The importance of tools

Bryce: A cobblestone shovel saved my life.  From gravel.

Bryce:  I always carry pickaxes.  I have a diamond pickaxe.

3 Minutes of Minecraft

Scene--our house, before school.  Players--My 7-year-old, 11-year-old and me.  Everyone had completed everything and therefore the kids were allowed a few minutes on their tablets.  Here is the conversation that followed:

Bryce:  "Hayden, heeeeere’s Mr. Lucky."

Me:  "Who’s Mr. Lucky?"

Bryce:  "Me, because when I was mining I ran into red stone.  I only can have a little bit more red stone because I’m close to 64.  So I’m just hunting iron."

Hayden:  "Have you found diamond?"

Bryce:  "I’ve found 12.  That’s good."

Bryce:  “Guess what I dug into, Hayden?”  Said in a spooky voice, “A mysteeeeeerious cave!”
Hayden:  "Good luck with that."

Me:  "Did you find anything in the cave?"

Bryce:  "Mainly iron, which is what I wanted."

Me:  "Glad that cave’s working out for you."

Hayden singing, “I found a caaaaaaave with milliiiiiions of mushroooooooms!!”  Then, in a normal voice, “No, literally, there’s a ton of mushrooms.”

Bryce, sounding alarmed, “I have to use pumpkins to get out!”

Me:  "To get out of what?"

Bryce, to me:  “The cave.”  To no one in particular, “Aww, nice!  Some lapis.”  Pause.  “Diamond!  DIAMOND!!”

Hayden:  "Oh, no.  I just fell."

Me:  "You fell where?"

Hayden:  "I fell down, but I got up."

More life lessons from #Minecraft.

The Chicken Pit

Hayden:  In Survival I have a chicken pit.  Chickens kept falling in this pit and I realized it was a convenient way to collect eggs, so I kept them there.

Prank portal

"I had a funny idea. I could make a portal with blocks around it, like wool blocks, and it would look like a sheep portal but really it would be a Nether portal. It would be cruel.  Like if you really liked portals you would go in and think you'd get a bunch of sheep but really you'd end up in the Nether, and with no armor!!!   That'd be totally funny."  Bryce, age 7

Epic

"I just created a giant Nether portal.  Now I'm going to try something even more epic."  Bryce, age 7

"The chicken is like, 'How big is your portal gonna be??'"
 

It's all about the cows

Hayden:  Look, my cow is following me around like a puppy!  Aww!
Oh, no!!  One of my wolves just killed it!  Bad wolf!  Bad!!

Bryce:  I put this cow in love mode and now it is following me around!!
Now all the cows are following me!  Hi, cow!  I love you, too!