MS-P Exploring TinkerCad: A Family-Friendly Workshop

Participants ages 10 through adult in this 4-session workshop will explore TinkerCad, a user-friendly, free web app used by teachers, kids, hobbyists, and designers to create models that are compatible with 3D printing and laser cutting. The workshops will be held in the Green Room at Makersmiths-Purcellville.

Students may bring their own laptops that are Internet accessible, but we will also have laptops to use in the workshop sessions if someone needs to borrow one.

Please complete this online waiver form to indicate you are giving permission for your youth to attend this workshop: https://waiver.fr/p-NVPOj

Parents are encouraged to stay and follow along with the lessons, but please bring your own laptop to use.

What is TinkerCAD?

Tinkercad is based on constructive solid geometry (CSG), which allows users to create complex models by combining simpler objects together. The 3D models can be saved in three different formats, STL, OBJ, and SVG. Once a user creates a free account, the software works on any computer with an Internet connection and users can make a backup of their 3D models on the cloud. To learn more about TinkerCad, read this article: 

Tinkercad: The Online Software to Start 3D Modeling

Who are the Makersmiths  instructors? Diane Painter is a retired K12 teacher who works with Makersmiths youth using TinkerCad to design wind turbine blades for KidWind.org challenges. Robin Schenck is a Makersmiths member who is an elementary school counselor with TinkerCad and 3D experience.

We are offering an afternoon 4-session workshop Monday-Thursday, July 29-Aug. 1 in the Green Room at Makersmiths-Purcellville. During the first session, students will join Diane Painter's Tinkered class and create a free personal log-in so they can practice what they learn in the workshop at home.

July 29 Session 1:   We will learn about the user interface as well as navigation views and preferences; shape manipulation and the scaling of shapes in Tinkercad. 

July 30 Session 2: We will learn to group objects, create a hole in an object, align objects and flip objects.

July 31 Session 3: We will learn about the work plane and ruler tools as well the brick and block environment. We will learn about circular patterns, linear patterns, and slicing objects. 

Aug 1 Session 4: We will learn about importing, exporting, sharing, and downloading files. We will learn about how to prepare something we have created for printing using the 3D printers at Makersmiths-Purcellville.

Students will learn to 3D print their creations.

Questions: Contact diane.painter@makersmiths.org