Our Fidgets for Fosters project group is working for Kelsey Jones at the AR Department of Human Services Adoption and Foster Care Division to provide 3D printed fidgets for foster children. We learned that many children in the foster care system sit and wait for lengthy periods of time waiting on a foster care placement. These children do not always have things to do. With that in mind, we decided to 3D print fidgets and other toys for the kids that would stay in a basket in the DHS office. We have used TinkerCAD, Cura, and FlashForge & Maker Made 3D printers for our designs.
No one in our group had ever used a 3D printer before, so a general lack of knowledge was the first obstacle we had to overcome. After we became familiar with the printers, we struggled with leveling issues and a clogged printer extruder. Mr. Benson from Jones Elementary was able to partner with us to help repair our printers. They are now running great! We also partnered with some of the students from the Hogs Robotics team to print some quality designs on one of their Bambu printers. Their help was so appreciated.
Some of our designs took many times to perfect and even get a usable print. The printer began spaghetti-ing our designs at first, so we had to tweak them to something better. We have created marble mazes, different types of small fidgets, infinity fidgets, and several different types of animals. We know that this is just a minor problem within a much larger one, but we are excited to make a positive impact for foster children in Northwest Arkansas and the state!