Playdough Tool Design Challenge

“You have a 3-D printer in your *kindergarten* classroom? Why?” This is a question I have heard countless times over the past several years. My answer usually describes how exposing students to a technology that will likely be common place in their future is a powerful way to broaden my students' horizons. However, over the past year I have added a second, more compelling answer, rooted not in the future, but in the present- “To teach my students to create solutions to everyday problems.” This lesson, as is or with slight modification, allows a teacher of any grade with access to a 3-D printer to move their students from passive consumers to problem solving creators using one of the most powerful and important tools for learning in the history of our species- play.