Click the video below to find out what it’s like designing for kids and what makes WobbleWorks different from other toymakers

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Before the kids break out the screens, inspire hands-on creative play with a series of 3D pen projects to encourage skill building and creative exploration.

Drawing and coloring are timeless activities but now kids can take creativity off the page with a 3Doodler 3D pen. Transform your ideas into tangible, three-dimensional masterpieces, letting kids (and adults!) create anything they can imagine.

Jump start summer fun with a few ideas to get those creative gears turning!

Your Summer’s Creative Sidekick

As educators, you know first-hand how important it is to offer options to encourage creative play and reduce summer learning loss. Introducing 3D pens to inspire learning at home, can help in many ways.

Oodles of 3D Pen Doodles

Miniature Beach Scenes:

Create tiny palm trees, surfboards, flip-flops, and even little crabs or fish. You can then assemble them on a base to make a personalized beach diorama.
Pro Tip: Use blue filament for waves and clear/translucent for water effects!

Get the Stencil

Custom Keychains & Bag Tags:

Design personalized keychains with names, initials, or summer-themed icons like ice cream cones, popsicles, or suns. These make great gifts for friends or mementos of summer adventures!

Get the Stencil

Nature-Inspired Art:

“Draw” flowers, butterflies, or even intricate spiderwebs. Go on a nature walk and collect leaves or twigs for inspiration, then replicate them in 3D!

Get the Stencil

DIY Room Decor:

Craft unique picture frames to display summer memories. Design small decorative sculptures for shelves or desks, like abstract art pieces or geometric shapes. Create personalized pencil holders or small organizers for their summer reading nook.

Get the Stencil

Wearable Wonders:

With adult supervision, create unique earrings or pendants for necklaces. Design fun glasses or headbands for a quirky summer look (think oversized sunglasses or flower crowns!).

Get the Stencil

Bust summer boredom and embrace the world of three-dimensional possibility. 3Doodler 3D pens are a gateway to creativity and hours of screen-free fun. So, grab your pens, a rainbow of filaments, and let the summer doodling begin!

The post Doodle Days of Summer: 3Doodler’s Guide to Creative Adventures first appeared on 3Doodler.

It’s time to move on from worksheets and passive listening. Envision a learning environment where creativity explodes, and students are intrinsically motivated to conquer learning prompts and challenges like never before. That’s the power of gamification, and 3D pens are the ultimate tools to bring it to life!

A Winning Combination: Gamification & 3D Pens

At its core, gamification is about taking the elements and principles of games and applying them to real-world activities – in this case, the classroom.

Unlocking New Lessons

Interested in taking the leap and bringing this dynamic duo to your classroom? We’ve got you covered. Here are some gamified activity ideas using 3D pens:

Objective-Based Challenges:

Frame learning objectives as quests! For example, in a geometry lesson, the “quest” could be to design a specific geometric shape with accurate dimensions to earn “geometric gems” (points or small rewards).

Badge Systems (Tangible Badges!):

Students can create badges to represent mastery of a concept or skill instead of using digital badges. Imagine a “History Hero” badge for completing a timeline project or a “Science Superstar” badge for a successful experiment model.

Collaborative Builds for XP:

Divide students into teams and assign them a 3D design challenge related to the lesson. The team with the most accurate, creative, or functional build earns points or privileges. Think of designing a model of the water cycle or a historical landmark.

Escape the Classroom:

Create a series of clues or puzzles students need to solve related to the curriculum. The final clue could require them to 3D draw a specific object that “unlocks” the next stage or a small reward.

Boss Battles (Knowledge Checks):

At the end of a unit, present a complex challenge or problem related to the material. Students can use their 3D pens to represent their solution visually. Successfully presenting and explaining their creation “defeats the boss” and helps them earn rewards.

Personalized Tokens:

Offer students different learning pathways with reading challenges, for example. As they complete their reading and comprehension tasks, they can draw a small 3D token representing their progress.

The Future is 3D Gamification!

Integrating 3D pens with gamification offers a powerful and engaging way to bring learning to life in your classroom. It fosters creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration and presents learning in a format we know students enjoy. So, get your 3Doodler 3D pens, unleash your inner game designer, and watch your students level up their education in exciting new ways!

The post Leveling Up: Bring Gamification to the Classroom with 3D Pens first appeared on 3Doodler.

What is Algorithmic Art?

You’ve likely seen this type of artwork and didn’t even realize you were looking at mathematical thinking in an art form! The approach uses a system of rules and parameters to generate complex and often intricate forms.

Parametric design uses variables you set, instead of directly drawing every line, and it’s often used in architecture and engineering to create optimal structures. In this process, changing one parameter could alter the entire design. For example, imagine a spiraling tower where simple numbers control the radius of each level and twists or turns!

Algorithmic art, on the other hand, uses a set of instructions to generate unique patterns and create artwork. Natural patterns, mathematical equations, or even abstract concepts can help inform the direction of a particular design. As you expand your thinking, you could create intricate branching structures or fascinating geometric patterns, all based on mathematical sequences.

Instead of complex software, using a 3D pen for this process enables tangible artistic creation that is accessible, unique, and allows for experimentation!

Getting Started: Simple Algorithmic 3D Pen Creations

Let’s get those creative juices flowing with a few quick and easy ways to get started. Get your 3Doodler 3D pen and plenty of colorful filament, and find a clean surface.

Geometric Progressions: Create art with sequences where each term is found by multiplying the previous term by a constant factor! You can use geometric progressionto create repeating patterns where the size or scale of the elements decreases or increases. For example, draw the circles with your 3D pen, making each one incrementally larger. Connect the shapes to form an expanding structure like a cone.

Fractals: These are geometric shapes that exhibit self-similarity, meaning they have the same pattern at different scales. For example, the Koch Snowflakeis a fractal curve created using an equilateral triangle, and each successive stage is formed by adding outward bends to each side of the previous stage, making smaller equilateral triangles.

Mathematical Sequence: There are many mathematical sequences that you can apply to art. The most commonly referenced is the Fibonacci Sequence, which is used to create a spiral by drawing squares with side lengths corresponding to the Fibonacci numbers.

More Tips for Success!

Combining the creative outlet of 3D drawing with the logical nature of parametric and algorithmic design allows you to explore new dimensions of artistic expression — the only limit is your imagination.

Remember to start with simple patterns and basic rules before you increase the complexity. Sketch your ideas with intention and map out how your design will progress. And, most importantly, don’t forget to embrace imperfection. The beauty of art lies in its organic nature, and creating with a 3D pen is no different. Remember that slight variations in your design add character and interest.

The post Go Beyond Doodling: Explore Mathematics in Art With 3D Pens! first appeared on 3Doodler.

Biomimicry, or biomimetics, draws inspiration from nature to solve challenges and design new technologies. It’s an exciting way to approach problems, and using 3Doodler 3D printing pens makes it easy to break down the concept into small lessons for students to explore. We’ve pulled together a few examples to encourage students to experiment with biomimicry using their 3D pens in the classroom!

Students can study the Fibonacci sequence with our lesson plan and use their 3Doodler 3D pens to practice building interconnected lines to form a net-like structure and create a working model.

In addition, students can discuss how spiders use different silks for different purposes, and how this translates to using different 3D pen filament types for different structural properties. How would they apply their learning to real-world problems?

Get The Lesson

Patterns & Structure: Seashells

Seashells often exhibit spiral growth patterns and can show the Fibonacci sequence but also feature strong, curved layered structures. Studying these patterns and exploring ways to apply them to real-world problems is helpful. For example, students can explore how seashells are formed through biomineralization and how their shapes provide protection and structural support.

Invite students to learn more about shell structure and design by creating models with their 3D pens. It’s an easy way to study the science behind shells and have fun!

See The Tutorial

Color, Camouflage & Symmetry: Butterflies

According to the Smithsonian, there are approximately 17,500 species of butterflies in the world. Butterflies come in all sorts of colors, shapes, and sizes. They are beautiful and curious insects with a lot to teach us, from the unique ways they use color to camouflage themselves from predators to their ability to repel water and dirt.

For younger students, butterflies offer an excellent lesson in symmetry. The 3Doodler lesson plan invites students to study the symmetry of Monarch butterflies and create their own butterflies to demonstrate their understanding of the concept.

Older students could have an opportunity to research different butterfly species and identify their unique characteristics. They can connect their learning to real-world applications and identify opportunities for biomimicry. Examples include self-cleaning surfaces to repel dust and debris, aerodynamic design for aircraft, or using color for textiles and technology.

Get The Lesson

The post Bio-Inspired Builds: 3D Printing Pens and the Wonders of Nature first appeared on 3Doodler.

Whether you’re looking to boost collaboration, or offer up a creative outlet for your students, we’ve got you covered.

These heartwarming Valentine’s Day classroom activities will have your students full attention, while teaching communication and problem solving skills all while using their 3D pens!

Add a touch of whimsy to your classroom and dive into STEM with lessons about flowers, their function, and a plant’s lifecycle. Explore the different shapes and sizes or how they attract pollinators. There’s so much to explore and a fun 3D activity to accompany the lesson!

Spring Flowers

Students can explore their artistic style and develop one-of-a-kind 3D or multimedia art projects. 3Doodler’s 3D heart-shaped balloons are easy to design. Use them as pendants, key chains, or even added onto a card for a whimsical greeting. Follow our tutorial or explore your creativity with more complex patterns, swirls, or multiple layers!

Balloon Hearts

Add a tasty and personal touch to Valentine’s Day celebrations with custom cookie cutters students can create and use at home! Explore our tutorial or encourage students to come up with their own designs. The project could involve students collaborating as they brainstorm ideas and share 3D printing techniques. Students might want to give the cookie cutters as gifts for friends and family once finished. It’s a sweet hands-on project your classroom is sure to remember!

Cookie Cutters

The post Surprise Students with 3 Sweet Valentine’s Day Classroom Activities! first appeared on 3Doodler.

Over the years, Barbie’s encouraged girls and women worldwide to express their personal style and to be anything they want to be. Barbie held careers in many different industries and represented all kinds of women while breaking fashion barriers.

Now, Barbie is about to hit the big screen in a new adaptation by Greta Gerwig that debuts on Friday, July 21.

It’s the perfect moment to dust off your Barbie dolls and create one-of-a-kind accessories with a 3D pen. Find out how Barbie got her start and explore 3Doodler’s project ideas!

Fashion Icon is Born

A trip to Europe rekindled the idea after seeing a German doll in a toy shop. Handler quickly created a prototype for an 11.5-inch (29 cm) doll with movable limbs. She named the doll Barbie after her daughter and presented it at the New York Toy Fair in 1959.

From the beginning, fashion played a big part in Barbie’s storyline. Handler envisioned girls playing with the doll to imagine a future where they could be whatever they wanted at a time when many careers were closed to women. Clothes could transform any doll into a flight attendant, doctor, astronaut, or actress. An outfit could create a new look, lifestyle, or career. Anything a teen could dream up was now possible to imagine playing with Barbie.

In the 1970s, Mattel introduced Barbie’s signature pink color to market the doll to young girls. Today the deep pink shade is part of the official Pantone Color Chart designers and artists use.

Make Accessories for Barbie

Whether you’re creating a bright pink accessory or adding to another outfit, one thing is for sure; you can design all sorts of interesting and unique items for Barbie with a 3D pen.
Try your hand at a headband, necklace, or purse with an easy-to-follow tutorial and stencil. Choose a color from a selection of PLA filament, grab your 3Doodler Create+ or 3Doodler Start+ pen, and get crafting.

If you’re feeling really creative, you could even design new clothes for Barbie and Ken. There’s no end to the possibilities.

And, if you’re looking to take the experience one step further, take a Barbie selfie and imagine yourself as part of the Barbie universe!

The post Let’s Go Barbie — Make Stylish Accessories! first appeared on 3Doodler.

This annual event pulls together the brightest minds in education. It offers educators a deep dive into areas that interest them, with solutions and ideas to make progress.

While discussion around AI unsurprisingly took center stage, the breakout sessions focused more on boosting accessibility, play, and collaboration in schools. Catch a brief overview of this year’s event here and read on for our key takeaways from the educators we met with and sessions we attended.

Accessibility & Social-Emotional Learning as a Priority

Educators continue to prioritize social-emotional learning in the classroom. The strategies they rely on encourage students to develop emotional intelligence, resilience, build empathy, and create positive relationships.

One classroom example for younger students included Build Me “Emotions” by Lego Education, enabling students to share their emotions through hands-on building and play. Older students may enjoy an opportunity to introduce themselves to their peers at the beginning of the year. This can be a small, but valuable step towards getting to know each other (and how to pronounce names!) while also building a classroom community.

Accessibility tools are a game changer for many students. Unique tools by Apple and Microsoft make learning much more approachable for various audiences, including built-in tools for those who need visual, hearing, cognitive, or mobility support.

Melissa Stark, a Special Education Teacher and Instructional Technology Coach in New York City’s Department of Education, shared these tools and other critical tips to make learning more accessible during her ISTE presentation.

Importance of Play

A common theme that emerged as the event progressed was the importance of play-based activities, especially given the last few years of disruption brought on by the pandemic and distance learning.

One glance around the ISTE Playground, and it was clear to see how play could boost learning outcomes. Gamification was a clear focus, which adds gamelike elements to increase motivation and engagement.

Teachers are creating interactive and immersive learning experiences and boosting play with a host of learning tools like Class VR, Book Creator, and KinderLab Robotics, to name a few.

Collaboration Through Industrial Design Labs & Makerspaces

Several educators we spoke with explained their role in organizing maker spaces, fab labs, and industrial design labs. No matter what it’s called in your school, these spaces and the people who lead them are incredible. They provide students with an area at school that offers a break from the pressure of strict academic work and allow for more creative, hands-on learning.

Johanna Marshall, a teacher at Ridley High School in Pennsylvania, shared a session with her students to explain how they took an outdated industrial design lab and transformed it into a welcoming, student-centered maker space where everyone could contribute.

Students formed a Girls Who Code club and worked collaboratively to create working mazes. Later in the year, students made functional interlocking stools that tested their skills.

Lessons shared for those looking to create their own maker space included starting where you and your students are, only accepting useful donations, buying equipment with product support, and asking for help when you need it.

Inspirational as always, ISTE 2023 was a great reminder for all of us to focus on what’s possible and to celebrate student achievement at every opportunity.

The post ISTE 2023 Key Takeaways and Promising Practices first appeared on 3Doodler.

She uses materials that have a life of their own such as clay, paper, and fiber, with her 3D pen creations. Anela recently completed a year as an artist in residence at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. She will be traveling to Malaysia as a School of Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University Traveling Fellow in 2023.

Finding Artistic Inspiration

Anela relies on her imagination and also draws from the resources around us to inspire her creativity.

“For me, I draw strength to move through the world from my identity as mixed race-Malaysian-Chinese, lessons from the natural world, and people close to me who have passed on,” said Anela.

In this piece, Anela uses the 3Doodler 3D pen to speak to Malaysian batik, a lost wax process where wax is painted or stamped on fabric and then dyed. She also incorporated a plant from both sides of her mixed-race heritage: okra. It’s a plant that Anela believes both her white Southern family members and her Malaysian-Chinese members would have intimately known through food.

“A huge part of using vibrant colors for me is being unapologetic in taking up space,” said Anela. “As an Asian American you are often viewed and shaped by culture to be as small and unobtrusive as possible.”

The bright color in this piece represents reclaiming spaces as an active agent in the world. The colors draw from the traditional Malaysian dress she grew up with and family members who wore such patterns and colors as batik sarongs.

Surprising Ways with Mixed Media

“As an artist who is mixed race dealing with world building I believe it is important that my work reflects a meeting of materials, soft fiber and hard filament or ceramic meeting in ways that create beautiful complexity,” said Anela. “This interdisciplinary approach reflects the strength and commonalities between the different worlds I inhabit every day.”

She started this project using the 3Doodler Pro+ to draw the central okra stalk element and the other floral patterns. She continues to create until she has enough in varying colors and styles to lay out the design. Next, she begins the papermaking processes to transform the PLA drawings.

“I work with a fiber called overbeaten abaca which is a plant fiber that I beat for 8 hours in a machine called a hollander beater,” said Anela. “I use it because it is extremely strong and connects seamlessly to the 3Doodler drawings.”

She used a papermaking tool called a deckle box to “pull” the sheet using the unpigmented abaca to create the base sheet of paper. Then, she dips each 3D drawing into a pigmented abaca container before placing it on the base sheet. Finally, she removes the abaca base sheet once the 3Doodler designs are placed.

Experimenting & Creating in 3D

During her undergraduate program, Anela used the 3Doodler Pro+ in a metals class and fell in love with the process. The objective was to use the 3D pens to think through modeling before casting. Anela found herself making rings and other jewelry directly with the pen and ABS material.

“I found it very accessible to start working very creatively,” said Anela. “I was building three dimensional forms, flat forms and building them up, and ended up making forms combining those ways of working with the pen that were used in my thesis show.”

She explains that it’s essential to use materials that spark excitement. Trying out new materials encourages the imagination. A new technique may transform an artistic approach.

“I think a huge part of any artistic practice is joy and experimentation,” said Anela. “When you integrate different materials it provides endless problem solving and opportunity to play with how the materials work together.”

Anela advises budding 3D artists to experiment and play. She finds that the more you experiment and add new tools and skills to your toolbelt, the more you will find the things that resonate.

“It took me quite some time to figure out how the 3Doodler Pro+ would function in my larger practice in a meaningful way,” she said. “Now, I’m working with clay in similar ways due to my experience with the 3Doodler pen. I can’t wait to see how all of this learning keeps expanding the relationships between my materials.”

The post Artist Spotlight: Anela Ming-Yue Oh first appeared on 3Doodler.

Styles come and go quickly these days. That’s why creating custom charms, bike bling, or friendship bracelets could be the ticket to staying one step ahead of the trends and on budget.

Making unique 3D summer accessories or adding custom details with 3Doodler is easy. Check out our tips, and imagine what else you can create!

Fresh Fruit Clog Charms

Summer is right around the corner, so it’s the perfect time to create DIY clog shoe charms to celebrate the season. We took inspiration from summer fruits that will soon be available in farmers’ markets and fresh fruit stands. Design a lemon slice, strawberry, watermelon, grapes, or avocado following our tutorial and stencil. There’s no end to the amazing shoe charms that people design. Find more inspiration and create new versions to reflect your style!

Design Clog Charms

Bike Bling

Customize your bike with classic details or vary it up to personalize the look of your ride! Created in the 1980s, spoke beads or spoke dokes, as they are also called, add a bit of nostalgia to any bike wheel. The original beads clip to the spokes of your bike and often make noise as the beads travel up and down the spoke while the wheels are in motion. The faster you ride, the more noise they make. Follow 3Doodler’s tips to make decals you can add to your wheels, handlebars, and more. Check out 3Doodler’s earlier blog on bike accessories for more ideas!

Create Bike Decals

Friendship Bracelets

Friendship bracelets are a classic simple craft that never falls out of fashion. If you are a lucky Taylor Swift fan who scored tickets to the Eras Tour, you’ll likely see attendees exchanging bracelets at the show. Learn how to make a friendship bracelet with your 3D pen using our free stencil, or try the more advanced charm bracelet to test your design skills. Find plenty of inspiration at 3Doodler to help get your creative ideas flowing!

Make a Friendship Bracelet

The post Make 3D Summer Accessories That Shine first appeared on 3Doodler.