Little Reviews: Minecraft Books for Kids

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My sons love Minecraft. When they get together with friends, they enter into a conversation that only vaguely resembles the English language. I’ll admit it’s a little mind-boggling for me. And to tell you the truth, I don’t care to learn it. To me, Minecraft is an obsession that proves its worth in clean folded laundry and delicious home-cooked dinners with the soothing sound of my very own radio station to keep me company. But apparently, this sanity-saver can also teach a whole lot about computer coding, which many people claim will be the language of the future.

Minecraft Books for Kids – Reviewed

So (with their futures in mind), I was excited to receive a copy of one of Wiley’s newest books in the For Dummies series titled “Minecraft Modding For Kids For Dummies.” In case you haven’t heard, ‘Modding’ basically means modifying or customizing the game. In “Minecraft Modding for Kids,” players are instructed to code in Javascript. To do this, they must have the PC version of Minecraft, not the pocket edition. Also, they’ll need to access LearntoMod Software, for which the book provides a free access code. The software offers a set of sample mods to build and guides readers through the process.

Although the book lays out the instructions fairly simply, this type of coding can be challenging for a child who has never had any previous coding experience. For first-timers, I recommend working through some of the sample projects on Scratch before embarking on Minecraft modding. Scratch uses a similar drag and drop method to create projects and is written in a format simple enough for children as young as 8-years-old. Scratch is a project of the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab. It is available online free of charge.

Another Wiley Book for beginning coders is “Adventures in Minecraft.” This will extend their Minecraft experience to include things like building houses, writing interactive games, and building custom game control panels using simple electronic circuits, among other things. This book can be used independently by 11 – 15-year-olds who want to learn how to write Minecraft programs in Python on a PC, Mac, or Raspberry Pi, or by younger children with the help of mom or dad.

Once they are fully immersed in the world of Minecraft and computer coding, they’ll be up for the challenge of “Minecraft Modding for Kids.”   This book (and the free software) will teach them things like:

• Making your first Minecraft mod
• Making your first Minecraft mingame
• Designing and building a multiplayer minigame
• Building your own Minecraft minigame.

If coding is the future, these resources are a great way to get started.  Kids will have fun while learning and do it all by themselves!

Find more book suggestions on our Bookshelf!

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