Solidoodle formed a colorful partnership with children’s author Kiki Han to bring to life the cuddly creations from her new book, Cutie’s Alphabellies. All the models are available for free through Solidoodle. With the premium content crossover, the author and Solidoodle look to materialize the adorable drawings and their journey through the alphabet. The author’s work initially started as a Kickstarter project that amassed financial support well beyond the asking number most likely due to the overwhelming “cute” factor adorned and promoted by Kiki.
Ultimately, the goal held by the author and Solidoodle is the promotion of learning in early childhood. With the capabilities of 3D printing, the content becomes tangible, the characters held, as a special kinesthetic learning tool connecting reading with objects. Available through Solidoodle, the main character, Cutie, and tiles with images of various characters can be printed after a simple download. In addition to the hue-splashed book, children can play with the printed characters as a supplemental reinforcement to the ideas and images they read.
“Solidoodle’s printers and downloadable characters provide children and their parents the opportunity to build from the ground up, educational alphabet themed learning toys based off the Alphabelly Animals,” says author KiKi Han. “We hope they pique an exploratory interest in the design process when they are printing their very own learning tools.”
Echoing Kiki’s sentiments, Solidoodle CEO Sam Cervantes said, “This generation is going to do things that we never would have believed to be possible, so we are excited to be able to start that journey by bringing one of their favorite books to life in a way that is both fun and educational.”
Hopefully this ushers in a new trend between 3D printing and the printed word in an eclectic fashion expected from both mediums. The premium content partnership appears organic between the colorful, playful, and obviously cute Alphabelllies sprung from Kiki and Solidoodle. There is a mutual embodiment of spirit immediately evident in the products. Children may become accustomed to this kind of relationship and thus we are likely to see more figures printed and drawn from literature.
