A quick guide to Minecraft for parents

Well, I’ve certainly learnt a lot about Minecraft since lockdown began. I haven’t played it, but the kiddies love playing it and talking about it too. Last week Minecraft updated and they were both so so excited about it that they almost exploded. I had lots of animated sentences such as “Look Mummy, it’s got new Crying Obsideon“. I had to respond with excitement, but had no idea what it meant. So this is a little Minecraft for parents guide, which will help you to understand what they are talking about. Obviously we are encouraging both offline play to balance out their fun too!

The new update is called the Nether Update, it was released last week and the kids were very happy about it. I have asked the kiddies to explain all of these words to me, so that I can understand what they are talking about, but also, I can let you know and you can look super cool in front of your children! It’s a quick guide to Minecraft for parents! I can just picture it now… “Hi Darling, how are you getting on with mining that new Crying Obsideon?”

The new updates that the kiddies were super excited about are: Blue Soul Torches, Netherite armour, Crying Obsideon, new vines (blue vines) and new planks (Warped Planks and Crimpson Planks).

What are planks and vines?

Planks are the wood for building, you can get different colours. Warped Planks are blue. Crimpson Planks are purple. You need the planks in order to create a crafting table, which allows you to make anything else. It seems to be a step in order to create tools, armour and make things with the materials you mine. Vines are used for climbing and can also be used for decoration, you can find these in the world and mine them with shears.

What is ore?

Ore is something you mine. For example: Diamond. You can also mine Crying Obsideon. Crying Obsideon is black and purple. If you add Lava and Water together it makes cobblestone or Obsideon. Obsideon is unbreakable, you can only mine it with a Diamond pick axe. Don’t you know? It is dried up lava as you can imagine that is very strong.

Netherite armour is stuff you wear to protect yourselves. It is an ore in the Nether. You can create a whole body full of armour that protects you from things killing you.

What do you need in Minecraft?

You will need the sword, axe, pick axe and shovel. The Sword is used to kill any of the animals for food. An Axe is used to mine trees for example. You can also kill the animals for food. A Pick axe is needed for mining stuff like Diamond, iron, coal or Netherite. The Shovel means you can mine sand, gravel and grass faster. You can also get shears, good for cutting vines.

The aim of mining all of these items is to build, you can build your own house. You can build an underground base.

A blue soul torch is something you can make out of Netherite ore. It is a new blue light for your house, which means the characters can have light in their houses.

What do the kids say?

Isla “You can learn new things, you can learn about different ore’s and about materials in the real world. You can also build cool houses”. Tip – when you get the new upgrade, get an iron door. The zombies cannot break in through this door.

Noah “Build, craft and survive”. Tip – If you place blue grass down, and add fire to it it will turn into blue fire. If you put the blue vines and you put these on blue grass it makes them grow quicker. Red vine, is rarely found in the Nether.

So, a little insight into what these words are and why they are important. New ore means new things to build, which means a better house or base or special hidden area in Minecraft. Don’t forget to check out the tips the kiddies have given you, they said it will help your kiddies build a better house. I hope you find this guide to Minecraft for parents useful.