"Minecraft + STEM = An unstoppable force for fun and learning!"--

Unofficial Minecraft Lab for Kids is a collection of creative, collaborative projects that connect in-game challenges with hands-on activities that are both fun and educational. An Amazon Best Kids’ Books of 2016 pick! Minecraft offers players an environment focused on exploration, imagination, and creation, but its nonlinear game structure can mean spending a lot of time in the game. With these labs, you can balance your child's screen time with real-life learning and interaction. You will start the book by brushing up on some common Minecraft language and examining each of the four game modes: survival, creative, adventure, and spectator. Then, you’ll use this knowledge to venture off onto the six different quests that encourage child and adult participation. For each Lab, complete the hands-on activity in art, craft, or design, then build a related in-game project. Have fun with these creative projects and more: Make a Chinese finger trap from construction paper, followed by a zombie trap in Minecraft. Build a castle from sugar cubes, then learn to build one in Minecraft. Create shadow puppets to perform a scene from your favorite story, then animate the scene using Minecraft. Make a bow and arrow from popsicle sticks, dental floss, and a cotton swab, then do some archery practice in Minecraft. Sticker badges at the back of the book reward your child as they complete each quest. You'll even learn how to screencast and narrate your own videos to share with family and friends. Unofficial Minecraft Lab for Kids provides fun, educational gaming goals that you and your child can reach together! The popular Lab for Kids series features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, clay, geology, math, and even how to create your own circus—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The labs can be used as singular projects or as part of a yearlong curriculum of experiential learning. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Lab for Kids.

In Unofficial Minecraft Life Hacks Lab for Kids, Adam Clarke (aka Wizard Keen) and Victoria Bennett offer projects and gameplay that will guide you to make great choices as a player and a person. Minecraft is an amazing game that stimulates your creativity as you build whatever you can imagine, but it’s also great for learning about how to be a good citizen and mining positive connections with other players—in-game, elsewhere online, and in real life. With this book, you’ll learn about: How to set good gaming ground rules, collaborate, and resolve conflicts. Online resources, servers, and organizations that promote and guide positive play. Minecraft projects that promote and guide positive play and positive digital citizenship. Make every build a block party by learning to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly with Unofficial Minecraft Life Hacks Lab for Kids! The popular Lab for Kids series features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, clay, geology, math, and even how to create your own circus—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The labs can be used as singular projects or as part of a yearlong curriculum of experiential learning. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Lab for Kids.

The castles of Europe have become a long-lasting symbol of the hard work and ingenuity of medieval builders. This volume is a great way to learn all about the engineering principles needed to create these giant, enduring buildings. Readers will learn how to build arches, drawbridges, towers, and more. The photographs and illustrations show the historical period during which castles were built, as well as examples of castles constructed in Minecraft. Readers will also be encouraged to explore computer programming to make their own mods in Minecraft.

When building in Minecraft, the sky is the limit! You can construct a city with buildings that tower over Steve and the game’s other inhabitants. Using Minecraft constructions as a guide, this book teaches readers about STEM in the real world. With a mixture of dazzling photographs, cutaway illustrations, and Minecraft examples, this book is sure to amaze and educate young readers. The text encourages readers to use computer coding skills to make their own mods in Minecraft. Help readers get on the elevator and take it to the top floor of this fascinating volume.

In the real world, it really wouldn't be a good idea to play with lava. It isn't a great idea in Minecraft, either, but it's a lot safer than it would be at home! This fascinating book shows young readers ways they can experiment in Minecraft using real-world facts about the science behind these projects. They can work with lava and water to produce different kinds of stone, with gunpowder to produce fireworks, and TNT. With the game's many plants to produce different kinds of dyes and other materials, readers will be endlessly fascinated, and it's all for science!

Why do people build with arches? Why do we use stone in some places and wood in others? What's a foundation? How do you plan a road or construct a bridge? The answers to these questions can help gamers in Minecraft and in the real world! Through building their own structures and systems in Minecraft, young readers and gaming fans will learn about the past and present of human engineering, with a vision toward the future.

Minecraft construction is the ultimate way to get creative. Players build castles, famous structures, and even entire cities with the game's construction materials. Filled with fun tips, readers will learn the ins and outs of construction and be inspired by other gamers' creations. Screenshots and sidebars that highlight STEM and coding concepts round out the experience.

Building houses and other structures is a major focus in the exploratory sandbox game Minecraft. Players can build their own towns and explore towns built by other players. Minecraft towns can include homes, skyscrapers, railroads, and anything else you can dream up. The information and instructions included in this book, supported by colorful cutaway and Minecraft illustrations, are sure to help readers make connections between the popular game and real-world STEM applications. The text also encourages readers to explore computer programming as a way to create Minecraft mods.

It should come as no surprise that mining is a very important way to obtain resources in the game of Minecraft. It's also a very important way to get resources in the real world. This informative book shows young readers more about how people build real-life mines and what they mine for, including in-game resources such as diamonds, iron, gold, and coal. It will also show them how to use that information to make their Minecraft mines safer and even more productive.