3D Printing/Tinker CAD Club to Design, Make, and Create!

Ages 11-14

Live Group Class

In this club we will show off our prints, designs, makes, and ideas as well as help one another troubleshoot and problem solve with these awesome tools. There will be theme makes, challenges, CAD learning in TinkerCAD, an more!

Mr. Griffin B.S., M.Ed.

Live video meetings

1x per week

2-10 learners per class

55 min

About Learning Overview Teacher Reviews

What's included

1 live meeting

55 mins in-class hours per week

Projects

1-2 hours per week. We will have weekly build themes/challenges and students will need to bring them to the next class. If there are printer issues, joined just for the CAD design portion, or financial burden a digital representation of the printed file is just fine. The assignments will range in time to complete depending on how much time your child wants to put into it. For example, if the challenge of the week is to make a box with a lid, then it could be a simple cube and the top comes off, this may take 15 minutes. However, this is really fun, so the design can get very intricate and have latches, hinges, lettering, embellishments, interior dividers, etc... This type of designing can really get away from you in the best way!

Certificate of Completion

Every ten weeks there will be a Certificate of Completion that will be given as a print to be printed at home and students will be able to modify the print using the skills they have learned in 3D Printing Club. This modification will show the 10 weeks completion. If another 10 weeks go by then a modification will be given to add on to the original signifying 20 weeks, and so on. It is a sort of commitment/Level Up system to show progress.

Class Experience

US Grade 6 - 9

Beginner Level

We will be learning how to use a 3D printer and its settings as well as using TinkerCAD to make 3D Models and eventually print them. TinkerCAD can be used on a computer and there is an iPad app.

You can join if you do not have a 3D Printer, simply learning the TinkerCAD program and showing your designs that way is still a great learning experience and skill to develop.

The class will consist of three parts.  1.) Show any recent prints you would like to share, 2.) Show the print from the theme/challenge of that week and successes and failures from the build, 3.) Ask any questions about printing, i.e. - fixing problems, improving print quality, comparing filament types, etc. and then discuss future themes for upcoming classes based off of interest and current 3D Printing community trends and I will show any resources or videos I feel is helpful for recurring problems in the class or could help with future designs.

Here is the weekly schedule of the Weekly Theme and Challenge for that week:

Week 1: 5/27/25 - On your desk
Skill: Learn to group shapes
Build: A headphone stand/mount
Advanced: make a charging cable spot

Week 2: 6/3/25 - On your backpack/bag
Skill: Learn to text and edge settings 
Build: A keychain with lettering
Advanced: make text without the text tool

Week 3: 6/10/25 - On your nightstand
Skill: Learn to use the “hole” tool 
Build: A dish for your nightstand
Advanced: make the dish have a pattern

Week 4: 6/17/25 - On your shelf
Skill: Learn to use a ball and socket joint 
Build: A posable figure to display (think lego)
Advanced: make the figure have 2+ joint types

Week 5: 6/24/25 - On your person
Skill: Learn to be precise in measurements 
Build: A USB cable holder for your pocket
Advanced: make a spot for the charger too

Week 6: 7/1/25 - On your desk
Skill: Shape optimization for function 
Build: A cellphone tablet mount/dock
Advanced: make it adjustable (angle or height)

Week 7: 7/8/25 - On your own!
Skill: Learn to be independent and imaginative 
Build: A toy, gadget, tool, trinket, organizer, etc...
Advanced: make a fidget toy

Week 8: 7/15/25 - On your table
Skill: Learn to use the "sketch" and "scribble" tool
Build: A coasters)
Advanced: make use of a color change

Week 9: 7/22/25 - On your shelf
Skill: Learn to be precise in measurements
Build: A "thing" you can add light to (nightlight).
Advanced: make a silhouette image

Week 10: 7/29/25 - On repeat
Skill: Learn to redesign/troubleshoot a project
Build: A repeat of a previous week and improve it 
Advanced: make a combination of two builds

This is for the first 10 week cycle - Complete all challenges and get an .STL file that shows completion (Level 1) - Stay for 10 more and
Level Up!

Learning Goals

SWBAT (Student Will Be Able To) - Use the engineering design process to troubleshoot various parts of the 3D Printing ecosystem as well as execute the prototyping process for builds, designs, and making needs.

SWBAT - independently design/source, download, print, and post process 3D prints to have a desirable final product.

Other Details

Parental Guidance

I will be sharing some Youtube videos/channels about 3D printing to help students. Due to the weekly designs we will be making your child may go on to 3D file sharing sites (this is not a requirement). Any time a child is using the internet parental supervision is advised. The videos that will be shown are considered "school appropriate" however the Youtube algorithm may push other content that is out of my control that could be considered "inappropriate". If your child only uses the material I reference/provide they will be fully able to participate in this club. So please supervise your child when using the internet for research for the weekly designs and reach out to me with any questions you may have.

Pre-Requisites

Knowledge of basic printer use is recommended (if using one) but not necessary. Skills on how to level the printer bed, changing out filament, uploading a file to slicer software, etc. are helpful. We will go over the basics of printing.

Supply List

REMINDER: If you do not own a printer you can still enroll and join this club for the TinkerCAD design portion.
Supplies needed for the full experience are a 3D Printer, computer software for print files (slicer), and 3D Printing filament (PLA of any color is fine for all prints). Additionally, a METRIC ruler or other metric length devices, I highly recommend a digital caliper but a ruler works fine, paper, and pencil.

3 files available upon enrollment

External Resources

In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:

Meet the teacher

Mr. Griffin B.S., M.Ed.

Joined April, 2025

Profile

Teacher expertise and credentials

I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Biology from the University of Rhode Island and Masters Degree in Education from Fitchburg State University. For the past 7 years I have been a middle school science teacher and have worked in education for the past 15.  I have been a substitute, paraprofessional, coach, tutor, and full time teacher.  Before working as a science teacher in a mainstream classroom in the state of Massachusetts in the USA, I worked in several different Special Education programs, mainly EGD at the middle and high school level and when I was in classrooms as a paraprofessional it was always math and science classes.  3D printing has become a hobby of mine and I have not formally taught this as a subject, however my teaching skills as a science teacher combined with my passion for all things STEM/STEAM will be more than evident for this club!