Children inundate Concept Smoke Screen in 3D printer frenzy!

We hear it all the time these days, don't we? Kids and their love of 3D printers. Their unbridled passion for computer-aided design. The utter CADs. The fad for exciting new techniques in product development. 'Oh, it's just a phase!' we're told. 'They'll grow out of it!'

But all the evidence suggests otherwise.

Recently Concept Smoke Screen was visited by Alex and Oscar from Swineshead St. Mary's Primary School, along with their teacher Mrs Laura Done. Concept has sponsored a Flashforge 3D printer for the local school, to help them generate interest and skills in CAD, product design and engineering.

Concept MD Matt Gilmartin says it was a joy to host their 9-year-old visitors, who got to look all around the company's facilities and even had a go at 'smoke screening' their teacher in Concept's demo unit.

'The kids were amazing,' he explains, his cynical, jaded eyes somehow fresh and young again. 'Full of life, energy, enthusiasm, and imagination. It was a great experience for everyone involved. It reminded me why a creativity test developed for NASA discovered that 98% of 4 to 5 year olds score genius level creativity. So many questions! Absolutely awesome.'

You can watch one of the conductors of that creativity test, George Land, discuss it in this Ted talk video, from the 6.08 minute mark.

In future, Matt says, Concept hopes to run a competition with the school, encouraging students to imagine innovative new security measures, including perhaps the lasers'n'sharks solution devised by Alex and Oscar during their visit.