REVIEW: IDO3D Ultra Pen Set for Kids
Do you have a craft obsessed child that has been on the constant plea to have a 3D Pen set, but you find your being put off over worries about safety or the fear of how expensive they will be? Well, we might have found the answer in the Kids IDO3D Ultra Pen Set
We are guilty of putting the whole 3D Pen for the kids off, mainly as we thought they were super pricey. So, when we were recently sent an I Do 3D Ultra Pen Set to put to the test in return for us sharing our honest opinion we were really keen to learn more.
What Are 3D Pens
Inspired by 3D Printers, 3D pens allow you to hand draw raised images on any flat surface and even vertically into mid-air, so you can build three dimensional structures.
There are a few different types of 3D pens with the main ones for adult crafters using heat at the nib of the pen to heat up plastic and whilst these are the professional ones that can be used to create some amazing project, they really are not safe for children to play around with.
For kids there are a few other alternatives, you can still use ones that heat up but they do so at a much lower temperature making them safe for children.
Or then there is the cold process 3d Pens, which are really the way most parents prefer to go to keep their little one really safe.
The cold process is when a liquid plastic is fed through the pen’s nozzle at the end of the pen and then goes hard and sets by using UV light. This can involve a UV light chamber on the inside of the pen or a uv light on the outside of the pen.
The IDO3D Ultra Pen Set uses the cold process using an external UV light for setting make this a really safe option for children over eight to use, at the same time as making it affordable for families.
What’s Included in the I Do 3D Ultra Pen Set
There is all different type of IDO3D sets available and the ones that we have been trying out is the Funky pets and Things that Go 2 pen activity sets.
Inside these sets you will find:
- 2 Special Drawing Pens of different colours, with enough ink inside to complete around 5 projects.
- 2 Nibs for the Pens
- 1 UV pen light
- 1 Plastic mould
- 1 Plastic sheet
- 1 set of instructions
How to Use I Do 3D Ultra Pen Set
It is easy for kids to get going with these sets, to start you simply take off the lids of the pens and pop on the nibs. Then over this you place the external UV light attachment and that’s you ready to go.
From here you can either go free hand and draw what you want to by building lines from the table up to mid air or you can use the mini template that comes indie the box.
To use the mini template, you will see these shapes on the instruction guide. You want to place the plastic sheet over them and draw on top of it. Once dry you can then peel this off the plastic sheet and using the pen again stick the 2D shapes you have just made into a 3D standing model.
In the funky pets set the template is a rabbit and in the things that go set the template is a plane.
How Do We Rate I Do 3D Ultra Pen Set?
These sets offer kids an affordable introduction the world of 3D art and are fab at getting them to think creatively and stretch their imagination.
We loved the simplicity of drawing out 2D shapes and joining them together to create a 3D structure, whilst still having the freedom to go freehand and try to draw vertically into the air, letting your mind run with it.
For us we did find the ink to be a bit messy, its sticky and with some joints taking quite a bit longer than others to set and needing quite a bit of grown up help with the younger kids. The trick here we think is maybe not to use as much ink as we did, which then allows you to get in with the UV light to let it set, but hey these type of crafting activities with the kids is all about trial and error and learning new things, so this didn’t put us off.
The plastic sheet is handy to contain the mess, and when we did get it all over the table we did find after our mini panic, that it did clean off ok with some soapy water.
This is a unique arts and craft set that the kids did enjoy playing around with for a long time, however some of the kids did find it harder than others to get their heads around the 3D drawing, holding the pens and how to make it work, but that’s something we are sure will come with time.
What the kids made from these kits are lets say pieces of art that only a parent would be delighted with seeing, yes it did go a bit Pete Tong, so in all honestly if we were to show you the final results we do feel it may give you a bad impression of the sets, so we won’t as don’t feel that’s very fair. That being said our mushy disaster did not take away from the fun the kids had nor has it put them off it, so we do think its worth families checking out these sets to see if it is a good fit for them.
These sets come in all different themes and with different number of pens from these ones with 2 right up to ones with 8 pens. You can find them in retailers such as Very, Amazon, Smyths and The Entertainer Toy Shop with prices starting at around £11 upwards depending on which set you get, which we think for what you are getting do offer a good entry level for kids into this type of creative fun activity.
