Building Special Toys

Scott Hagedorn, Sabine Pass ISD’s Director of Instructional Technology, wanted his students to learn the valuable lesson of giving for the holidays by using the skills acquired during their 3D Printing class to create special toys for the local Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) Services team.

Because Hagedorn’s own son is autistic, he knew that the local ECI team had a limited supply of toys for young special needs children. More than that, the toys the children need are very expensive. So, Hagedorn invited an ECI therapist to talk to his 3D Printing class about how special needs children benefit from therapy toys.

After learning which functions the toys need to include to meet the needs of the children, students developed and designed their version of therapy toys. The students used colorful filaments for the 3D printer to create bright toys. They also printed several versions to ensure the toys functioned properly. Once the toys met with the students’ approval, each toy was donated to ECI.

“The students were very excited to show off the toys and ECI was very impressed with the final products,” said Hagedorn. Sabine Pass ISD students placed the toy designs online so that the designs would be available to parents with autistic children. Parents with special needs children can download the designs and have them printed in 3D form at a fraction of the cost of similar toys.

“The design project was a great success for Sabine Pass ISD,” said Hagedorn. “Not only did the students learn a lot about designing a functioning toy, but it also helped them apply their skills in ways that are meaningful to the students and parents who need our help.” #IAmTXEd   Sabine Pass ISD