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Kids 3D Lab Open Kids 3D Lab

Free 3D design tutorial for kids

Let's build in 3D!

You can make real things with Kids 3D Lab. Snap shapes together like blocks. Then a 3D printer can make your idea real!

  • 10 short lessons
  • 2 fun projects
  • Games to try
  • No sign-up
A snowman made of three white balls, an orange cone nose and a red hat
  1. Mouse words
  2. 1Say hello
  3. 2Add a shape
  4. 3Move it
  5. 4Make it big or small
  6. 5Look around
  7. 6Colours
  8. 7Stack shapes
  9. 8Make a hole
  10. 9Write your name
  11. 10Oops! Undo
  12. Build a snowman
  13. Name tag
Start here

Mouse words

These four words are used a lot. Learn them first!

ClickPress the left button once.
DragHold the left button down, move the mouse, then let go.
Right buttonClick it once to open a menu. Hold it down and move to turn your view.
ScrollRoll the little wheel. This zooms in and out.
Lesson 1

Say hello to Kids 3D Lab

Your mission: open Kids 3D Lab and find the four parts of the screen.

When Kids 3D Lab opens, you see the start page. Click New build.

The start page, with a New build button and pictures of examples
The start page. The pictures are things you can open and play with.

Now look at the screen. It has four parts:

  1. Left: the shapes. These are your building blocks.
  2. Middle: the plate. The orange square is where you build.
  3. Right: the panel. It shows the size and colour of the shape you picked.
  4. Bottom: a thin bar. It shows the name and size of the shape you picked, and little tips.

Above the plate is a row of buttons, each with its name under it. The first four are Select, Move, Rotate and Scale: they choose which handles your shape shows.

A robot on the plate. Shapes on the left, the panel on the right
A robot made of blocks. Its blue body is picked, so the panel shows its size.

Click the Kids 3D Lab logo at the top left to see the start page again.

Lesson 2

Add a shape

Your mission: put a box and a ball on the plate.
  1. Click Box in the shapes list. A yellow box appears!
  2. Click Ball. A blue ball appears next to the box.
  3. Try more shapes: Cone, Star, Heart… There are 31 to try!

New shapes find an empty spot by themselves. They never land on top of each other.

Can you spot building blocks in a model, or turn a flat outline into a solid? Try Which shapes? and Draw a shape.

Lesson 3

Move it

Your mission: move the box to a new place.
  1. Click the box. A orange frame goes around it. That means it is picked.
  2. Drag the box. It slides on the plate.
  3. Or drag one of the coloured arrows. The red arrow moves it left and right. The green arrow moves it back and front. The blue arrow lifts it up!
A picked yellow box with orange corners and red, green and blue arrows
A picked box. You can see its arrows and its orange corners.

Is your shape floating in the air? Click Drop to plate — the arrow-down button at the top of the panel.

Try it right here: move it

Use X, Y and Z to move the blue ball into its see-through target.

1. Slide the ball
2. Start again, or try another spot
Moved: 0

Move the blue ball into the see-through one.

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Drag to spin

Try it right here: turn it

Shapes can turn, too! Turn your ramp a quarter of the way round until it looks like the see-through one.

1. Turn your ramp a quarter of the way round
2. Too tricky? Get a new one
Matched: 0

Turn your ramp (on the left) until it looks just like the see-through one.

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Drag to spin
Lesson 4

Make it big or small

Your mission: make the box long, like a brick.
  1. Pick the box.
  2. Drag a orange corner at the bottom. The box gets wider or smaller.
  3. Drag the little orange arrow on top. The box gets taller or shorter.
  4. You can also type a number in the panel. Try Width = 40, then press Enter.

All sizes are in millimetres (mm). 10 mm is about as wide as your fingernail.

Practise exact sizes with Measure it and Make it match.

A soft yellow box with round edges and a green cylinder with round edges
Want soft corners? Type a number in Soft edges, or drag its slider. Try 3.

Try it right here: stretch it

Stretch a shape wider, deeper or taller. Can you make a ball into an egg? Into a pancake?

1. Pick a shape
2. Stretch it
3. Or try one of these

Slide the bars to stretch the ball — or press Egg, Pancake or Sausage.

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Drag to spin
Lesson 5

Look around

Your mission: look at your box from the top, then from underneath.
  1. Right-drag on the plate. The whole view turns around. You can even look from below! Or drag the little cube at the bottom left.
  2. Scroll to zoom in close, or zoom out far.
  3. Lost? Click TOP or FRONT on the little cube at the bottom left.
  4. Click TOP. The view goes flat, like a drawing! Little arrows next to the cube say Back, Front, Left and Right. Click one to look from there.
The robot seen flat from the top, with Back, Front, Left and Right arrows around the little cube
Looking from the top. Click an arrow by the cube to look from another side.

Turning the view does not move your shapes. It only moves your eyes.

Is a shape hiding inside another one? Press X to see through everything, like an X-ray. Press X again to go back.

Now play Look from every side and X-ray: find it.

Lesson 6

Colours

Your mission: paint your ball green.
  1. Pick the ball.
  2. In the panel, click a colour circle under Colour.
  3. The last circle has all the colours. Click it to pick any colour you like.

Colours are just for the screen. Your printed thing will be the colour of the printer's plastic.

Try it right here: paint a robot

Click a part of the robot to pick it, then click a colour — just like in Kids 3D Lab. Give it a red head, blue arms, anything you like!

1. Click a part of the robot to pick it
2. Click a colour to paint it
3. More to try

The body is picked (see the orange box). Click a colour to paint it — then click another part.

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Drag to spin
Lesson 7

Stack shapes

When you are ready to build on another face, try the Build on top game.

Your mission: put the ball on top of the box.
  1. Click the box first. (The first one you pick stays still. To choose another one, just click it.)
  2. Hold down Shift and click the ball. Now both are picked.
  3. In the panel, click Put on top of the box.

The ball jumps up and sits right in the middle of the box!

Another way: click Workplane, click the top of the box, then add a ball. It lands right on top! On a computer you can also drag the Ball from the left and let go on the box.

A dashed box drawn around a robot to pick all its parts
Another way to pick many shapes: drag a box around them on an empty spot.

Try it right here: stack them up

Pick the one at the bottom, then put another on top. Can you build a tower of all three?

1. Which one is at the bottom?
2. Put one on top of it
3. Start again

The box is at the bottom — it stays put. Now put something on top of it!

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Drag to spin

Try it right here: line things up

Picked shapes can line up, too. Choose the one that stays put, then press a button. The others slide over to it!

1. Which one stays put?
2. Line the others up with it
3. Start again

The box stays put. Now press a button to line the others up with it.

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Drag to spin

Try it right here: group them

A car is made of many parts. Slide one wheel and it comes off! Group the parts, and the whole car moves together.

1. Slide what's picked
2. Keep the parts together

One wheel is picked. Press Slide → and see what happens!

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Drag to spin
Lesson 8

Make a hole

Your mission: cut a round hole in a flat box.

A hole is like a magic eraser. It takes its own shape out of anything it goes into.

  1. Add a Box. Make it flat: Height = 6.
  2. Add a Cylinder. In the panel, click Hole. It turns see-through grey.
  3. Click the box. Hold Shift and click the cylinder.
  4. Click Cut through the box.
The box and the grey hole are both picked. The panel shows Cut through the box
Both picked. Now click Cut through the box.
The box now has a round hole in the middle
Ta-da! A hole.

Oops, nothing happened? The hole must go inside the box. If it only sits on top, it cuts nothing. The bar at the bottom of the screen tells you when this happens.

Try it right here: make a hole

Turn the shape into a hole and watch it cut the box. Then pick a star or a heart, and slide it about!

1. Make it a…
2. Pick its shape

Press Hole to turn the cylinder into a hole.

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Drag to spin
Lesson 9

Write your name

Your mission: make your name in 3D letters.
  1. Click Text (the Aa button). The word "Hello" appears.
  2. In the panel, find Words. Type your name there.
  3. Change Letter size to make the letters bigger or smaller.
  4. Under Letters, pick one of 19 kinds of letters: round, comic, blocky, joined-up and more. Each button shows your name in those letters!
  5. Want a rainbow name? Click Split into letters. Then click any letter and give it its own colour.
White 3D letters saying HELLO on a blue plate, with the Words box in the panel
Type in the Words box. The letters change as you type.

Try it right here: your name in 3D

Write your name and try both letter styles on a key tag.

2. Pick the letters

Type your name and make a key tag that is yours!

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Drag to spin
Lesson 10

Oops! Undo

Your mission: delete a shape, then bring it back.
  1. Pick a shape and press Delete. It is gone!
  2. Press Ctrl + Z. It comes back! (On a Mac: ⌘ + Z.)
  3. You can also click the curvy back arrow at the top.
  4. Want another one? Pick a shape and press Ctrl + D to Duplicate it. (On a Mac: ⌘ + D.)

Undo is your best friend. Try anything! You can always go back.

Try it right here: copy it

Duplicate one post until your little fence is finished.

Copy the post to finish the fence
Posts: 1 of 5

One post is ready. Make four copies!

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Project 1

Build a snowman

Your mission: stack three balls and give your snowman a nose and a hat.
The finished snowman with a red hat
This is what you will make.
  1. Click New to get an empty plate.
  2. Add a Ball. Make it big: Diameter = 40. Paint it white.
  3. Add another Ball: Diameter = 30. Paint it white.
  4. Click the big ball. Hold Shift and click the middle ball. Click Put on top of the ball.
  5. Press Ctrl + ↓ five times. The middle ball sinks a little, so the balls stick together.
  6. Add a small Ball for the head: Diameter = 22. Put it on top of the middle ball the same way.
  7. Add a Cone for the nose. Make it thin: Diameter = 5, Height = 12. Paint it orange.
  8. Next to X under Turn, click ↻ 90°. The nose now points forward.
  9. Drag the nose onto the face. Use the blue arrow to lift it up.
  10. Add a Cylinder for a hat. Paint it red and put it on top of the head.

Add two tiny black balls for eyes! Try Diameter = 3.

Want to turn a shape any way you like? Click Rotate above the plate, or press E. Little curved arrows show up on your shape. Drag one round! Press Q to go back.

Project 2

A name tag for your keys

Your mission: a tag with your name and a hole for a key ring.
An orange key tag with a hole on the left and the word KEYS on top
You can open this one from the start page too: click Key tag.
  1. Add a Box: Width 50, Depth 20, Height 3.
  2. Add Text. Type your name. Make Letter size = 8.
  3. Click the box, Shift-click the name, then click Put on top of the box.
  4. Press → a few times to slide the name to the right.
  5. Add a Cylinder: Diameter 5. Click Hole.
  6. Click the box, Shift-click the cylinder, then click Cut through the box.
  7. Press Shift + ← to slide the hole to the left end.

Now ask a grown-up to help you print it!

Cheat sheet

Magic keys

These keys make building faster. On a Mac, use ⌘ instead of Ctrl.

Ctrl + ZUndo
DeleteRemove a shape
← → ↑ ↓Move a tiny bit
Ctrl + DMake a copy
RTurn it
ERotate: drag curved arrows
HHole or solid
EscPick nothing
XSee through (X-ray)
?Show all the keys
For grown-ups

Saving and printing

The keyboard shortcuts list inside Kids 3D Lab
Every shortcut is listed in the app: press ?. The same list has a button to replay the in-app tour.

You are ready to build!

Go and make something amazing. Want a little more practice first? All the games are in the Practice corner.

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