Elmer's Cut and Build 3D

Description:

Elmer's Cut and Build 3Dis a great program for older children to learn a little about art, design and architecture, and is also good for children who have an interest in designing. First, people need to watch the video help program with their youngsters to let them get the feel of how to do things. This video tells the child what to do and what they will need to get started. They will need scissors, glue ( I would use a glue stick instead of liquid glue), a ruler, a thick black marker and a pencil. This program also shows the child how to cut out the objects and how to glue them together. This portion of the program is very well written and proves to be very helpful to the child.

When the video ends, the helicopter flies around the area that you have selected to work in. There are two such areas: Spacestation and Hometown. Let's explore the Spacestation part first! There is a rocket to construct, a blast-off station and many other objects affiliated with outer space. There are also vehicles and a tower included. Now it's off to the Hometown section, where we find a house, hair salon, photo store, pawn shop, music store, jewelry store, taxicab, car, park, school, arcade, restaurant and a bank. Or if the kids wish, they may decide to build their own spaceship or their own business.

Features:

• Create, print and build own 3D models
• Glue, scissors and glitter included
• 50 different shapes to choose to build from
• On screen video help to show how to cut, glue and fold
• Print a full set of templates to build from
• On screen guide named cubie to help the child

Technical Aspects:

Report and Conclusions:

There are two different ways to print: with texture or without. My advice is to use textures because if not, it will be easy to get sidetracked or even lost in where to go next or what to glue to what. There is a video help and Cubie to help along the way. Cubie tells where to go and what is and isn't allowed. The video help will show little fingers where to cut and where not to. It will also show how to glue and fold the pieces together.

All in all the program is a good idea, it just needs to be polished up. I would increase the pieces slightly and try to reduce the number of printed pages needed, use glue sticks and offer different textures instead of glitter, sort of like a coloring book method(where the child could pick their own textures and then color in). I would also change the age group, as not many 6 year olds are going to have the patience required for the long waiting periods this program has. In fact, not many 12 year olds will have the patience to wait for their projects to print out, so parents need to take into consideration their child's attention span before buying this product.