When kids would gladly forego homework, chores, and sometimes even playdates for Minecraft, it’s natural to wonder if Minecraft is worth all that time played. There is a great deal of evidence demonstrating how kids learn from Minecraft and many other video games, and Minecraft is being used in thousands of classrooms as a tool for teaching history, math, geology, and physics. Our team at LearningWorks for Kids has written extensively about Minecraft being an excellent tool for teaching executive functioning skills. So what’s the best way to balance a game that has the potential to take up so much of a kid’s time with other obligations and priorities?
Recently, we began developing a series of Let’s Play videos, those videos that your kids can’t get enough of on YouTube, to demonstrate how Minecraft can be used to teach skills such as planning and time management. In Episode 9: Mine Management, Ryan takes viewers along as he demonstrates some expert mining skills. Kids will come away with an understanding of the importance of time management in order to effectively use these skills while playing Minecraft.
