You can 3D print letters, punctuation, and more!
Language arts might not be the first thing most people associate with 3D printing, but the scope of things you can do is incredible nonetheless. Here are some ideas for 3D printing-based lesson plans or ideas you can incorporate into current lesson plans to capture your students’ attention.
1.For reading/literature classes, create replica busts of fictional characters to help students remember who is who when there are a lot of names to learn. You don’t have to design the busts yourself–just visit a pattern database and find busts you think would work. You can also make small tweaks to the same bust to have it represent different characters, such as narrowing the face or sharpening the chin.
2. Tackling Haikus? Create simple pop-up signs of the finished poems for the students to bring home. They’re unique decorations that everyone will love.
3. Speaking of printing words, you can create magnets of words, individual letters, and punctuation. This is a great way for students to learn where to put their apostrophes and can easily be used as a supplement to already existing lesson plans.
4. Handwriting can be a chore for some students, but a 3D print of their signature is a great motivator and can offer them something fun to work toward in class.
5. For something really off-the-wall (and super fun!), print parts of a Rube Goldberg machine. Have each student write a description of how the parts work or assign different parts to different students or groups of students.
6. If you’re working on descriptive sentences and paragraphs, have students write a description of a design that you can turn into a physical product. You could also assign something more concrete like a house or a flower to ensure printing ease.
7. Story time? Have students create their own superheroes and write a short story about them. Later, they can design simple 2D logos that you can 3D print in the end.
3D Librarian 