels of the tree - which as a result meant quite a bit had to be removed.

We have yet to complete the print using glow-in-the-dark filament.  In doing so we would imagine that it would considerable add a level of presentation to the print.   The cost or the print time etc would not increase significantly.

3D Printed Christmas Calendar: Junior

 

Challenge: For seven and eight year olds to use their design skills to challenge themselves with a multi featured print involving a number of aspects.

Background: After one or two years of using Tinkercad to create a print that had a number of aspects to it, as a 'days to Christmas clock'.   The print needed to have a way to change the day on a regular basis.

Students were able to use pre-generated figures to complete the design but they had to ensure that they had worked these into a new design and been responsible for editing or changing the design.   In the example shown left the student did so with the trees that they wanted to put on the top of the design.   The other aspects of the design were either created for this design or created previously by the student and then adapted to the design.

While there was not any time devoted to the creation of the design in terms of guiding the student a basic example was shown and the issue of the date changing was discussed - as the students assumptions were that they could use a regular die to represent the count down, when naturally once they got to a date regarding the number seven this would prove problematic.

The design came in a series of stages - it naturally started with the base and then the student hollowed out the space for the date blocks.   Once this had been completed the student used the snowman and a tree and duplicated both multiple times to complete the design.

The student responsible for the design is seven years old and other than the general instructions and the prompt at the start of the lesson they were able to produce the print independently.   They used their iPad and the Tinkercad app to complete the process.  Printing was completed via the Bambulab studio software and the Bambu H2D printer.

Normally we would expect students to complete a detailed AR/VR exploration of their creation but we were under a specific time pressure (ie the end of the school year) and the student conducted some but not as we would usually expect, which at times can be an entire session in itself.

Level of Difficulty: High - this was intended to be a challenging print from conception to execution.  There are elements of the print that need to be refined and this was given as an optional challenge.  Our of a class of twenty five students this was one of the better attempts at completing the project, but some students worked on the die and left the base alone.   If we have insisted that the entire print was original then the students would have needed to use unique Christmas Trees and this wouldn't have been out of question as a number had already design them for our recent virtual Christmas Challenge.

Size: The cubes that display the date or the countdown days to Christmas (the student wasn't sure what was best) are cubes measuring 25mm across.   The base for the main unit is 80mm across, 50mm deep and 50mm high at the back.  The base is 10mm deep at the insert and 15mm high in total.   The snowman are particularly small being 20mm high.  The trees are only slightly smaller being a total of 25mm high from the trunk to the star.  This meant that the entire print while being quite small was functional, with hindsight the size could have been bigger but actually this worked in a perfectly fine manner for what was intended (see below).   This also was potentially a task when more versions of this would be created.

Cost: The main unit base cost $1.57 to produce as determined by the Bambu Labs automatic software.   The print used 57g of filament to produce.   There was some 'rafting' waste PLA to hold aspects of the print in place however it was minimal.   The dice were relatively inexpensive as they cost $0.44 for the pair and  used 18g of PLA to complete.  There was no filament that was required to support them, nor was any tools required to remove filament from the die once the printing had been completed.   The main base required tools to remove the PLA particularly the support that was between the trees although given the dimensions of them (being 25mm high and just over 2mm wide at the widest pint it was minimal.

Timeframe: The base unit took two hours and seven minutes to print.  The pair of die took thirty seven minutes to complete.These were both completed on the Bambu H2D.  Given the specific details that were required of this print (particularly the trees) this was not a print that we would attempt on one of the Snapmaker printers as we would doubt the level of detail would be able to be produced.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The trees that topped off the design proved to be challenging for the teacher to remove the PLA.  They had to use specific tools to do so, which the students are not able to use due to the edges.  Despite care taken with this one of the trees as shown left came off the base in this process.   It could be re-glued however the trunk of the tree is particularly thin and if this print was dropped there could potentially be more  issues.  The solution of this would be to engineer additional support at the base of the tree by including box presents or something else that would allow support but not detract from the image.   The student also needs to address the snowman.  If you look at the first picture the boxes for the date are not sitting square on the base of the print.  This is because the two centre snowman extend into the main area where the die needs to be placed and their carrot nose extends into the area where the block sits.  It does not prevent the block from being placed there but it means it needs to be wedged in under the nose.  This is potentially a design weakness and would need adjusting.

Finally the die themselves require careful engineering to ensure that they meet purpose the student was still in two minds about whether the calendar is a 'Days in December' or 'Days until Christmas' a decision needs to be made about that and then engineer the die to meet the numbers required by this.  With hindsight this would have made a great STEM/Mathematics algebra equation challenge. 

3D Printing Junior Challenge: Introducing Scribble

This is the third in the series of recent 'Cookie Cutter' class project work.   School in New Zealand has now broken for the school holidays, we will be back in person in February, in the meantime we will be revisiting all of our 2025 project work and we have a range of prints and projects from the year which we we will be posting.   As always if you want to get in contact with the teacher who runs this blog you can do so by emailing him at myles.webb@gmail.com.

Challenge: For students to create an original, unique and working cookie cutter suitable for use.

Background: We have detailed this process over the past two days, detailing how the original inception and idea featured a tree shape.  

As the students started developing ideas a clear next step was going to be using the 'scribble' tool present in Tinkercad.   When selected with the students iPads it allows students to be able to freely draw on a seperate design page then bring this straight into Tinkercad.   This allows the students the ability to create a range of shapes and designs and the students have proven increasing adept at developing their skills to use this to produce different ideas.   In the case of this challenge the students started looking at traditional ideas and shapes associated with Christmas and then experimenting with them.  

Having already identified that early prints lacked a handle and tended to be too thin this student wanted to make sure that this print addressed both these potential issues.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this is a straightforward design that took the students a few minutes to independently produce as a eight year old.

Size: The print is 90mm wide 70mm high and has sides that are 10mm thick and 10mm high.

Cost: The print has a PLA use of 13g and an associated cost according to Bambulab of $0.31.

Timeframe: The print using the Bambu H2D took 38 minute to complete.   This makes this project an excellent challenge based around the concept of printing a class set or a large group of prints as the timeframe makes it somewhat realistic (with our classroom we are attempting to complete the entire run using a single printer over the course of a week at school)

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: The run of prints in this sequence were based around tree designs, this version was the first 'scribble' tool designed version and it was printed as it was intended to share with the students a different approach.   The handle while it is functional needs some more refinement.   The student also has created 'sections' for the hat that are quite distinct.  In testing when the students use the cutter to cut through the play-doh if the students cut right through it does not leave a single piece, but it leaves the design in two distinct sections - so the students need to engineer a solution to be able to  press it trough some of the way, but not completely through so the shape remains intact.    

This will be updated with further versions of this print later.   You can also see the 2025 Christmas themed slideshow featuring ten years of different Christmas Designs and Challenges for students by clicking on the link here.

3D Printing Junior Challenge: Cookie Cutters 2025

 

Challenge: For students to create an original, unique and working cookie cutter suitable for use.

Background: Its the final week of school in New Zealand prior to our summer break.  During this time we are trying to complete our end of year projects across the curriculum and we are also producing a range of designs that we are potentially publishing, printing and creating during the holidays.   One of the things that we have done is revisit some of the other successful projects that have featured on this blog and used the blog itself as a resource.

We were producing versions of these back as student projects as early as 2016 which you can see via this link.  We have also revised designs like this again in this post in 2019 and in 2022 we summarised our Christmas themed cookie cutters in the shape of Santa's sleigh with this post.

We also have gravitated towards projects that are realistic for the students to complete in a short space of time.  At present time with the main printers with the school is at a premium.   There are a number of classrooms using the machines and they are available and their use is encouraged for everyone.

We have a number of complicated projects due for the Bambu H2D while we can complete a project like this using the older Snapmaker machines.

One of the issues for the students to overcome is that they have already started designing these cutters but having only one edge to them and not thinking about the entire design.

We are going to allow the students to access some Playdoh with the intention of allowing the first designs to be physically printed.  This should allow the students the ability to look at the designs that they have made and consider what they might be like when applied in a cookie situation.   Some of the designs at present have a range of shapes that are separated by a solid line, which will in some cases not leave a shape but instead a series of seperate objects.

Level of Difficulty: Low-Medium.   We have used this as a basic level entry task in the past, while we are finishing off this year we would like the students to design and create using their iPads something that they could use and could be practical for the end of the year.  There are a variety of designs but the brief has been deliberately left open to the students interpretation.

Size: In the physical print shown top left the student has designed the cutter to be too small.  It is 50mm across and 60mm high in total, including the star.  Some of the subsequent designs are clearly bigger - however the student response to this was quite clever as this design fit the criteria for our recent Christmas Cracker Challenge - so it was transferred to this!

Cost: The sample is costing $0.20.   This is low for a general print however this is one of the benefits of this project.  Students need to also consider when using the cutter how much force can be used.

Timeframe: The example shown at the top of this post took fifteen minutes to complete on the Snapmaker, had the Bambu H2D been used then this would have been expected to be half of the time.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: This print has a long way to produce a finished product.   The testing phase of the prototypes which the students are now moving onto as usual will be crucial to the students overall success with the project.   The designs should also move on from the basic tree design that is currently being focussed on.

3D Printing Christmas Cracker Challenge

 

Challenge: To produce the 'item' that you might find in a regular Christmas cracker.

Background: This challenge was based around the concept of the students developing something that by its nature needed to be small.  The item needed to fit inside a cracker to meet the success criteria to be printed - if it was too big too fit in, it was 'out'.

This really refined the students designs as early in the process the students typically went too big and when they then adjusted the size to meet the criteria the purpose could be lost.  To ensure that it was correct I purchased a small amount of crackers from the dollar store, this gave the students more spatial awareness of what they were dealing with and how they were also challenged.

An early example came left in the form of this tree.   

Level of Difficulty: Low - this was a whole class activity and a range of responses were expected while some would clearly hit the mark easily the restrictions on size caused a challenge that some students really found more challenging than they should have.

Size: The tree measured 50mm high, was 30mm wide and was 10mm deep.  It was designed as a ornament to hang on the tree, although there was a hole in the star that was supposed to allow a thread to be passed through it to allow it to be tied.  This hole was too small for this purpose so it had to be sent back to be redesigned.

Cost/Price:

The dimensions of this print meant it used 4g of PLA and had a cost of $0.10 NZD.

It is one of the selections of 3D Prints that the students designed that looked fantastic as a Tinkercad design, looked wonderful when AR/VR around the classroom and in position as a tree but possibly lost something in the translation of becoming a print.  It would be possible to make this multiple colours potentially.

Timeframe: 17 minutes this was a situation where the machine warming up, starting the process and preparing to print took longer than the print itself.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the Students: The student met the brief however there are adjustments that are required - the connection to the way to hang the decoration at the top of the tree being the most obvious.   The print would be a great example of something that could be used for a bunting etc as its size and time frame means the potential of the printing could be completed en masse.

3D Printed Christmas Decorations: 2025 Edition

 

Challenge: To produce an original Christmas decoration suitable for display.

Background: As we have been producing projects and ideas with and from our students using our iPads and our 3D Printers since 2014 we have a large and significant bank of examples that have been created from the past which we can sometimes use as a starting point for design tasks.   In this instance the design shown left was part of a group of designs that were first published here in 2022.  The idea at the time was really simple, using Tinkercad, the Tinkercad iPad App  to create something simple but that had the recognition factor.   Importantly since this print was conceived and developed the quality and speed of the prints that we are using have improved considerably.   The basis of the design was the same - it was the 'scribble' option from Tinkercads main interface (for the leaves) combined with three geometric shapes and finally a ring to allow the object to be hung.   As we had one of the originals in the classroom to act as a guide for the students it took a seven year old under five minutes from the start of the build to the completion of the design.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this was designed completely independently by a seven year old and was completed in a very short space of time - they are a talented designer and this was easily within their abilities.

Size: This print measures 100mm across, and was 100mm high.  The print had a width of 5mm.   This was slightly larger than the original that was 60mm by 70mm (and also 5mm thick).

Cost Price: The previous version was not produced at a time where we had a Bambu H2D at school.  There was not any rafting with either version, in this one the printer used 16g of PLA filament and the identified cost to complete the print was $0.42c (NZD).   

Timeframe: The original print three years ago took slightly under ninety minutes to print.  This revised version, which is larger took fifty minutes to complete.  The finish, which is visible somewhat in the photographs with the Bambu H2D is clearly superior to the original with a smoother finish.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: This was a very straight forward project by adding additional details the project could have had a longer focus.  Obviously the design could be tested and put in place with the Tinkercad App and the AR/VR option for it.

As we have stated we have an entire slideshow related to student Christmas themed projects (which is shortly going to be updated for the 2025 'season' available in the Guides/Special Projects tab on this blog above.

Tinkercad/scribble + Pic Collage Filter

We have a range of students in the classroom a group who have been working in the class time provided (which is usually once or twice a week for forty five minutes or so) and also in their own time to use their iPads to develop their design skills.

During that time in class over the course of the year we get students who develop their ideas and skills and we build into them the ideas, encourage creativity and look for ways to have moments of excitement and magic with them.  Sometimes in the time frame they work this creativity in ways that is great to share.  As we posted recently our creative 'festive' designs have started taking shape for the year.   

Another example is the original design shown left.  This was created by an eight year old student whose been designing in the first year of using Tinkercad as an app.   The student tends to be a little reserved with some of their ideas.   They opted to use the Tinkercad scribble tool which we have used in the past and created an elf like figure, which is shown in the photograph above.   They then used their iPad and the Tinkercad apps AR/VR function to start projecting their image in different locations around the classroom.   In the photo above it is 'standing' on the floor of the classroom.   The student has used one of the 2025 Market Day Christmas trees to include in this projected image as she intended to use the Pic Collage filter for the next step.

The image shown left is the Tinkercad image, which has then been VR/AR projected onto the floor and then screen shot, which has then had the Pic Collage Silent Night 2 filter (which is currently free for anyone who has the app) applied to it.

The filter has taken the design added additional features, taken the tree at the front, coloured the entire photo and then added the additional colour and stars to the picture.
 

There are currently a range of filters with the app that are available for use (and free) and the student used a range of them with her Tinkercad image.  She settled on this final design as she is going to create a Christmas Card using this image as the front of the card, with additional lettering and a message on the inside.

As noted the entire process took under one hour.   Other students also created a range of designs using Tinkercad for this project, searched through their Tinkercad accounts and looked for other designs that they could import and then 'filter'.   Some students opted for figures but we also had others building entire scenes such as the typical 'Santas Grotto' with a range of buildings and other features.    This task (using scribble) could easily be completed (successfully) by younger students.

3D Printed Christmas Design

 

Challenge: To produce an original, unique Christmas themed festive design.

Background: We tend to start this process each year at this time building on what students have completed in the past as it tends to be a universal activity and as we usually like to print at least one print for each student we want to be able to complete it in a realistic timeframe.

As we previously mentioned we started the activity with an open challenge to students and this design came out as a result of it.  The student wanted to shape a face themselves and came up with this idea intending to modify it later but it was pointed out to them several times that the design of the face was very similar to a lego-man face, which the student was happy with.   The student who created this project is a seven year old working independently in Tinkercad with just the app and an iPad.

He was especially keen to work with the colour palette and while that wasn't available with the 3D Print at this stage did use the colours available to detail what he wanted it to look like.   The image shown left is the design, created using an iPad by the student who has then used the Tinkercad App and has AR/VR the design into different locations so he could see its composition and to check it.

Once the student felt that it met these guidelines the final stage was to opt for printing, which was completed using the Bambu H2D.

As this has now been completed the student is looking at developing this idea further as questions were posed to him about further detail that he could add.

The design was also put through a filter, in this case the Pic Collage, Magic Camera, Silent Night 2 Filter.  The results of this can be seen left.  

The entire process from creation, design to AR/VR and then filtering took a single block of school time (which was forty minutes).

Level of Difficulty: Medium - This student has shown several times during the year that they have creativity and excellent awareness.  They have used their iPad and Tinkercad to produce a number of outstanding projects such as the 'cyclops' series of prints.  They were also a key designer who has been responsible for a series of iPad and iPhone stands.

Size: The print in its original form measures 40mm across is 50mm long and the main part of the shape is 50mm high.  As a whimsical design to amuse and be hung from a tree these dimensions are correct.  

Cost/Price: The unit cost essentially $0.80c to make based on the now standard $30.00 NZD per 1kg roll of PLA filament.

Timeframe: This print took seventy minutes to print and was completed using the schools Bambu H2D printer for precision and speed to complete the project.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the student: The colour matching with a four nozzle H2D meant that the student could potentially have four different colours on the print and that is something that they could look into.   The design was amusing but could have had additional features, either for the student to go compltely lego themed or move in a different direction.  

Christmas 2025 - 3D Printing Challenges

 

Its approaching the end of the school year here in New Zealand where we are breaking from mid December until February.

As we move towards the end of the school year we also approach the festive season.   One of the most enduring series of prints that we have been producing on this blog has been based around this theme.

As we have been posting projects for over ten years we have built up a bank of resources, teaching examples and Tinkercad created projects that could be used as a discussion point inspiration.

Today we did just that, encouraging students to design something original and something festive.  We also stressed to students the importance of using the key themes from our 2025 Market Day - innovation, creativity and personalisation

You can view our 2024 Slideshow with a summary of the projects below.

3D Printing Projects: Expanding Prints with Bambu H2D

 

Challenge: Use the Bambu H2Ds ability to combine PLA into a single print, with a 'Christmas Theme'.

Background: In August 2025 Auroa Primary School purchased a new Bambu H2D Printer.   One of the aspects of the machine is that is has four nozzles and has the opportunity to combine colour within the confines of a single print - as shown on the prints when we compared dragons previously on this blog.

We have mentioned that we have started identifying potential examples for our 2025 Market Day which can be used as additional material for sale at the event (as most of the preorders have already been sold which would mean if nothing was added nothing would be available on the evening for sale).   

Level of Difficulty: Medium, something new for the students is the use of multi colours and the Bambu Studio software used to create it.   This design is an original from Tinkercad, the student has then imported the design into Bambu studio and used this program to identify the sections for alternative colours of PLA.

Size: The print is essentially 100mm wide and 100 high and is obviously a bauble shape.   As a decoration intended to hang from a tree these are the expected dimensions for this, conceivably it could have been smaller if the entire class was to complete the project however in this case the intention was for it to be a test of the colour options with the Bambu H2D.

Cost: The print used just slightly under a 100g of filament, which would equate to using a roll to produce ten of these items.  As the regular PLA is currently tracking at $30.00 a roll this means the print would cost $3.00 at a break even point.

Timeframe: Four hours on the Bambu H2D.  We would not attempt this on the Snapmaker as the colour combination would mean that the design would need to be stopped and started to complete the process - as it was with the machine it was completed automatically in a single print.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:   The Bambu H2D produces a purge when the colours are combined.   That is the waste plastic is produced in a column - as shown left.   While this is much more compact and tidy than a regular printer it is still significant.  If the printer had been printing in a single colour it would have been minimal.

The student had wanted the belt and the buttons to be white however when they were allocating the patterns on the design they did not select the correct colour combination from the printer and as a result they were printed black.

We have previously published a significant volume of material with a Christmas theme - we will update the slideshow for 2025 and publish it again soon.  In the meantime you can click on the link here to locate it.

Market Day 2025 - General Stock Items 2

Challenge: To produce a unique and original decoration suitable for Christmas.

Background: As mentioned previously we are looking for examples for items that can be used to allow purchasing during our 2025 School Market Day.  We have previously showed examples of the generic key rings that are specific to our locality.   

One of the items that we have produced in quantity in the past has been 'Christmas Themed' decorations suitable for hanging from a tree.  We have produced entire slideshows of examples of this kind of work that has been featured here on this blog during the past ten years.  You can view that slideshow here.

This new design shown left is a new example.   This was designed by a student using a combination of resources, Tinkercad was used for the design of the shape.   The image of the deer was downloaded and imported from Thingiverse.   The additional images were created using the main Tinkercad interface.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - all the elements are relatively easy to put into place and this could be completed independently within a short space of time without any input from the teacher.

Size: The print measures 100mm across and is 110mm high.  The design is only 4mm wide - however this is reflected in the purpose of the design which is to be a static print on display.

Cost: The print used 11g of filament.    Based on this we could produce 90 units with a single roll.   The cost per unit that we would need to break even with this print is $0.43c (NZD).    This could therefore determine the cost point for students.

Timeframe: 1 hour - this is completed on the Snapmaker printer.