MakerBot Digital Store Encourages 3D Printing in Class With Printable Educational Tools

When the MakerBot Digital Store launched about 10 month ago, many people were wondering exactly what it would encompass. Would it feature useful tools, toys, artwork, or educational objects? Now, with 21 different collections available in the store, we can say that we have a better answer to that question.

The MakerBot Digital Store is a marketplace of design files that cover virtually all of these categories.  It includes everything from piggy banks, to desktop planters, workspace creations, toys of our favorite television characters, dinosaur skeletons, and early learning tools.   Currently it is broken down into “Play”, “Use” and “Learn” but surely there will be more categories added as more interesting products are brought to market.

The category that interests me the most, is “Learn”, as it features high quality 3D printable objects that are fun to print, fun to play with, and most importantly fun to learn with.  I know that once my son is old enough to understand the process of 3D printing, these will be the first objects I let him print.

Yesterday MakerBot released the first new collection in a series that they are designing for educational purposes. What makes this series of collections even more appealing is the fact that each one will include one free download.

The first collection in the series is “Structures of Government“, and it currently includes 3 of the most important buildings located in Washington DC: The Supreme Court, The Capitol, and “The White House”.  Without a doubt, these would make for perfect class projects for teachers in the United States to print out in school on their MakerBot 3D printers.

I remember as a kid, how exciting it was when we took our school trips to the nation’s capitol.  Getting to tour the White House, seeing where all the important legal decisions and landmark court cases have taken place, and virtually taking a few steps back in time, was quite the amazing experience.  Unfortunately though, many kids don’t ever have this opportunity, as perhaps they live too far away, to make the trip.  This new 3D printable collection from MakerBot may just be the next best thing.

The individual objects are priced at $2.99 each, except for the Supreme Court building which is available free of charge. The entire three-building collection can be purchased for $4.99. All of the 3D models are compatible with MakerBot Replicator 3D printers and take between two and six hours to print.

Over the course of this fall, MakerBot will be releasing more educational collections. It should be interesting to see what comes out next. What do you think about these Structures of Government? Have you printed any of them yet? What would you like to see MakerBot release next? Discuss in the 3D Printable Educational Prints forum thread on 3DPB.com.