Pet Day 2026 is Nearly Here!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3D Printed Ladybird

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3D Printed Insect: Cartoon Bee

 

Challenge:   To create or modify an insect

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3D Printed Ant: Standard Version

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3D Printed Ant: Advanced Version

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3D Printed Butterfly - Large

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Laser Cut Art Frames: Pet Day 2026

Today is the final day of School at Auroa Primary School before we start our two week end of term break.   In Term Four, our last term for the year we have a whole lot of special events the first of which is on Thursday which is our annual Auroa School Pet Day.
 

We've detailed some of our art projects in the junior school and how we're using technology to enhance these - we wanted to look at the senior school and their use of our school laser cutter.

Our students have designed wooden frames which have been cut out on MDF.   The students have then decorated these frames using spray painting (to clarify that is supervised).   

There are a range available online for students to work with and there is also the potential for develop their own ideas.   Once these are completed and dried the students then use their iPads to take a digital image with a theme (which is usually farm based) and then mount the picture inside the frame.

Depending on the detail there is a slight variation with the printing time but we would confidently expect that none of the frames would take more than then minutes to complete.

The cost for the MDF is relatively cheap as the off cuts can be use for additional structures for dioramas and other purposes, not just as waste material which then doesn't have a purpose.

If you would like to see a summary of additional projects from our students using the laser cutter then you can click on the link here.

3D Printed Insect: Ant Example

 

Challenge: Student to complete and produce a unique and original design of an insect as a 3D Design, as an AR/VR projected creation and as a physical 3D Print.  Information report writing in term.

Background: This is the end of term project for our students to work in conjunction with our term focus on insects to produce an example that will compliment the art display that will make up part of our Pet Day 2026.  We have produced and published a number of examples that have come in this project task from our classroom.  We spent time for our literacy (writing) looking at the characteristics of insects in the form of our information reports.   This gave students ideas of the different sections and the language used to accurately describe each section of the insect.   

Initial designs from the students were then tested for viability and the balance between realism and a workable 3D print was addressed - an example shown left is the legs in this ant, while they are deliberately blocky in this instance to ensure that they were robust enough to remain in place when printing was complete.

Resources used to complete this print; iPad, Tinkercad App (for AR/VR), Bambu P1P, Bambu PLA - Blue.

Level of Difficulty: Medium this design is going to be refined and reimagined and will require some additional adaption of this design.   It has the recognition factor that we are looking after for the project however aspects of it need to change.

Size: The body of the ant is 40mm long and the sections were 10mm high.   The ant is 20mm high and the antenna are a further 20mm high.

Cost/Price: This print used 6.7g of PLA to complete the print.   This meant that this print cost $0.13c to produce.

Timeframe: To complete the print the printer was operating for thirty three minutes.    This also included a six minute time for the P1P to warm up.

This is the example of the same project being AR/VR into a location to make it 'outstanding'.   In this example the ant has been 'super-sized' and place onto the school field.   The 'gian't ant also had the student adding a naming font behind the ant, which can be seen in the screenshot and is red.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students; As noted the ant needs further refinement.  The first pair of the legs need to be brought back into the abdomen of the ant.   There has been some parts of the face/mask of the ant that require more details.

3D Print School - #Tinkercadhunt 2026 Starting Edition

 

We've been posting online for a while now, if you've been following this blog for a while you will be aware that we now had our most prolific posting year ever as we are posting everyday for a calendar year - but we also starting posting on a semi-regular basis with our first printing from 2014 appearing here the following year.

Overtime we've shifted away a little bit from how this site was first envisaged as we now feature a range of material produced on our laser cutter, our sticker machine or virtual pinball or our amazing DDR Step Master machine.

What it has also allowed us to do is revisit some of the activities that have proven popular or successful with students in the past.   Last year we created a range of prints that we titled 'Tinkercadhunt' when we used the Tinkercad App, 

This year our Pet and Calf Day is taking place in the first week of next term, we are about to break for a two week holiday and when we return in the first week we will be holding that special event.

For the different art tasks one of which is the diorama.  In these instances the backgrounds can be used for Tinkercad Projection.   If you look closely at the photographs that are shown with this post you should be able to recognise one of the original insects that our students have been working on.

In these first steps the nine year old student who has been working on this task has had a pre-arranged figure and had to work it into a range of backgrounds without the benefits of being able to colour match or adapt design to camouflage it amongst a colour matched background.

Typically when projecting onto a surface with AR/VR tends not to work too well when height is involved.   In this instance left the insect can clearly be seen in a position that defies gravity but again this is the student experimenting with a range of backgrounds at short notice and matching the background to the object (which is in this case a AR/VR student generated insect ant.

There will be significant amounts of media related to this project and an updated slideshow to follow.

All these examples were completed independently by a nine year old student within a ten minute timeframe visiting the classroom where the dioramas were on display.

3D Printed Stick Insect: Development

 

Challenge: To use students 3D Design CAD skills to develop a 3D Printed insect suitable for display with Pet Day Art for our school.

Background: This print has been described over the last few days in terms of process and goals - this is an example of a student adjusting their print to be successful.   The two versions of the print are shown next to each other, before and after.   The dimensions of the head, thorax and abdomen are nearly identical - being 60mm long and having a diameter of 20mm.   The difference between the two however can be clearly seen in the legs.   In the original (in light blue) the student wanted to show the typical stick insect size legs and therefore had them somewhat correct although the diameter of them was only 2mm.   

The Bambu H2D and Bambu P1P are excellent machines (although we don't typically use a fine nozzle as we are looking at more printing in volume) however as you can see from the legs shown left the actual printing was too much for the machines as the prints did not survive the removal of the rafting.

The solution which came from the nine year old student when he saw the resulting print was to look at making larger more arched legs, that had a thicker diameter, which while increasing it only to 3mm significantly made a difference with the production of the piece.    As can be shown from the redesigned figure shown in the left photograph in dark blue the issues with the original print have now been resolved and are completed.

Resources used to complete this project: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1P, Bambu branded blue PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Medium, while its a pretty straight forward design the student has been working on it for some time and has revised it several times to get the balance right between having the recognition factor, being able to represent the insect and have some additional features.

Size: The revised print measures 60mm from head to the end of the abdomen.   It has a body with a diameter of 5mm.   It currently stands 20mm high.    These dimensions are so that it can be placed in conjunction with the students tin-can art display for pet day and not overwhelm it.

Cost/Price: To produce this print the printer used 6g of PLA to complete.  This gave it a price point of $013c to print making it an extremely inexpensive print.

Timeframe: The print took twenty nine minutes to complete which included a six minute warm up time for the printer.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:  There is still potential for additional features that could be added or extra design details that could be added (for instance the face of the stick insect is still a little cartoon like).    The feet also while now reinforced could have some more detail particularly at their base.

3D Printed Display Butterfly

 

Challenge: For students to produce a unique and original design of an insect to work in conjunction with an art display (for our calf day).

Background: As per the description that was posted about this yesterday and detailed our students creations focussing on the idea of an insect.

One of the key design features that are available via Tinkercad is the wings.   This pair of wings is accessible from the main menu.  For most students including out eight and nine year olds it is a very easy move from this design to start adding details and features that further develop the features.  We also have a somewhat limited timeframe with this activity.  We were looking for students to complete the activity in the region of thirty minutes to make designs such as this one available for the first printing run to allow us to have a series of printed examples to show the class.   We also wanted to ensure that the students had an opportunity to use Tinkercads AR/VR function.

When printed as shown left some of the details from the design were able to more distinct.  The six different spikes that were included for texture at the base of the wings was able to survive the printing process.    

Resources used to complete this print: Chat GPT sheet, Tinkercad App, Bambu PLA (blue), Bambu H2D Printer

Level of Difficulty: Medium - by using the wings as the basis for the design the students were able to complete it quickly, there is more details and additions to be added the intention was to produce a physical print that could be reflected on in a physical sense.

Size:  The print is 90mm across from tip to tip of the wings and 100mm tall in length.   The width of the wings is 5mm and the thorax and the abdomen are slightly thicker although smaller.  The print was completed with rafting with was located underneath the wings which created the 'bow' or bend in them which is visible.

Cost/Price: To complete this print the printer used 20g of PLA.   This has a price point of $0.40c.

Timeframe:  To complete this print the printer was operating on the standard default settings and was operating for one hour and forty minutes.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:  When discussing butterflies one of the key features that we have talked about with students is the symmetry.  In this example here while the student has attempted to introduce some to this design it is not symmetrical and for it to be correct it needs some slight adjustments.   The colour that has been used here is a base colour, spray painting and decoration is a strong idea, using potentially glitter and also spray paints and other tools to enhance its presentation.

The six threads/spikes at the put of the wings are in position and remaining in place however they are very fragile and must have minimal handling for them to remain.   Also the students need to consider how to display this piece with a static tin car - such as a stick or prop and how this might look and how it could successfully be supported.

3D Printed Insect: Pet Day 2026

Challenge: For a junior school students to create a unique and original 3D CAD model of an insect, suitable for an art display.

Background:   We are a school of 170 students in rural South Taranaki, New Zealand,.  One of the biggest events that we have each year at our school is our Pet Day.   On these days the students are able to bring calves and lambs for show and we also have additional sections including 'Most Loved Pet'.   As well as all of these events, detailed in Mr Bloor's amazing school videos we also have our art displays in each of the classrooms.  It was these displays that we've also used in the past for 'Tinkercad Hunt', which you can view by clicking on the link here.

Each of students has a range of art based activities to complete - one of the junior ones is to turn a tin can into a creation.   To complement this the students have to create an original insect to be part of this display.   The students were using Tinkercad and the Tinkercad app to complete this process.  This is a classroom challenge our students making these designs are eight and nine years old.  

For our English writing this term we have been focussed on information report writing and one of the categories that we investigated and the students wrote about was insects, where they spent time researching the characteristics and features of an insect.   We used 'chat GPT' as a resource generated which created the sheet top left, cross referencing Tinkercad and creation, this generated a checklist and ideas to support students.

We also used as a reference point some images of insects that had been 3D generated and created from a range of sources - we looked at examples online, what was available as a Tinkercad research and examples that have previously featured on this blog.

The students were encouraged to use the Tinkercad main interface and the shapes that were available form there.

One highlighted is the example of the ant shown left.  The student was able to create this in a single session by working and manipulating basic shapes.   We had spoken to the students about the criteria that we wanted to see on the designs from the antenna to the thorax, head and abdomen - and this was check listed via the chatGPT resource.

When the design was completed we also tasked the students with AR/VR of their design into an outside location and an inside classroom location in the school.   We have detailed this in the past and explained how with our classroom of twenty five students this allows all students the opportunity to publish something, without having to wait for a potential delay while the prints might be accessed.

The image shown left is the AR/VR via the Tinkercad App of the ant super sized and placed on the school playground to provide it with a scale.

Once this had been completed and the students had been given the opportunity to review their print and design, check against the checklist and receive some peer feedback we then moved to the process of starting to print a selection of the designs.

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

Level of Difficulty: Medium.   This task challenged the students, this examples is one of the earliest stand out ones to come from a class of twenty five students and was used as a way to encourage others to think about the design.   Further details of course could and will be added but it was also important to have a student complete the process to use as a talking point for others.

Size: The print as it stands measures 70mm in length, is 30mm wide and currently stands 60mm high being 50mm in length from the foot to the shoulder.

Cost/Price:  The print as it stands uses 16g of PLA to complete the print - this has a price point of $0.40c.

Timeframe: To complete this print the printer was operating for one hour and six minutes, which included a six minute machine warm up time.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The leg at the front left, facing the ant, did not survive the removal of the rafting, it needs to be repositioned.   The ant itself could benefit form more details on the face.   The ant could of course be spray painted to represent a particular colour or kind of ant and then a paint pen or similar item could be used to create additional detail.