Teaching 3d Printing to Kids

I am thinking of introducing my 3rd grade Girl Scout troop to 3d printing. Has anyone come across any easy lesson plans or simple apps that kids this age (8-9 years old) could use to do a little designing and then printing? I'm using an R1+. I want it to be more complex than just selecting something pre-designed to print, but something they could design and start printing within an hour with no prior knowledge. Print doesn't have to finish within the hour, though. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

I'd say, don't underestimate a 9-year-old's ability to learn complicated things. About the shortest lesson plan for any group of people sounds like an hour, to be honest. I'm guessing that as soon as the printer begins, you've lost your audience's undivided attention.

Basics:
1) What software like Autodesk Fusion 360 creates (a project file), what it can convert/export that into (a "mesh file") and what that export file is named (.STL) = 15 minutes
2) What "slicer" software like Cura creates from a mesh file (a "tool file") and what that file is named (.GCODE) = 15 minutes
3) How to use Autodesk Fusion 360 to create solid shapes like cubes/spheres/cones or other solid bodies, export that, slice that, move it to the printer and print it out = 15 minutes
4) Where to go to download mesh files (Thingiverse.com, for example) = 15 minutes

If it were me, I think I would have some time-lapse videos of print jobs of the standard shapes and to play these for everyone. A four-hour print job could then be reasonably shown in maybe three minutes' time.

If you know in advance the commands within Autodesk (or similar design software) to do the basic shapes then just ask the group what they want as the sample project from a list. Once you have the hang of it, you can easily create a cube with spherical cut-outs or something that would look cool once it's designed. It looks great but it's just made from these "primitives" so it can be done quickly.

And remember, smaller objects print faster.

 

I work in a middle school library, and we recommend 3dslash and TinkerCad to our students!

Good luck!