Hello again everyone. It looks like I missed my Thursday post day... again. Wednesday was All Staff Training Day, so Thursday wound up being one massing game of catch-up! But more on that later.
I'm going to do something today that I haven't done before and likely won't do again (or at lease very often)... I'm going to discuss a program BEFORE it happens. *gasp of disbelief* However, I'm doing this for a very specific reason: to let some very specific people know what we're doing in hopes that they will be able to help us out a little.
And so I present to you Minecraft Madness!
This was actually the brain child of another colleague/friend of mine, Ashley. (Also, you all need to check out her blog too!) The funny thing is she's never played Minecraft. Still hasn't! We are in the process of scheduling an intro training. However, Ashley has read a lot about Minecraft in libraries and she is currently pushing for us to get Minecraft installed on our teen computers (cross your fingers). So I guess she liked the concept... and thus she grabbed me; because I know the game.
So after much brainstorming we came up with a few base crafts/activities:
But the biggest obstacle we faced (and still do) is that we wanted to actually have a station for the teens to play the game. We have 2 Xboxes (yes, I know all you Minecraft purists just gagged a little... but we're working with what we have!) but even with all our controllers and devices, that's only 4 kids who can play. I can't guarantee, but I get the feeling that the game would end up being monopolized by a small few. So I came up with the idea of making the whole event arcade style!
The teens will get tickets for completing each station, then bring them to the "crafting table" to exchange them for prizes! This may not seem like a solution to the problem at hand, but here it is: we can turn the game into a 1 to 2 player speed challenge. We can set up a few challenges for solo, player vs. player, and/or co-op play. Then when their challenge is over, they get their ticket and let the next group go and rotate through thusly!
Now we face a new challenge: what games/challenges should we offer? We have some time to set things up in advance. I want to have king of the ladder (because MindCrack is the best), and we'll probably have something like, "who can dig down to bedrock and get back up first using only wooden tools," but we're looking for more.
So, if any of you out there know of some fun games/challenges we can build on Minecraft, please please send us the suggestions! We'll take links to ideas, videos, comments... anything! Keep in mind, I'm building with a beginner here, so we'll need a few simpler things for her to work on, but I'm not adverse to a little redstone mechanics myself (although I'm still pretty new to it)... and we can always enlist my hubby to help us build, since he's a redstone fan.
And to all of you out there who aren't sure I was speaking English... you defiantly need to come to our program on the 22nd! You don't know what you're missing.
I'm going to do something today that I haven't done before and likely won't do again (or at lease very often)... I'm going to discuss a program BEFORE it happens. *gasp of disbelief* However, I'm doing this for a very specific reason: to let some very specific people know what we're doing in hopes that they will be able to help us out a little.
And so I present to you Minecraft Madness!
 |
| Our flier! Share it with your friends. |
This was actually the brain child of another colleague/friend of mine, Ashley. (Also, you all need to check out her blog too!) The funny thing is she's never played Minecraft. Still hasn't! We are in the process of scheduling an intro training. However, Ashley has read a lot about Minecraft in libraries and she is currently pushing for us to get Minecraft installed on our teen computers (cross your fingers). So I guess she liked the concept... and thus she grabbed me; because I know the game.
 |
| Our displays... The cubes have program details on them! |
So after much brainstorming we came up with a few base crafts/activities:
- Making tools/weapons with perler beads (which can then be turned into keychains)
- Making tiny Minecraft chests (we still haven't tested that one)
- Minecraft papercraft (because it's "all the rage," super easy, and kind of awesome)
- Designing your own Steve skins
- 2D house design (using grid paper and colored pencils)
- And possibly a station for viewing Minecraft vids on YouTube (still working on that)
 |
| Perler bead demo... I didn't get to fuse them, but they're not too bad! |
But the biggest obstacle we faced (and still do) is that we wanted to actually have a station for the teens to play the game. We have 2 Xboxes (yes, I know all you Minecraft purists just gagged a little... but we're working with what we have!) but even with all our controllers and devices, that's only 4 kids who can play. I can't guarantee, but I get the feeling that the game would end up being monopolized by a small few. So I came up with the idea of making the whole event arcade style!
The teens will get tickets for completing each station, then bring them to the "crafting table" to exchange them for prizes! This may not seem like a solution to the problem at hand, but here it is: we can turn the game into a 1 to 2 player speed challenge. We can set up a few challenges for solo, player vs. player, and/or co-op play. Then when their challenge is over, they get their ticket and let the next group go and rotate through thusly!
Now we face a new challenge: what games/challenges should we offer? We have some time to set things up in advance. I want to have king of the ladder (because MindCrack is the best), and we'll probably have something like, "who can dig down to bedrock and get back up first using only wooden tools," but we're looking for more.
 |
| My scary "help us" face! |
So, if any of you out there know of some fun games/challenges we can build on Minecraft, please please send us the suggestions! We'll take links to ideas, videos, comments... anything! Keep in mind, I'm building with a beginner here, so we'll need a few simpler things for her to work on, but I'm not adverse to a little redstone mechanics myself (although I'm still pretty new to it)... and we can always enlist my hubby to help us build, since he's a redstone fan.
And to all of you out there who aren't sure I was speaking English... you defiantly need to come to our program on the 22nd! You don't know what you're missing.
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