About a year ago my friend got a 3D printer, and I was insanely jealous. We sat there and watched the machine slowly extrude out the plastic to make a dice tower whirring and buzzing as it did.
It took almost an hour to build the small creation.
And I was fascinated.
But I’ll be honest, I honestly have no valid reason to buy a 3D printer, and it is definitely outside of my “because I think it’s cool budget.”
(This post is sponsored by IDo3D, all opinions are my own, and to be honest I have since bought a second set of pens and ink to cut down on disagreements)
You know what’s not outside of my budget? My super cool new 3D pen.
It arrived in the mail a few weeks ago, and my kids instantly tore open the box and disappeared with them.
Why you need a 3D pen
If you have an artistic child, this is a great new medium to learn. I mean look at the cool projects they show in this commercial!
Obviously, our skill level is not there yet, but look at the fun dog Princess made the other day.
Adorable, isn’t it?
Back to the kids tearing the 3D pen box open
We got the mail and they tore the box open. Instantly they started playing around with the pens and trying to build stuff. You know what they learned?
Just like any other art form you will not instantly create masterpieces. Instead their first creations were blobs and goo. Why is that you ask?
- They were impatient and didn’t take the time to watch the tips video.
- The 3D pen lets out an ooze that hardens with exposure to the light. They were not allowing the light to “cook” it long enough. When I went back later and slowly built things I got much better results.
- FYI: They have lessons you can try to improve your skill.
Before I was able to use the fancy new 3D pen they had used up most of the supplied ink and were looking around for more. Since I wanted a chance to play around with the 3D pen and make some of the interactive things you see in this video, I happily ordered more.
A few days after our new 3D pen set came in I created my own fairy after the kids had gone to bed, and taking a cue from over at Almost Unschoolers, I printed off some instructions for favorite creations of my kids, showed a few video tips, and turned them loose.
What happened when I turned them loose with a 3D pen and some projects to duplicate
I plan to show Princess their Pinterest account, especially the 3D projects. I let Princess create a Pinterest account, and now she’s constantly sending me craft suggestions, and pictures of dogs as pin suggestions. I’ve created a monster. If you want to follow an account that is 90% cute animals and crafts that amuse a nine-year-old girl, then follow her.
I shudder to think what would happen if Princess saw some of the projects on IDo3D’s Facebook page. I would never hear the end of her desire to do the jewelry box.
Fun! Two of my brothers own 3D printers, and Emma is constantly asking if we can get one. I bet she would enjoy these pens.
BTW your video doesn’t seem to be embedded correctly – at least I can’t see it.
Thanks for the heads up! I’ll go back and fix that.
Video is now in there, and the GIVEAWAY for the 3D pen 🙂
Cool!