C4G · CAD for Good

Free 3D design workshops for kids 10–15 · Hinsdale, Illinois

Hi, I'm Ahaan. I teach kids to design things in 3D, and then we print them.

C4G, short for CAD for Good, is a free four-session workshop for small groups of 5 to 8 kids. They learn to design in Tinkercad, and everything they make gets 3D printed so they can take it home.

I wrote the lessons and teach every session, and one of my parents comes as the supervising adult. I'm booking libraries and youth programs for winter and spring 2027 now.

Portrait of Ahaan Anand.

Ahaan Anand · High school student, HinsdaleI designed and built EcoFloat, an autonomous boat that maps oxygen levels in local lakes. Through that research, I've worked with a professor and researcher at Northwestern University and a lake ecologist at the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. See my projects

How hosting works or just email me
A Fusion 360 CAD model of EcoFloat V3 on a blue grid: two orange hulls, a black electronics cover, metal crossbars, and an orange winch spool. 1 · Designed in Fusion 360
The finished EcoFloat V3 floating on a calm lake in evening sun next to a wooden dock, matching the CAD model. 2 · Built with 3D-printed parts
EcoFloat V3, first as a CAD model and then as a real boat on the lake. Every C4G project follows the same path, just smaller: design it on screen, then print it.

What kids do in four sessions

No experience needed. Each session builds on the last one, and every kid goes home with something they designed, printed that day or ready at the next session.

  1. Session 1: A name keychain

    Make a Tinkercad account, learn to move around the workplane, and design a keychain with your name on it. Then we print everyone's.

    Takes home: their keychain

  2. Session 2: A phone stand

    Learn to cut and combine shapes, the move behind almost all 3D design, and use it to build a phone stand.

    Takes home: a phone stand

  3. Session 3: Your own idea

    Each kid sketches something they want to exist, then builds it with one-on-one help from me.

    Takes home: a design that's all theirs

  4. Session 4: Finish it and show it off

    Polish and print final projects, have a mini show-and-tell, and learn how to keep designing at home for free.

    Takes home: a finished project

Who
Kids ages 10–15, in groups of 5 to 8
When
Four sessions, one a week
Cost
Free, for families and for the host
Software
Tinkercad, which is free and runs in a web browser
Language
English
A Tinkercad workplane with a red keychain tag and a row of colorful 3D letters A to Z above it.
Session 1 in Tinkercad. Kids pick letters, snap them onto a tag, and group it all into one printable part.
A large black part printing inside a Bambu Lab 3D printer, held up by branching tree-shaped supports.
One of my EcoFloat parts printing on my Bambu Lab P1S. In the workshop, kids watch their own designs print the same way.

Hosting C4G at your library or program

The first thing I always ask:

Can you seat 5 to 8 kids at internet-connected computers, in one room, at the same time, four times?

If the answer is yes, everything else is simple. Here's how the work splits.

What I bring

  • 3D printers and all the filament
  • The lessons. I wrote them and I teach all four sessions.
  • Every project material, free
  • One of my parents as the supervising adult, every time

What I need from you

  • A room on a regular weekday afternoon or Saturday
  • Internet-connected computers or laptops, reserved for the group
  • A power outlet and a bit of table space for the printer
  • Help letting families know, with a flyer, newsletter, or sign-up sheet

Timing

Libraries usually plan programs three to six months out, so I'm filling winter and spring 2027 now. If you're not sure your space works, email me anyway and tell me what you have.

How it usually goes

  1. You email me, or fill in the form below.
  2. We do a quick call or visit to look at the room and computers.
  3. We pick four dates, same time each week.
  4. You let families know.
  5. I teach, the printer runs, and kids take home what they made.

Tell me about your space

Check what you have and I'll get an email ready for you to send. Nothing is sent until you hit send in your own email app.

Your space has:

Here's what the email will say:


        

          Open it in my email
          
          
        

      

    

  


  

    

      

        
Keeping it safe

        
Your first job is keeping kids safe, so here's exactly how this works.

      

      
    
        
  • An adult at every sessionOne of my parents is there each time as the supervising adult. Your staff never have to run it.
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  • Small groupsFive to eight kids means everyone gets real attention, and the room is easy to supervise.
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  • Your building, your rulesSessions follow your policies and fit around your schedule.
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  • Just volunteersWe're not a company or a vendor. There's nothing to sell, no fees, and no contract.
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        Portrait of Ahaan Anand.
        

          
About me

          
I'm Ahaan Anand, a high school student in Hinsdale. Almost everything I build starts in CAD. I design in Fusion 360, print parts on a Bambu Lab P1S and an Elegoo resin printer, and write up each build on my blog, madebyahaan.com.

          
My biggest project is EcoFloat, a boat I designed and built to measure oxygen levels in local lakes. It's taken me from a trash-collecting prototype to real field research, including work with a professor and researcher at Northwestern University and a lake ecologist at the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County. Here's some of what I've built, and how each one connects to what kids learn in C4G.

        

      


      

        

          Three versions of the EcoFloat boat lined up on green turf in a basement: a black-and-orange hull on the left, a gray-and-purple one with two green thrusters in the middle, and a yellow one on the right.
          
Three versions of EcoFloat. My lake-survey boat, three versions in. Each version fixed what broke in the one before it. That loop of design, print, test, and improve is exactly what kids practice in C4G.

        

        

          Three aerial maps of Golfview Lake stacked on top of each other, each showing the boat's back-and-forth survey path colored by dissolved oxygen level.
          
Same mission, three days. EcoFloat drove the same route over Golfview Lake on its own three times and logged 1,699 oxygen readings. Real research, and it all started with designing parts on a computer, the same first step kids take in session 1.

        

        

          View from the back of EcoFloat on a calm lake at sunset: an orange cable spool on a black and orange 3D-printed frame, with the oxygen probe hanging down toward the water between the two hulls.
          
The depth winch. It lowers EcoFloat's probe to measure oxygen deep in a lake. The spool is a 3D-printed part I designed from simple shapes, using the same cut-and-combine skill kids learn in session 2.

        

        

          A Fusion 360 section view of the winch cut in half: the motor housing on the left, the two spool flanges in the middle, and the axle on the right, hatched in light blue with the orange slip ring and internal parts inside.
          
Inside the winch. A cut-away view in Fusion 360 showing how the parts fit together. Kids start in Tinkercad, which is simpler, but the idea is the same: build it on screen and check that it works before you print.

        

        

          A CAD render of a round cycloidal gearbox sitting on top of a stepper motor.
          
A 3D-printed gearbox. A 15:1 cycloidal drive I designed instead of buying one. That's the idea I want kids to leave with: if you can design it, you can make it.

        

        

          A wooden workbench holding a black resin printer, an orange Elegoo wash and cure station, and a Bambu Lab P1S printer, with filament spools on the shelf below.
          
My print setup. The printers I learned on, on a workbench I built with 3D-printed brackets. For C4G, I bring printers to every session so kids can watch their own designs get made.

        

      


      

        
I've had the tools and the chance to learn this. I want kids who might not have a 3D printer at home to feel that same pride of making something themselves.

        
That's why I started C4G.

      

      
The full build notes for everything above are on madebyahaan.com.

    

  


  

    

      

        
Questions people ask

      

      

        
What does it cost?
Nothing. I cover the printers, the filament, and the project materials. Families and hosts don't pay anything.

        
Do kids need any experience?
No. Session 1 starts from zero: making an account and learning to move around in Tinkercad.

        
Do we need to install anything?
No. Tinkercad is free and runs in a web browser, so any internet-connected computer works. The printer plugs into a normal outlet.

        
Do kids keep what they make?
Yes. Everything they design gets printed, and they take it home that day or at the next session.

        
Who supervises?
One of my parents, at every session. Your staff don't have to teach or run anything.

        
Are you a company or an organization?
No, we're two volunteers. There's nothing to buy, no fees, and no contract.

        
Where do you run sessions?
At libraries, community centers, and youth programs around Hinsdale and in Chicago.

        
I'm a parent. How can my kid join?
Kids sign up through the library or program that hosts a session. If you'd like C4G near you, ask your library to host it, or email me and tell me where you are.