Wednesday 11 November 2015

Why Your Child Should Be Playing Minecraft....

My girls love Minecraft....They even convinced me to play it for a while....When they're not playing it they are watching YouTube videos about it or reading about it in books....

If you don't know what Minecraft is....It's a computer game.....It's a virtual land where users can create their own worlds and experiences....Players begin on a randomly generated terrain....Square blocks make up mountains, deserts, villages, prairies and caves. To survive they have to create buildings and items like swords and pickaxes or a stove to cook on or a table to craft on....

When night falls mobs of monsters like spiders, zombies and skeletons appear. You either stay in your home or fight them off until daybreak....There is no blood and gore and the baddies are rather cute!


At Ellie's parents evening her teacher said Ellie wasn't writing enough and needed far too much encouragement to write anything so asked us is there something she loves that she could write about just so she can collect evidence that she can write in sentences with punctuation, paragraphs etc...We mentioned Minecraft and she said it is a good idea....She agreed that Minecraft was a great tool for learning and said all children should be playing it....


Although Minecraft is a game, universities and schools use it as a tool for education.....My eldest girls school has it on all the computers and she plays it most lunchtimes.

Minecraft teaches a wide range things....

Maths – Playing the Minecraft requires children to calculate their material requirements to construct their world. How many blocks do you need to build a door? How many swords can you make with what you have?

Resource management - The player has their resources and needs to decide wisely how to use them most effectively....Do you use that wood block to make your pick-axe for mining or save it for the house you're building?  

Patience - With Minecraft it takes a while to assemble the resources you need and build so instant gratification isn't an option....You have to wait for crops and trees to grow and until you find a sheep to make a bed the nights may be long....

Cooking - Players can grow crops and then cook things with what they have grown....Killing animals gives raw meat which needs to be cooked too.

Music – Minecraft contains note blocks that can teach children about notes, octaves and chords....

Teamwork - Minecraft can be played alone but it also has online options......You can play with others from around the world, team up and learn how to work cooperatively to make amazing things....

Basic Survival Skills – Children learn how to gather food and raw materials, build shelters and hideouts to stay safe from monsters....

Creativity - Minecraft encourages children to be creative as they explore and build within the world they have created....You can encourage your children to build something they have learned in school like a Scottish castle or an Egyptian pyramid....Some of the things Minecraft players have built are truly amazing...Vehicles, skyscrapers, working computers and even entire countries exactly to scale....

It’s not expensive....

After the initial outlay for the game (Under £20) all the updates are free....My girls have been playing it for well over a year so I think it's a pretty good investment....The graphics are simple so you don't need a super expensive computer to run it on either.....

It’s safe....

At the most basic level Minecraft is a very safe game for children to play.....There is no sex, drugs, bad language, guns or blood.....The violence is minimal and mostly used for survival rather than combat and can be totally avoided if you want.....Peaceful mode is safe with no baddies....

Do your children play Minecraft?

6 comments :

  1. It's funny as I was just asking my nephews about this at the weekend. My kids are yet to get into this, so I wanted to be prepared for it when it does come! Lots of learns, though, I can see the benefits x

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    1. It's a great game....It takes some getting used to but it very addictive. hehehe

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  2. We are a Minecraft loving household! My eldest plays it during the day and my partner and I play it at night!
    I hadn't realised just how educational this game really is!

    Laura x x x

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    1. My fella and I play it on an evening sometimes too...It is such a great game x

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  3. I've never played Minecraft and neither have my daughters. I had no idea it was so educational!

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