Children are already natural “makers”.  I believe it is a shared responsibility of our community to inspire them to keep dreaming, learning, and creating.  Imaginative play, using available materials to create worlds of play, and positive attitudes are qualities of children that make them young, open-minded “creatives”.

In the spirit of the above, I’d like to develop a “Mini-Makers” initiative that will allow SOLIDWORKS employees to demonstrate SOLIDWORKS Desktop CAD plus 3D printing to elementary school children.

The highlights of this idea are:

• A SOLIDWORKS employee would engage an elementary school/specific class to propose the Mini-Makers demonstration.
• The engagement would involve 2-3 different ~30 min visits to a given class by the SOLIDWORKS employee over 1-2 weeks.
• The SOLIDWORKS employee would bring a laptop with SOLIDWORKS CAD installed and a small, portable size 3D printer (Sindoh's 3DWox 3D printer since it has a full enclosure.)  I envision there being a demo “kit” that an employee could schedule/reserve the use of.
• During the visits to the classroom, the SOLIDWORKS employee would deliver a planned demo/presentation/session where:
  • What CAD is would be explained.
  • SOLIDWORKS would be shown with a very short kid friendly/appealing demo.
  • 3D printing would be explained.
  • A simple design idea/challenge would be presented to the class.
  • A simple design would be completed in class with input from the kids.
  • The designed parts/parts would be 3D printed.  Ideally the printer would be left in the class to run through the day so kids could witness the printing.

I am the dad of two elementary school age girls who love to tinker.  I am eager to give this idea a try.

This idea will not generate direct revenue short-term, but will demonstrate our commitment to community giving AND get kids to associate SOLIDWORKS with creativity/making great designs happen.