When I visited Nick Hardman, the heart behind 3D Toy Shop, I wasn’t met with a workshop or warehouse. Instead, I stepped into a home where kindness has quite literally taken over the kitchen. Every Friday, that space is transformed as volunteers gather around tables filled with teddies, tools, and tiny 3D-printed medical devices – all made with love, patience, and purpose.
There’s something deeply heart-warming about seeing it in person. Teddies sit waiting to be completed, each one destined for a child somewhere in the world who needs comfort and reassurance. In the background, 3D printers quietly hum away, rarely stopping, producing the bespoke devices that make these toys so special. It feels less like production and more like care in action.
Nick is, without question, one of Morley’s true legends. His vision is simple but powerful: every child deserves to feel seen. For children living with medical conditions or disabilities, that sense of recognition can be life-changing. Seeing a teddy that looks like them – with the same feeding tube, prosthetic limb, hearing aid, or wheelchair – doesn’t just comfort them, it empowers them. It tells them that their difference is not something to hide, but something that is understood and accepted.
The impact of these toys goes far beyond play. In hospitals and therapy settings, 3D Toy Shop hospital packs are used by play specialists to help children understand medical procedures in a gentle, reassuring way. Through role-play, children are able to explore what’s happening to them before it happens, helping them feel more prepared, less anxious, and more in control. A teddy with the same medical device can turn something frightening into something familiar – and that familiarity gives children confidence at a time when they often feel powerless.
What makes this even more remarkable is how far these teddies travel. Although they are made in a Morley home, their destination is global. 3D Toy Shop now ships worldwide, sending comfort from West Yorkshire to families, hospitals, and healthcare professionals across the UK and beyond. Each parcel carries a little piece of Morley’s warmth with it.
Even when the volunteers head home at the end of a Friday session, the work doesn’t stop. The printers keep running, steadily producing the next batch of medical accessories, following digital designs created by Nick himself. Each 3D model is carefully thought through, shaped by real experiences and real needs. There’s a quiet determination behind it all – a sense that as long as there is a child who needs reassurance, the work will continue.
A vital part of making this possible is the Sponsor a Teddy scheme. This allows individuals, families, businesses, and community groups to sponsor the creation of a teddy for a child who may not otherwise be able to receive one. Sponsorship helps cover materials, printing, hospital packs, assembly, and worldwide shipping, ensuring no child is left out.
A sponsored teddy becomes more than a toy. It becomes a companion through hospital visits, a source of comfort during treatment, and a gentle reminder that someone, somewhere, believes in them. In empowering children to understand and accept their own journeys, these teddies help build resilience as well as smiles.
What stayed with me most after my visit was Nick himself. He doesn’t seek recognition. He simply shows up, week after week, supported by volunteers who give their time, skills and hearts freely. His kindness, humility, and determination are genuinely inspirational.
For Morley, this is something to be immensely proud of. A project with worldwide reach, built on compassion, community, and generosity, all beginning in a local home.
From a kitchen full of teddies on a Friday to children opening parcels across the globe, 3D Toy Shop proves that small beginnings can create extraordinary impact. And at the centre of it all is Nick – a Morley legend whose work empowers children and whose kindness truly knows no borders.
Find out more: www.3dtoy.shop