One of the things that we always tell the wider audience is that 3D printers are not toys, but useful tools for many projects, including some advanced ones. Well, it turns out that our printers are great for kids, after all! 🙂 Because this time we decided to print a bunch of awesome projects for infants and toddlers. But we won’t be talking just about toys. There’s so much more that can be done to have fun but also to make it easier for you to raise your kids.
Safety first
Before we start, we feel obliged to say a few words about safety. Our tiniest family members are not usually aware of the dangers posed by 3D-printed parts, such as the choking hazard. So, here is a short list of rules we suggest to follow to keep everybody as safe as possible:
- Do not keep the children unattended when playing with 3D-printed parts. This is by far the most important and the most basic rule as you never know what’s on their minds. You should be able to stop them immediately if there’s a risk they might cause harm or damage to anyone (themselves) or anything. This also includes biting, licking and accidentally swallowing the 3D-printed parts.
- Do not print tiny parts, as well as sharp or fragile models. You shouldn’t give your children anything that can be split into tiny parts and swallowed, or anything that would hurt them with sharp edges.
- Do not let the kids touch SLA prints or any other toxic materials. We know we said that our Tough and Model resins are safe according to the Czech cytotoxicity and skin irritation standards and it’s true! But you may leave a few spots uncured and there may be resin leftovers inside print cavities, etc. And you really don’t want your kid to accidentally taste that…
- Double-check the print errors, such as stringing before offering the child a 3D-printed toy. Clean the surface thoroughly to prevent them from ingesting plastic microparticles.
- Use a food-safe coating (optional). 3D-printed parts are not meant to be put in a mouth repeatedly. Even when you clean the surface from strings and other small parts, consider food-safe coating if your child tends to taste everything. It will make the surface safer when it’s put inside a child’s mouth, as it makes the surface tough, and smooth and may help to round the edges, preventing other types of harm. You may find inspiration in our older article about food-safe 3D printing.
Author’s note: My son (1.5 years old) frequently tastes natural things like stones, wood, and plants but doesn’t lick plastic toys. That’s why I feel safe when offering him 3D-printed toys. Still, I never leave him playing with it unattended because he might change his mind anytime. It is always a parent’s responsibility to keep the child safe when offering them various toys.
If you feel like this might be too much of a hassle for you, don’t worry, the fun does not end with toys for children. Just scroll down to find some cool and functional designs, such as various stroller upgrades.
Cool toys for toddlers
Let’s start with a quick warmup: simple toys for training children’s motor functions, learning colors, etc. This is surely the largest category of models for babies. These models are easy to print, colorful and the kids love them. The obvious reason to make something for your young ones is mutual joy. They love playing with new cool toys and you will be happy to create something on your own instead of just buying toys. Plus, you may personalize the toys with embossed pictures, signs, and other additions.
Here, we would like to showcase a few of our favorite things we picked from Printables – it’s just a small taste of our dedicated collection. And if you feel adventurous, you can definitely try to design something yourself. And don’t forget to go through our Prusament portfolio, we have plenty of bright colors your kids will definitely love!
Various pieces of Brio/wooden track from multiple creators. You can find them in this collection.
And by the way, in children’s eyes, everything you print might be a toy – trust me. You print it, and they play with it. Even the 3D printer itself may become a toy… When I placed the (disconnected and cooled down) machine on the floor, it was an instant hit and all the other toys were suddenly boring. 🙂
Useful and entertaining gadgets
Now it gets more interesting for you as parents. This collection comes with several things that improve children’s welfare but, most importantly, they help their anxious parents to have a little relief on their 24/7 watch. You’ll find various safety upgrades for furniture, as well as more entertaining things, like a few baby bouncer upgrades. So don’t worry, it’s not all just functional and boring – there are some beautiful and fun designs too. Here’s our selection:
A mix of useful toys: sunshine stroller clip, magnetic phone holder for stroller, foot measurement tool, shoe organizer, vase soil prorectors (with thorn upside down), animal hooks and toothbrush case
Baby bouncer steering wheels
Now for more fun, yet still functional designs! We took the liberty to upgrade this Interactive steering wheel toy with levers (for toddlers) by Peter M and prepared two steering wheels your kid will love. Your child can now become not only a race driver but also a ship captain, or a B-29 Superfortress pilot! All you need is some 3D printed parts, a 625 bearing (or similar), a 40 mm long M5 bolt (or longer), and an M5n Nyloc nut.
Foot size measurement tool
Do you find it hard to guess the size of a child’s shoes? There’s a certain age when the child won’t tell you whether the shoes are too small or too large. Sure, you can guess it by the funny walking style or, in the less ideal scenario, seeing them tripping over and falling too often. But you can also print a simple foot measurement tool so you don’t have to guess.
Measuring tool for toddlers feet by NotSure and shoe organizer by pickles22
Collapsible barrier
This design could be helpful for places with little space to spare. In this particular case, we needed to separate the hallway and the living room, as there are things not suitable for children to play with, such as two working 3D printers. However, making a solid barrier (door, solid fence, etc.) was not an option in this case. That’s where this simple compliant mechanism comes in handy. The collapsible gate at its open position is completely hidden in a crevice between the shelf and the wall and when closed, it works as a childproof barrier.
Night lights, crib carousels and other decorations
Here’s your chance to make very detailed designs and even use the SLA technology, as long as you make sure the children won’t be able to reach the models. Use your imagination, you can make whatever you like. As an example, we printed these “flying” animal skeletons and skulls and then upgraded the lightsaber from our electroplating project.
Upgrade your stroller
You can’t wait to tell the world that you are a proud parent and also a 3D printer user, right? Don’t worry, we got you covered! You can pimp your stroller in a way that it won’t be unnoticeable again.
Stroller with various upgrades. The light is Desk Stranding model by Nils Kal
We even ran a contest on this topic once so you may be lucky and find a design that fits your stroller. Or, at least, you can get some inspiration and design something awesome yourself – you don’t have to start from scratch, you can modify existing designs and create a remix.
Cup holders
Thirsty when strolling? No problem. You may pick any design at printables.com you like. But we have prepared something extra for you. We wanted to make a cup holder that would be able to carry as many cup types (ranging from a small latte to a large pint of beer) as possible. And so we made two types. The first one is called “The Beast” because it’s large and looks monstrous. However, it holds almost any sized cup with a mechanism that gets triggered by gravity. The other is simpler as it holds a regular 0.5l can or anything of similar size. Plus, the whole system is modular and every single part can be upgraded or replaced.
Phone holders
Then, there’s a phone holder. Again, people made various simple and cheap designs, usually some kind of pouches hanging from a handle. We felt that a magnetic holder, like the ones used in cars, would be better. It would be smaller and more convenient, as you just need a few neodymium magnets and a piece of metal on the back of your phone. The design we made uses the same magnets as the ones in Prusa Printers (20x6x2mm) and fits the RedMi Note 9 phone, or similar size.
Extra wheels
Most strollers are suitable for one child only or for two kids of similar size. If you have a newborn and a 1.5-year-old kid, you know the struggle. Walking with the older one is slow and carrying them on your back is far from comfortable. There are various extra wheels with platforms for standing on the market but you can 3D print it too!
We chose this Skate design by Fedelencio and made a few quick adjustments to make it work. To be honest, it’s still not quite ideal, as it lacks the possibility of steering. If you want it to be perfect, we suggest combining 3D-printed parts with an aluminum frame to make it light and cheap. And the wheels should be able to turn in any direction.
Other stroller upgrades
Of course, the Original Prusa 3D printers can help you with attaching other various types of things to your stroller. You can 3D print various hooks, clips, and other things. You name it, you print it. We even had some fun when reusing an old Einsy Rambo board for adding a horn from a car for people to honk at. Obviously, this was just a joke – we didn’t have a child in the stroller while honking as it would be irresponsible to scare it with loud noise. But, it serves as an idea that you may use any Arduino-based board to make the stroller full of smart electronics! You can use it for adding and controlling headlights, a tachometer, or a thermometer, for example. Or, you can use it to power a heated tile from the Original Prusa XL to make a smart heating cup holder with thermal runaway protection, etc.
Is that it? As usual, this article was just a short reminder of what to print with your 3D printer. Hopefully, we inspired you and you will eventually come up with a great idea of what to print for your little ones. And if you feel that these tips are still not enough, don’t forget to browse printables, it’s full of cool designs.
Happy printing!
So cool! Imagine if I had a 3D printer 25 years ago when my children were small!
You don't mention carbon fibers in your safety guidelines – it would be great if you could update the article with a short notice on their hazards! (Reference: https://youtu.be/RLt9l6YxvHk?t=168 ||
Nathan Builds Robots talking about "The Dark Side of Carbon Fiber Filament" @ 2:48)