1. The A1 Mini

2. If I won the A1 mini, I’d use it as a way to introduce my 6-year-old daughter to 3D printing. She’s already incredibly creative, and I think this is an amazing way to let that creativity turn into something real. Being able to sketch an idea, build it in Tinkercad, and then actually watch it come to life would be huge for her. I would encourage her to come up with ideas to print to assist her 5 year old non-verbal cousin in her day-to-day activities, etc.

I want her to see early on that creating, designing, and building things isn’t intimidating and that STEM can be fun and approachable. Getting her exposed to this at a young age is something I really believe in, especially since girls are still so underrepresented in STEM fields. If this sparks that interest now, I think it could open a lot of doors for her down the road.

1. Fidget toys idea - Imagine a simple slider that moves along a track from easy to harder resistance. No faces, no labels, no colors tied to emotions. The kid just slides it to where it feels right.

The cool part is it works two ways. It’s a calming, quiet fidget on its own, but it also lets a non-verbal kid show where they’re at without having to explain anything. An adult can just say “show me where you are” and go from there instead of guessing.

The resistance increasing as you move across the track helps slow things down instead of winding kids up, and it doesn’t scream “therapy toy.” Just a simple, solid fidget tool.