When I was in college 3-D printing was just starting. We had one or two machines for all of the college of engineering to use. It was open to other departments because the machines were so expensive and we did not have many. Now there are 3-D printers available in the aisles of Walmart and Target. It is so amazing how far technology has come. Now there is a company that makes 3D pens. They make them for kids and adults. This is the 3Doodler Start Essentials Pen Set perfect for kids.
We received this pen in exchange for an honest review.
The 3 Doodler Start comes with an instruction guide, 3D pen, a USB cord for charging and 48 plastic strands.
The 3Doodler pen works by first turning the pen on. Then the plastic strand is inserted into the top of the pen. The pens light will go from red to green when the pen is ready to use. After the pen is ready to use the orange button is pushed to let the plastic come out. The plastic comes out of the tip. It is nice because the button only needs to be pushed once, it does not need to be continually pushed. To stop the plastic from coming out the button is pushed again. One of the best parts is the plastic is pliable, fingers can be used to shape the plastic and moved. And it is not too hot to touch, no burns here, like glue guns would do. The plastic takes about 1-2 minutes to dry. After that it is hard and retains it shape.
To get the 3D effect, different parts can be "glued" together, by applying hot plastic at the joints.
We first tried to make the Big Ben clock, but decided to start with an easier task, the glasses. We then made a helicopter. My son likes using lots of different colors if you could not tell. Once we got the hang of it, it was pretty easy to make the examples. We did the outline first and then filled in the shape. The more plastic that was put down the stronger the structure was. The helicopter was definitely stronger than the glasses because we made it second and knew what we were doing.
The 3Doodler is an excellent toy for kids. It is science based and teaches them many thing about working with plastics and 3D printing. Kids learn that plastics are pliable at hot temperatures and harden when cooled. They can learn how to make structures rigid by applying layers. They can learn how to build structures by attaching two 2D structures at a joint.
I am so glad we got this pen to review. I plan on buying more plastic strands so we can make lots of different designs. There are 10 activities included in the activity guide. There is even more online at https://learn.the3doodler.com/resources/. I would definitely recommend this for your kids.
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