3D Printing: Replicating Minecraft Creations in TInkercad

 

Challenge: To replicate a Dolphin from Minecraft using Tinkercad as a creation tool.

Background: Minecraft is a particular strong favourite of our students who like aspects of the game and the design potential of it.   We have one of our groups for our 2025 Market Day that is basing its theme and design on Minecraft and some of the characters from the game.    We also have our structured literacy running with a theme each week - in this case the theme was Dolphins.   We combined the two for a 'ten minute challenge' which is we allowed student creation and design based around a theme and time to do so.    We reported back to the class with ideas after ten minutes - highlighting designs that students were happy with or felt were showing creativity.

We have mentioned before that the geometric shapes that are freely available on the main Tinkercad design page lend themselves to certain shapes and creations - and this is clearly the case with Minecraft and this Dolphin.

As with nearly every project that we are currently making with students the criteria was for the print to be original and have a purpose if possible.   Both these criteria were clearly ticked by the seven year old student that designed this creation.

We are always asking the consideration for students as to 'what is the purpose of the print?' or 'what could it be used for?' - in this instance the student inserted a hole into the back right fin, suggesting that it could be viable as a key ring.     Given how the print has turned out there is the likelihood that this will be incorporated into our upcoming school market day.

Level of Difficulty: Medium.   The student is using the key geometric shapes which are available to replicate the design but the student has shown a consistent use of composition and balance to get elements of the design 'right' so it easily recognised as the original.

The student completing this design (independently) is a seven year old.

Size: The print measures 140mm long is between 10mm and 30mm wide (at the head) and is between 20mm and 10mm deep or thick for the various portions/parts of the Dolphin.

As shown left, in addition to being 3D Printed using the Schools Snapmaker printers the design was also AR/VR and tested using the Tinkercad App on an iPad.

This allowed us to see how the design would like print and adjustments that might potentially be made.  Although it was printed with glow in the dark PLA (pink) we were also to alter the colour of the design using Tinkercad to match the original Minecraft figure.   In this instance the student projected it onto the floor of the classroom but we did discuss being able to repeat the process in different locations.

Timeframe: Two and a half hours on the Snapmaker.  We would anticipate the Bambu H2D would deliver the same print, with slightly improved finishing in under half of the time.

What we would do differently/Next step for the students: The Dolphin in Minecraft has the eyes on the side of the head, in this instance the student placed the eyes at the front as they felt it better suited the design.   Other students pointed out to him that the fin on the back of the dolphin is longer than the Minecraft example on which the design is based, however the student was more than happy with the print.

3D Printed Minecraft Dolphin 2.0

 

Challenge: To use Tinkercad to produce a 3D Print of a character of animal that is featured in Minecraft.

Background: In September as we were approaching our Market Day we spent time with challenges based around crossing over between Tinkercad and Minecraft.  We featured several posts about them.

One of the students at the time completed the project shown here which was not printed at the time but was one of the outstanding prints that we completed at the end of the 2025 school year.   With this print the student wanted it to be different from the other Dolphin that we produced at the time and subsequently became an item that we sold at school market day.

The alternative print had the eyes of the dolphin next to the nose on the front, the version shown here is more accurate and authentic to the game, with the eyes on the side of the animal.  In the original although it was glow-in-the-dark it also was converted to a key ring by inserting a hole into the tail, in this incidence the student wanted to have a specific purpose which was storage, hence the hollowing out of the back of the dolphin, which also reduced the print time and the cost.

The student who produced this print independently of the classroom teacher was an eight year old student who had been designing in the classroom since last year having no previous 3D Printing design or creation experience.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - we have discovered that there is a natural fit between Minecraft characters and Tinkercad and have in fact created an entire series of projects, prints and ideas as a result of the clear connection between the two.

Size: The print measured 160mm long was 110mm wide at its longest point and the print was 50mm high.  The storage area in the back of the print measured 50mm by 20mm and was 20mm deep.

Cost: By using the Bambu studio lab auto creation software we can determine that this print uses 65g of filament and that the identified cost is $2.00 (NZD)

Timeframe: Using the Bambu H2D the print took two and a half hours.   

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:   There is a slight printing error with this print - the nose of the Dolphin was not attached correctly, normally this would be identified during the AR/VR prototyping but in this case it was missed (which would suggest the student did not complete this part of the design process) This project also could have potentially had a larger design area based around the storage, which could have been extended or had two seperate areas (which would have been divided by the dorsal fin).

Minecraft Dolphin 2026 Edition 3D Print

 

Challenge: To design an authentic 3D Printed Minecraft figure or animal.

Background: This task came out of a task from the end of last week where the students were using Tinkercad to design animals, objects and Minecraft themed items.  Both systems use a block based system to build items using the software.

To complete this task students used their iPads, the Tinkercad App and also Minecraft Education (where they located the animals and then screenshot them)

The goal of producing the print/design was for their to be colour matching if appropriate but also for the Tinkercad design to feature the original from Minecraft in a way that it was recognisable.   The App was also used to project the design as a AR/VR image throughout the school.  You can read details of the initial design here.   Minecraft ended up being a significant theme in the design and creations of the students both in our 2025 School Market Day and in general AR/VR and 3D Printed student designs which you can view by clicking on the link here.

Level of Difficulty: Low (for the Dolphin) this was created independently by a student who has been designing using Tinkercad for seven weeks who is eight years old.

Size: The print measures 80mm long was 20mm wide and 10mm thick.  The tail and the fins provided additional length for the design.

Cost/Price: The print used 8g of PLA to print.  This has a price point of $0.20 to complete.

Timeframe: Using the School Bambu H2D Printer the total time for the print was 21 minutes.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: While the item has a novelty value it does not have a specific defined purpose that the student could identify.  The student could look at these dimensions and then convert it to something with a specific purpose.

The dimensions of the object are relatively close however when you view the print from above the two side fins are clearly different sizes, this could be address.   The blowhole in the head of the dolphin is currently only 2mm across with a printer able to produce less detail this would potentially have not been a viable part of the print.

As a point of reference you can view this post from 2025 when another student completed the project.

2025 - Year in Review Involving Minecraft in 3D Printing and CAD Design

 

Our class of students is junior and has some amazing students in the classroom.   One of their favourite learning activities and programmes to use is Minecraft (in classroom of course, Minecraft Education).   During the course of this year we used the combination or similarities between Minecraft and Tinkercad for a range of learning activities that the students were involved with.

The main Tinkercad interface has a range of design tools which include all of the main geometric shapes.  This works in very well in designing the corresponding Minecraft items or animals as they can be replicated accurately and the students have a knowledge about them.   You can see an example of this progress from the screenshot top left when one of the junior school students (who was eight years old) was able to use the Tinkercad program and their iPad to replicate the Minecraft Panda.  You can view an extended description of the process by clicking on the link here from September 2025.

Once we had completed the first wave of these designs we then challenged students to create more depth, more details and add to the process.   The first round of prints tended to be things like creepers and bees which you can view here. 

Further more detailed examples followed such as the Panda shown left (which was then duplicated to show a second Panda, which is a copy of the first).   The student used Tinkercad to design the shape and added the details, then used the colour palette to match with the black and white theme.   This was one of the few designs from this run that we turned into a full 3D Print.  Given the time of the year and other commitments that students had at the time this was always going to be a 'virtual' project as opposed to a 3D printing project.   You can read the full details of this project here.

It goes without saying that for regular visitors to this blog our major school event this year was the 2025 School Market Day.   During this event when we were working through the design and creation process Minecraft and Minecraft accessories featured heavily in the planning process.  Our students found that there was a very significant amount of material online from free domain sites that we have used to source .stl files (such as Thingiverse).

Of our eight class groups one of them was specifically focussed on Minecraft and utilised glow-in-the-dark filament to use in combination with LED lights as described in details in this exemplar post.

We also used Minecraft educations design tool to create our Market Day items - so using Minecraft to create a scale model of a Tinkercad design.  In this instance here we recreated our students model of the iPad stand that was the major item for one of the market day groups.

This allowed the students in a group of four to team build the item and design it as a copy,   You can click on the link here to view this post from November.

Thank you for your visit to this site - as we have stated previously we are currently on our summer break with our New Zealand students and will be returning to the classroom in February 2026 when we will start actively posting with new material.

We also used Minecraft and Minecraft creatures or animals as a basis for a general 3D Printing design.

We made designs such as our original Dolphin which became a keyring which we marketed for Market Day 2025.   This design was further developed with storage ideas based around the design such as the example shown left or a further recent example shown on a previous post here on this blog.

3D Printed Panda - Tinkercad vs Minecraft

Challenge: To create an authentic Minecraft animal using Tinkercad

Background: Prior to our School Market Day one of the projects that we looked at in-depth was the creation of Minecraft animals, creatures and locations (such as buildings) using the medium or tool of Tinkercad to create it.  There were a series of prints that were created - nearly all of these we 

One of the stand out early designs was the Dolphin which was so successful it ended up as a item being sold at the School Market Day as an item (when converted into a keychain).

The other standout was this Panda.  In this instance the student used Tinkercad and coloured the different parts of the design to create the famous black and white pattern.

The figure looked fantastic as a design and worked extremely well as a AR/VR creation that the student was able to project into the classroom and around the school in different locations.

The final step was the printing of the design and looking at what might be completed or have the print turned into something.   This was completed when the students had finished the design, checked on its viability and then printed it out as a physical print.     

Level of Difficulty: Medium/High.  This student choose deliberately a challenging animal to create in Tinkercad - which had distinct features and a very distinct colour combination.   This lent to a discussion about the students using two different colours to complete the print in future (using black and white).

Size: Printed as it was designed the print measured 70mm across was 60mm deep/wide and was 80mm high,  A key factor in determining the final size will be the purpose of the print once the students have assessed it.    

Cost: This was printed on the Bambu H2D as part of the software for printing we are able to determine that the print used 28g of filament and cost $0.75 to produce.

Timeframe: This was completed on the Bambu H2D.   It took one hour to print - if we had used the Snapmaker machines there would have been considerably more rafting, less detail and the print time would have been approximately double.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: This print would have absolutely benefitted from a different colour scheme and as a result we are intending to reprint it once its purpose has been determined.   The creation was completed by an eight year old.

If you would like to see additional ideas from our students with regards to cross over designs you can click on the links to further Minecraft vs Tinkercad designs here.   You can click on this link to see our students combining Tinkercad, their iPads and Pic Collage here.

As always a reminder that you can use the search bar top right to use keywords such as 'Minecraft' and 'Pic Collage' to see the designs and creations that our students have been working on and various projects from the last ten years.

Tinkercad Vs. Minecraft 2026 Edition

 

Its nearly the end - the end of term one here in New Zealand for 2026.   As we're completing a lot of work in our key curriculum areas we've also taken the opportunity to engage students in some of the activities that proved popular last year.

Minecraft is still incredibly popular with the eight year olds that make up the classroom.   Last year one of the most engaged tasks the students had when using #Tinkercad was when we crossed its use with the creation of Minecraft animals.   On Friday in class we started taking small steps in this process.

We started to use Minecraft Education as a source of screenshots and gave the students a limited time to locate and then photograph or screen shot an animal.

When we then went into Tinkercad we had the screenshots to compare to.   The first days activity was to design one animal and then bring it across.  Students had the examples from last year to look at (which are summarised in a blog post on this site here) and started their first designs.

The timeframe that our students were using here was under half an hour to design and then we asked the students to see if they could take their early designs and use the Tinkercad App to AR/VR the design either in the classroom (the dolphin at the top was projected onto a blue classroom table to represent water) or outside the classroom - the Minecraft cow was created to be so large that it dominates our massive school field.

These are very early examples that we are going to be refining, redeveloping and ptoto-typing.   In a number of cases we are using colour matching and details to replicate the animals as closely as possible.   Other students are working on their own designs in their own time and we will be sharing results.

While we are somewhat early in this process it is anticipated that only a few of these designs will make it to a 3D Print stage.   Most of them will work in a digital format just as well, if not better, than in a physical form.

Some of these ideas also feature in our 'non printing 3D printing design challenges and tasks.  You can view that slideshow by clicking on the link here.

Junior Design Challenge: Dolphin Theme

 

Challenge: For (junior School) students to produce a unique design that had a 'Dolphin' theme.

Background: The challenge came from our week task that was linked around Dolphins.    Some students as detailed previously opted to design and link in via Minecraft in a post that you can read here.

In this instance the student wanted to create a storage option for themselves.    They chose to create a draw on the opposite side of the design from the name, which was on this side.

The print was completed in two intended stages.  The first was completed on the Snapmaker.   With this print the student produced a design that they were happy with, however they wanted to reshape the design, and then opted to print it with the Bambu printer, which the student felt would provide a better finish.

The area of particular that was the most noticeable in this regard was the letter.   In the Snapmaker version there was waste PLA that needed to be removed and this compromised the lettering, in the case of the Bambu no adjustments were made and the lettering had minimal adjustments were required. 

The next stage of the process is to develop a working draw into the side of the design.   The student is going to work on a draw and then investigate the engineering required to have a working draw.

Level of Difficulty: Medium.  The students is wanting to engineer a working draw into this design, this is going to prove to be a interesting project for an eight year old.   The Dolphin design as shown was original and created by the student using the main interface.

Size: There are two distinct prints here.   The first was 100mm long 50mm wide and 40mm high.   When the student adjusted the print for the Bambu printer the new design was 120mm long, 80mm wide and was 50mm high.   This was reflected in the desire to create a bigger design.   The student is still working on the dimensions for the draw which they have adjusted as a result of the project upgrade.

Cost: The software to print this design is suggesting that it was be in the five dollar range.

Timeframe: The original print (Snapmaker) was eight hours on the Bambu it was reduced to under four.   This was printed with regular settings which in this case is an infill of twenty percent.

What we would do different/Next Steps for the students:   This project is going to involve a detailed engineering challenge which is the drawer that will operate as the storage for this.

We have also looked at using other 'wow' additions to a significant print such as this, we would like the student to consider LED lights for instance or another range of shapes or details that could be added to this project.