3D design and 3D printing are a great way to help your students practice vital critical thinking, problem solving and communication skills, improve their spatial reasoning and creativity, and develop a growth mindset.
Teachers new to 3D printing can feel both excited and a little overwhelmed by the prospect of learning how the technology works, and how to integrate it efficiently and effectively into their teaching practice. Luckily, Makers Empire provides everything you need to have a successful 3D printing experience at your school, including 3D design software, in-app challenge courses, 150+ lesson plans, a lesson plan builder, class management and assessment tools, as well as training and support with 3D printing hardware.
Moreover, with the game-changing new high speed 3D printers from market-leading companies like Bambu and Flashforge, 3D printing at school has never been easier. The 2023-2024 high speed 3D printers are up to 5 times as fast as the previous, market-leading 3D printers. To give you an idea of the difference a fast 3D printer makes to your printing time, check out the table below.
New, Faster 3D Printers = Shorter Print Times
 |  |  |  |  |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro | Bambu Lab X1C | Makerbot Replicator | Dremel 3D45 | Flashforge Adventurer 4 |
| Makers Empire Score | 9.5/10 | 10/10 | 7/10 | 9.5/10 | 9/10 |
| Price | $900 AUD / $899 USD | $2,200 AUD / $1,199 USD | $2,499 USD | $1,799 USD | $1,000 AUD / $799USD |
| Max. Printing Speed | 600mm/second | 500mm/second | 175mm/second | 150mm/second | 150mm/second |
| Review | Read our review |
Click the buttons below for a full comparison table of the above printers.
With faster printing speeds, there can be a slight loss of print quality but for student projects the quality of 3D prints printed at faster speeds is more than fine. The positives far outweigh the negatives: a faster 3D printer can make a world of difference when it comes to managing your students’ 3D prints and your school’s 3D printing experience.
10 Easy 3D Lesson Ideas with Printing Times
Here are 10 easy, curriculum-aligned 3D printing lesson ideas and printing projects to try with your primary, elementary and middle school students, along with a guide to the level of difficulty and rough printing times. We have sorted the projects from easiest to hardest in terms of 3D printing and included estimated printing times on:
- Fast 3D printers – e.g. Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro, Bambu Lab X1C
- Average speed 3D printers – e.g. Flashforge Adventurer 4, Makerbot Replicator, Dremel 3D45
Please note that our 3D printing specialist has estimated the time to print the following designs based on printing multiple versions on the Flashforge 5M Pro printer (fast and reliable) and the Flashforge Adventurer 4 printer (great and reliable but slower). The actual speed will depend on the speed of your 3D printer but you can often print multiple designs at the same time (the number of prints possible will be limited by the print bed size).
3D Printed Bubble Wands: Grades K-2
- Difficulty level: Easy. A great starter project as they are flat and you can print multiples at once.Â
- Fast 3D Printer Time to Print:Â a 15cm long bubble wand = 5 minutes each
- Average 3D Printer Time to Print:Â a 15cm long bubble wand = 15 minutes each
- Makers Empire Customers: Lesson Plan
3D Printed Mazes: Grades 2-8
- Difficulty level: Easy. You can buy some ball bearings for students to use with their mazes.Â
- Fast 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 4cm maze = 10 minutes each. 6cm maze = 20 mins each.
- Average 3D Printer Time to Print:Â Â 4cm maze = 20 minutes each. 6cm maze = 60 mins each.
- Makers Empire Customers:Â Lesson Plan
3D Printed Herb Markers: Grades 3-5
- Difficulty level: Easy. These are quite flat so a great starter project.
- Fast 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 5cm herb marker = 10 minutes
- Average 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 5cm herb marker = 10 minutes
- Makers Empire Customers:Â Lesson Plan
3D Printed Cookie Cutters: Grades K-6
- Difficulty level: Easy. Remember to only use food-grade 3D printing filament or a special food-grade sealer spray.Â
- Fast 3D Printer Time to Print:Â standard-sized cookie cutter = 5 minutes
- Average 3D Printer Time to Print: standard-sized cookie cutter = 15 minutesÂ
- Makers Empire Customers:Â Lesson Plan
3D Printed Chocolate Moulds: Grades 5-6
- Difficulty level:Â Easy – Intermediate. These involve an extra step of spraying the moulds with a product to make them food-safe (or using a food-grade filament) and then melting the chocolate, pouring it into the moulds and letting it set in a fridge.
- Fast 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 4cm mould = 10 minutes each. 6cm mould = 20 minsÂ
- Average 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 4cm mould = 30 minutes each. 6cm mould = Up to 1 hour.
- Makers Empire Customers:Â Lesson Plan
3D Printed Games Figurines: Grades K-7
- Difficulty level: Intermediate These can be for any board game e.g. Monopoly.
- Fast 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 3-4cm figurine = 5 minutes
- Average 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 3-4cm figurine = 20 minutes
- Makers Empire Customers:Â Lesson Plan
3D Printed Holiday Decorations: Grades K-6
- Difficulty level:Â Intermediate – Hard. I
- Fast 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 5cm solid decoration with a loop = 40 minutes. Flat decorations will be much quicker.
- Average 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 5cm solid decoration with a loop= up to 7 hours. Flat decorations will be much quicker.
- Makers Empire Customers:Â Lesson Plan
3D Printed Monsters: Grades 3-6
- Difficulty level: Intermediate – Hard. These do take a bit longer to print.
- Fast 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 6-8cm figurine = 30 minutes
- Average 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 6-8cm figurine = 90 minutes
- Makers Empire Customers:Â In-App Challenge Course |Â Lesson Plan
3D Printed Public Spaces: Grades 7-9
- Difficulty level:Â Intermediate – Hard. Try this project after you’ve tried some of the easier projects.Â
- Fast 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 8-10cm model = up to 1 hours to print per model, depending on the thickness of the design. A shell of a public structure will take far less time to print than a solid shape.
- Average 3D Printer Time to Print:Â 8-10cm model = up to 7 hours to print per model, depending on the thickness of the design. A shell of a public structure will take far less time to print than a solid shape.
- Makers Empire Customers:Â Lesson Plan
We hope you enjoy trying these 3D printing projects with your students. If you try them, we’d love to know how you got on. Tag us on socials or contact us so we can share your efforts and inspire other teachers.
