Building Planning with Minecraft – House Build

Building Planning with Minecraft - House Build

In this workshop, our expert Gamer Guides lead kids through fun Minecraft activities to improve their planning skills.

Today’s Activity: Building Houses

For this session together with our gamer-guides and your children will be using their planning and creativity skills to work together to construct a house as a team!

This week we work as one big team to build a mansion together! Your child along with everyone else participating will be assigned one wing of this mansion. Each child must make a plan for the type of room they want to add to this mansion! We will ask questions like; What will the rooms purpose be? How do you plan to design it? What theme are you going with?

Then time to start building! Our gamer-guides will be flying around assisting in any way needed. They will be giving materials and asking questions to keep your child’s mind going and help them stick to their plan.  Once the time runs up we will group up take a tour of the mansions, everyone’s wing’s and reflect! Each child will get their own chance to show off and explain their room, what their plan was and how it went overall.

We will wrap up with the most important part by having a group conversation on how planning ahead will help their future video game tasks and with many real life tasks they challenge everyday!

For more information about Planning, visit the Planning Page at LearningWorks for Kids.

Have more Questions feel free to contact us at live@learningworksforkids.com

Workshop Schedule

To join the live session, simply select the appropriate date and time below, then click on the Join Live Session button.  If this is your child’s first Minecraft session, please make sure to view and follow our setup instructions.

Click here to view setup instructions.

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Workshop Activities

The LW4K method to using video games as teaching tools relies on strategic teaching principles and our approach of “Detect, Reflect, and Connect.” The purpose of the Detect, Reflect, and Connect steps is to mold the child into an active learner who becomes aware of, engaged in, and contemplative of what she is learning. These steps can enhance motivation and concentration. They also assist in extending learning beyond a particular game or technology and connecting it to the real world.

  • Detect

    Detect or identify when and where they are using thinking skills in video game play.

    Before we start building the Learningworks For Kids gamer guides will make it clear that today’s session is about Planning. As we give out the basic materials we will bounce around and talk about everyones plan for their room in the house and make sure they stick by their original plan.

  • Reflect

    Reflect or consider how the thinking skills used during gameplay helps them to achieve their goals.

    Once their room of the mansion is built we will talk about how creating a plan in the beginning helped the build faster, with a goal and an overall more complete project with a vision in mind rather then randomly placing down blocks and items.

  • Connect

    Connect or apply game-based thinking skills to real-world activities.

    Through out the session we will relate the planning your child is using in minecraft with tasks they must overcome on a daily basis. For example, talking about how planning their room on the game is not too different then planning out their weekend or class schedule.

Follow-Up Activities

Activity #1

Play Together – Building Creation

In our session your child had a limited time to build one section of a house with a group of other children. On your own time why not take it to the next level? Have your child create their own building! Just like in our sessions the prioritization should be planning though.  Make sure before they start building you ask questions so your child has a full plan in their head. What type of building are they going to create? What type of style? What Materials are they going to use? We suggest a time limit to keep them on track and this activity can be done in Survival or Creative as well. Throughout the Building have them take brakes and reflect on what they’ve started and check to see if they are following their initial plan. Reflect at the end. What could they have done better? Did it turn out how they imagined it? How could this be like something they plan in school?

Activity #2

Make It Work – Recess/Outdoor Plan

Planning can be practiced even with the activities your child is already doing! Find your child’s favorite outdoor sport, game or activity, and have them think about it before they run off and do it. This can be used whether your child enjoys playing basketball or any sport with friends,  playing an outdoor game like manhunt or even just gathering at a park and meeting up with someone! A day or two ahead ask them what the plan to do with their Recess/outdoor activity time tomorrow. Where will they go? Who will they invite? What game will they play? As well take these question and have them make an actual plan. After that day reflect on the activities! Did you have fun? Was the game how you imagine it? Was the game how you imagined it?