Adding Something Very Special To Our Rainbow Loom Bracelets With The MakerBot 3D Printer

We have been collecting Rainbow Loom bracelets for several weeks now for our Banding Together Project.  There are dozens of them....all different colors, designs, and sizes.

Each one special.  Each one unique.

As the kids in Van Meter and all over the world created more and more bracelets, one of our special friends Andy Plemmons and his students created something very special for our bracelets that are going to be sent to children in India in April.

Andy and his students in Athens, Georgia used Tinkercad to create tiny little charms to go onto the Rainbow Loom bracelets.

We just love them....They are such a beautiful addition to the bracelets.

Earlier this week after planning our presentation for TLA, Andy and I caught up on the Banding Together project.

I asked him if he wouldn't mind sending a file for the heart charm....I really wanted to see how they looked on our printer.  And the 3rd graders were going to start creating their own charms using Tinkercad this week too.

He sent me the Tinkercad file and we downloaded it onto the SD card from the MakerBot 3D printer.

Our resident 3D expert Luke has been teaching our younger ones about the MakerBot.

When we got the file from Andy, the third graders knew exactly what to do.

Please watch this short video to see what happens next.

I love how Carter and Skylar just take over and start creating tiny red heart charms for the bracelets they are all creating together for their new friends across the world.

These hearts are going to make their handmade bracelets just that much more special.

Thank you Andy for inspiring us to be makers and for making a difference in the world by banding together with us.