Mattel holds a fond place in most people’s hearts as they made many of the toys we played with as kids. You might remember the Thingmaker, which was essentially an Easy Bake Oven with some goop and molds that let you make rubbery creatures. But back in 2016, Mattel had an aborted attempt to bring 3D printing to kids under the Thingmaker label. You can see a promo video of the device below. You might not have seen one in real life, though. The product was delayed and eventually canceled. Even so, we frequently see press releases for “kids printers” and we’ve been wondering, should this be a thing?
Definitions
Let’s define kids. Of course, at some age, a kid interested in 3D printing should have a 3D printer in the same way they might have a guitar if they are interested in playing the guitar. But you probably don’t give your 9-year-old a guitar and hope it catches…
