Community› The Bump Message Boards› School-Aged Children
School-Aged Children
New Discussion

Mindcraft

di0607di0607 member
in School-Aged Children
I have a 6 year old. Can someone give me the mind craft cliffnotes?
Report Reply to Post

Re: Mindcraft

  • MirandaHobbesMirandaHobbes member

    More info, please and thank you. My son is completely uninterested, I think because he just doesn't know what the point is or how to play. I've tried to read the wiki's but even I'm confused. What's the basic premise? Is it kindof like Sim City? I'm just now trying to learn how to play Pokémon which is totally kicking my butt (but DS loves it). Most of the boys in his class are more interested in Minecraft so I'd like to work on it.

    Report Reply
  • Loading the player...
  • mommatotwo2mommatotwo2 member
    My 6.5 year old daughter loves it and has been mega interested for about a year now.  She plays it on her Kindle Fire and recently got it for the PC.  You can download the pocket version for a smart phone or tablet for around 6 bucks and the full version PC game is also downloadable, we paid 25 for that I think.  My daughter plays mostly in creative mode (no monsters, or at least minimal monsters).

    It's not like SimCity.  You start with a basic land and you have to build things, for instance, you can build a house using wood and bricks, but first you have to find the materials to make the wood blocks and brick blocks and "craft" them using a crafting table.  There are animals that also have uses, or they can  just wander around.  The PC version has horses and my daughter really likes that.  That's about all that I can tell you, she has a much better grasp on it than I do, and she became interested in it on her own.  We've since picked up the 4 books the p.p. mentioned and I know there is a ton of information online if you search for it.  But the best way is probably downloading the pocket version to a smartphone or tablet if you have one available and let him just play around with it.
    Lilypie Second Birthday tickers Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers
    Report Reply
  • neverblushedneverblushed member
    I think it's one of the best educational games money can buy for school aged kids. 

     The basic premise is that your character appears in a randomly-generated infinite world of different biomes/habitats.  You start with your character's bare hands and gather ingredients to "craft" bigger and better tools and items.  When the sun sets, monsters appear and attack you if you aren't in a shelter.  As you explore the world, you find different items and materials, including rare ores with different property located in pits and mines.  If your child doesn't like being "jumped" by monsters in the game, you can switch to "peaceful" or "creative" mode, which allows you to explore or build in infinite ways.  It's like digital legos, but without having to step on legos, put them away, and you have an infinite supply of different types of legos.

     If your child is reading independently, get this book set by Mojang, the game's developers.  My kids have several instruction books and magazines, but they report that these are the only ones that actually give step-by-step instructions for building things.

    Ditto PP about PC vs. tablet.  Both of my kids enjoy the game more when they play on a touchscreen.

    This game is a winner for school aged kids and adults!  I have fiddled around with it, and it's really fascinating and enjoyable.
    High School English teacher and mom of 2 kids:

    DD, born 9/06/00 -- 12th grade
    DS, born 8/25/04 -- 7th grade
    Report Reply
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards
"
"