In accordance with the purpose(s) of the present disclosure, as embodied and broadly described herein, the disclosure, in one aspect, relates to gel-phase inks suitable for extrusion-based 3D printing and methods of making the same, as well as anisotropic hydrogels printed from the same. In another aspect, the disclosure relates to linear contractile elements constructed from the anisotropic hydrogels and 3D structures with programmed morphologies and motions comprising the linear contractile elements. In still another aspect, the disclosure relates to a process for preparing soft materials and a method to create 3D structures starting from the gel-phase inks disclosed herein. This abstract is intended as a scanning tool for purposes of searching in the particular art and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure.