3D printable structures even kids can make

With skills like 3D printing and coding becoming more and more popular especially among children the educational system has made learning these skills essential alongside maths, science and history.

Although the prospect of designing and making something in the classroom is appealing, most teachers don't know what to make or even how to make it. Seeing this as a problem that needed to be solved, I Can Make created an all-encompassing service with everything the teacher needs to get started from pre-designed models that work with any 3D all the way to detailed lesson plans explaining how they can use the models to teach children about fundamental concepts.

With their most recent kit I Can Make partnered with the Tower Bridge education team to make a series of workshops where kids can create their own 3D printed, fully operational Tower Bridge. By showing how a real world structure works children learn not only the history of Tower Bridge but the engineering behind it and how those principles can apply to other subject areas.

We're starting to see a lot more companies taking advantage of technologies like 3D printing to create fun and interactive ways of children learning through play and while it may take some time to replace the tried and tested method of teaching the need to learn will never disappear.

Words: Christian Harries

Christian Harries is a freelance product designer and graduate from Ravensbourne. His portfolio can be seen here.

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