If my title today didn’t make you go “na na na na na nana, na na nana na na” we can’t be friends. 🙂
I had been searching for a fun thing to do with my cousins when they visit for the Thanksgiving holiday, so I jumped on the opportunity to try out the IDO3D kit. I tested it out this weekend with some friends and their daughters to see how it worked before my cousins arrived.
Even though I was given this to review, all opinions are my own, of course. 🙂
I got the kit in the mail from Amazon, and the girls were excited to dive in. I tested it out with Kennedy and Emily, age 10, and Bethany, age 8.
Kennedy dch were easy because they were just pictures.
The kit came with 5 different pens filled with the plastic glue/paint stuff, a flashlight (which required 3 AAA batteries), a booklet of ideas, two molds, and a sheet of plastic to work on.
We knew wwe spread out some wax paper, which worked great.
Emily and Kennedy started on a project from the book, a flower pot.
This kit e one-dimensional pieces, then you cure them with a light. And then you assemble the pieces together into 3D projects.
There were things like a dragon, a skate ramp, sunglasses, jewelry, and more.
They squeezed the liquid onto the template. It was sort of the consistency of fabric paint. You could control the thickness of the line with the tip of the pen. It was super easy to use.
Little sister Bethany wanted a cat, so we freehanded one for her.
Once you cure it with the UV light. My friend Tonya (Bethany and Emily’s mom) had a stronger UV light from a nail kit that workd taking turns on the light was going to be an issue if we didn’t have a second one. The instructions said n each area for around a minute. We found for thicker areas it was het over, and cure the bottom.
Kennedy had fun free-handing things like their names.
Emily made the flower and the stem, and then attached them. This was pretty cool!
Then, using the template, she created the parts for the flower pot and made the whole thing! Little sister quickly claimed this for her dresser. They were so excited to be making things themselves!
Bethany used the molds to make a ball! It took a while to dry, but it was super neat when it was finished. She declared it The Planet of Bethany.
All in all, this was a fun craft. And they happily stayed engaged with it for an afternoon. It was recommended for ages 8 and up, which I agree with. Bethany, age 8, almost lost interest at the end because it was a time-consuming activity. She also got impatient waiting for the curing process. But she loved the creativity and being able to do it herself.
But the 10 year olds LOVED it. They couldn’t wait to tell their friends they had used the 3D art pen.
It was a bit messy, so you should protect your surfaces and have wet paper towels on hand.
I would also recommend one kit per every one or two kids, just so there isn’t a ton of waiting and sharing for the light- or use your own UV light.
The girls at first were confused with the concept- they thought they could just draw in the air in 3D, instead of creating the pieces flat and then putting them together. But once they got the hang of it, they really enjoyed it.
Overall, the kit does what d it’s a great project for a snow day or rainy day- it takes a bit of time to create the pieces, so it would occupy your kiddos for a while.
You can get youron.com/gp/product/B00XHI91N4?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00" target="_blank">IDO3D Pen and Ink here!
