The moment 3D pens were brought into the world, it was mesmerizing for both adults and children alike. The concept of being able to draw in three dimensions — doodling in open space and manifesting one’s wildest ideas – is captivating. This overwhelming popularity has motivated a wide range of companies to create their own versions of the best 3D pens for children. Many of these designs focus on safety-first features such as low temperatures during operation.

But what exactly is a 3D pen? It’s an open-shaped device that with a single tap, pushes out warm or heated plastic from its nozzle. As this material cools down, it forms together solidified shapes. Children even have the ability to lift the pen off the surface while still working; this grants them the freedom to build multiple dimensional models they can actually physically hold and feel.

To put it succinctly, 3D pens allow kids to draw and construct figures freely in 3D dimensions. They offer creative freedom that no ordinary pen can provide and give drawings life that was previously impossible.

Advantages of a 3D Pen in the Modern World

Kids are curious by nature. They are creative, inventive, and want to explore the world in front of them. They also want to build stuff and play with colors which helps to open their imagination.

Now thanks to technological advancements, kids can be introduced to science quite early during their play. 3D printing technology has opened a lot of opportunities for building a range of things. The built things range from tiny and intricate in size to immense structures. Here are some of the advantages of these pens: 

1. They Help Children Develop Mental Skills

3D pens are revolutionizing the way children create. Not only do they allow kids to think outside the box through the use of creativity and imagination, but 3D pens also provide a variety of mental benefits, including problem solving, developing fine-motor skills, and exercising cognitive ability. 

By turning two-dimensional drawings into three-dimensional creations, 3D pens give young minds the opportunity to explore innovation and develop innovative capacities, while offering a new kind of artistic expression as well. 

From intricate designs and sculptures, to fun toys and even cities, the possible creations are endless – giving kids the opportunity to develop skills such as visualization, spatial reasoning, and problem solving.

2. Developing Motor Skills

The development of motor skills is an important part of childhood. Usually, it’s through practice that a child is able to develop motor skills. Play and recreational activities are good examples of typical occasions when a kid begins to develop their skills.

A 3D pen for kids is a great tool that can be used to develop motor skills. Also, building things with a 3D pen requires some level of focus and hand-eye coordination. Your kids will be able to practice these when using a 3D pen. This means that with the time spent using this product, our kid’s motor skills will be further sharpened.

3. It Keeps Kids Entertained

Kids these days are always on the lookout for new and exciting activities to keep them occupied. The 3D pen provides a unique opportunity for kids to engage in creative activity and have tons of fun while doing so. 

With a 3D pen, kids can create a variety of objects that can range from simple figures to complex designs. From the comfort of their home, kids can create and design their own toys and art pieces that embody their creativity and imagination. 

Not only do the 3D pens keep kids entertained but they also provide them with an avenue to explore their creativity in an exciting and engaging environment. Moreover, with the help of the abundant content available online, kids will never run out of ideas and inspiration to use with the 3D pen! 

4. Develops Practical Skills

The 3D pen is quickly becoming an indispensable tool for modern children. With this amazing technology, kids are able to create their own 3-dimensional objects from thin air, allowing them to get hands-on experience with creativity and design. 

Not only does this give them a creative outlet and teach them problem-solving skills, it helps develop practical skills that can be used in fields such as engineering and architecture. 

As the technology improves, more and more kids around the world are having fun with the 3D pen and learning how to bring their ideas to life. It is an exciting time for the next generation of innovators.

5. Improves Kids Creativity

Kids are full of creative energy and they sometimes express this through drawings. The LEGO figure construction is also the other preferred creative outlet. But what if our child could do both? What if they could draw and build at the same time, with an array of rich and vibrant colors to choose from? This must give you an idea of why this is considered a big hit with children.

The best 3D pen for kids enables them to find an immersive outlet for their creativity. It also helps to stimulate the development of a kid’s imagination. They are able to create any product with 3D printing materials.

With every pen’s try, a kid is stimulated to come up with a lot of exciting ideas that they can bring to life. They can try out their hand on printing some of their best structures. They can also come up with new designs to build while using a 3D printer and a scanner. This can prove to be beyond their reach, which is why they need a 3D pen. 

6. Serves As A Learning Aid

Using a 3D pen, kids can bring science projects to life, construct miniature objects and structures, or even develop their own designs. With a 3D pen, children are no longer limited by the flat surfaces of paper or canva – they can create true, 3-dimensional shapes in any size or color.

Not only does 3D printing open up a new world of creative possibilities for kids, it also encourages hands-on exploration, constructive problem-solving, and experimentation which are essential skills in our rapidly advancing, technology-driven world.

7. It’s Good for Your Health

he concentration, fine motor control and visualization skills needed to use a 3D pen encourages better focus and hand-eye coordination. In addition, the planning, design and production stages of 3D printing stimulate cognitive development and help children to learn essential problem-solving skills.

 Considering that the different parts of the brain are involved, the following can happen:

• Stress and anxiety levels get minimized
• Focus on the process helps your child to achieve awareness
• Instant results bring satisfaction to your child and help to increase their self esteem

Concluding thoughts

3D pens prove to be a fabulous tool for facilitating self-expression, creativity and learning among the younger generation. 

Not only in this digital era do 3D pens encourage the creative minds to explore different ideas; but it also creates purposeful learning opportunities for kids by involving them in designing, problem-solving and critical thinking. 

With these advantages that come with the use of 3D pens, children are able to make their ideas tangible products, encouraging the development of unprecedented skills and increasing curiousity.

Following an invitation from the Google trainer and former Coordinator of the Innovation & Technologies Department at CTJ, Carla Arena, I recently had the opportunity and privilege to visit the Casa Thomas Jefferson (CTJ) Makerspace in Brasília.  Casa Thomas Jefferson is a not-for-profit English language school dedicated to promoting understanding between the people of Brazil and the United Sates through cultural and educational programmes.  Founded in 1963, it is recognised by the U.S. Embassy with a Certificate of excellence in its field.

Spread across six campuses (Asa Sul, Asa Norte, Lago Sul, Sudoeste, Taguatinga, and Águas Claras), Casa Thomas Jefferson now provides educational opportunities for over 17,000 students.  Among several of its initiatives, Casa Thomas Jefferson has a makerspace, which was inaugurated in 2016, to serve as a space where people can get involved with the ‘maker’ culture, collaborating on projects, sharing knowledge and materialising ideas into tangible creations.  It is in fact the first makerspace at a bi-national centre in South America, so I was intrigued to find out more.

I was given a tour of the Asa Norte branch by Soraya Lacerda, the Makerspace Supervisor and Daniela Lyra, their Educational Technology Specialist.  They showed me the various equipment used to support the students, such as sewing machines, printers, laser cutters and 3D printers.  All of this enables the projects to become viable.

However, the space is much more than just its resources – as Soraya and Daniela explained, it is also a mindset, which underpins an innovative methodology.  Their methodology is based on the work of ‘Maker-Centred Learning’ by the expert team from the Agency by Design initiative at Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero.  This methodology has 10 general competencies for its vision of what a ‘Maker’ should be:

1. Knowledge – to find opportunities to apply knowledge about the physical or digital world in order to create value for self and others.
2. Scientific, critical and creative thought – to provide creative solutions through investigation, elaboration and testing of hypotheses, leading to prototypes and iteration.
3. Cultural respect – to co-create things that are both artistic and cultural, drawing on critical thought, the spirit of collaboration, ethics and a proactive approach.
4. Communication – to create analogue and digital content, which is relevant and significant for a real audience, utilising diverse means of communication, with a purpose to positively impact a group, community or our planet.
5. Digital Culture – to observe how the digital world (software and hardware) works – mixing, playing, learning through hands-on construction or programming.
6. Work & Life Projects – to learn and assume responsibility for one’s own projects and to persevere in the face of inevitable difficulties and frustrations.
7. Augmentation – to augment the purpose and impact of one’s projects, based on facts and research.
8. Self-knowledge & self-care – manage one’s own emotions and capacities such as collaboration, resilience and creativity, understanding that mistakes are part of the learning process.
9. Empathy – to exercise sensitivity in one’s designs, using tools such as Design Thinking, to understand the needs and interests of the people.
10. Responsibility & Citizenship – to see how the world can be made different, more ethical, fair, efficient and beautiful through working curiously, cooperatively and proactively to create things. 

This ‘Maker-Centred Learning’ methodology clearly runs through everything that is happening in the Thomas Jefferson Makerspace, as their team have created a truly vibrant and inclusive learning environment, which is open to the wider community.  A diverse range of events and activities are held at the CTJ Makerspace, to stimulate collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship.  For example, whilst there, I popped in on a Design Thinking class, attended a teacher training session on the use of Arduino and observed a Makerspace club for 8 to 12 year olds.  In all of these activities, learning was taking place through opportunities to create, experiment and collaborate with others.  I was also impressed with the versatility of this space, as it is used for children, adolescents and adults.       

Soraya explained to me in more detail the aims of their makerspace, how they use this space on a day-to-day basis and advice for others who are building their own makerspace:

I have included photos below of the Makerspace, which show some of the activities and resources:

Tinkercad is a free and easy-to-use app that allows students to design in 3D, which can then be printed using a 3D printer.  These Tinkercad sessions below can be particularly useful for helping to familiarise students with this application.

Before delivering these sessions, make sure to create an Educator account for Tinkercad first.  You’ll then be able to share a special code with students to enable them to join on a student account.

Lesson Part One  – Create a 3D version of your name in Tinkercad

Introduction

Begin this unit by showing students this video about 3D printing:

Explain that 3D printing is becoming increasingly common, and it begins with creating a 3D design.  For these lessons, we’ll be learning how to use a program called Tinkercad. We begin here by using Tinkercad to create our name using  3D letters.

Model for the students how to drag the 3D letters over to the workplane.  Show students how to resize and reposition the letters.    

Activity

Students should go ahead and create a 3D design of their name.  As an extension, they can explore and add additional 3D designs to the workplane.  When finished, students should take a screenshot of their design in order to upload to their digital portfolio.

Lesson Part Two – Create a 3D design of an anchor

Introduction

Explain to the students that in order to develop some of the more advanced skills in 3D modelling, their task in this session will be to design a 3D anchor.

Part 1.  Select and drag the shape of “thin tube” onto the workplane.  Scale the sides to the following dimensions: x = 27 mm, y = 32 mm, z = 3 mm.

Click on the ‘box hole’ shape from the tab section named ‘holes’.  Then, drag a new box hole halfway over the thin tube. Adjust the dimensions of the box hole as shown in the picture: x = 35 mm, y = 20 mm, z = 3 mm.    

Select both shapes, ‘thin tube’ and ‘box-hole’.  (To do this, hold down the shift button whilst clicking on both shapes with the cursor.)  While both shapes are selected, click on the ‘group’ icon at the top of the page. As soon as you do this, the part of the tube that is hidden by the box hole will be erased.       

Part 2.  Next, add a ‘box’ shape to the workplane.  The sizes should be defined as: x = 35 mm, y = 25 mm, z = 3 mm.  Place the box in the middle of the tube (part 1).    

Part 3.  Add another box with different dimensions: x = 15 mm, y = 3 mm, z = 3 mm.  Place the new box (part 3) to the edge of the previous one.  

Part 4.  Add a ‘roof’ shape (part 4):

Place the roof as it is merged into the tube.  The sharp edge of the roof should be kept out of the tube.  

Part 5.  Copy and paste the roof shape twice.  Drag the new copies of the roof to each of the edges of the tube, rotating them both slightly as shown below:

Part 6.  Add a new thin tube (part 6) to the workplane.  Resize the tube and merge with part 3 as illustrated:

Finally, press Ctrl + A to select all shapes, and then click ‘Group’.  

As an extension, ask students if they can add another two legs to their anchor.  

Plenary

Review the designs that the students have produced.  Invite volunteers up the front to demonstrate designing the anchor again one step at a time