Unofficial Minecraft Life Hacks Lab for Kids

This book wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be but it looks to be pretty good! There are a lot of ways that tie Minecraft to life skills/social skills. My child is excited to dive into some of the projects mentioned!

Unofficial Minecraft Life Hacks Lab for Kids is book 22 (of 24 currently) in the Lab for Kids series. Released 2nd July 2019 by Quarto on their Quarry imprint, it's 144 pages and available in a flexibound workbook and ebook formats. Aimed at middle grade readers and their adults (parents, guardians, school resource personnel/teachers etc), it uses analogies from Minecraft to roleplay real life situations and to model positive solutions.

Despite being a 'gaming' book, this little lab book includes some really good introductions and exercises for very important life skills such as good communication, empathy, cooperation, problem solving, leadership, self confidence building, and many more. Most of the units include sidebars with new vocabulary or definitions. The information is presented in a positive manner and is never strident or intimidating (or preachy). There are 24 lab units included in the book as well as a comprehensive links and resources list for further exploration. The book also includes a simple cross referenced index.

This is a fun and worthwhile book. It would make a great classroom library book, resource book, homeschool resource book, or support text for a module on social studies subjects like relationships, bullying, social interaction, etc for kids 7-10(+). There's also a wide range of activities and most of the experiments use easily sourced materials. The photography is appealing and many of the photos use the familiar pixelated Minecraft graphics.

Five stars

If you have Minecraft fans like I do then this book is a great idea. It will give you a chance to perhaps make life easier while experiencing a bit of something your children enjoy. The design is well done and the colors fit perfectly with the game. Read a chapter a day and learn some life hacks Minecraft style. The subtitle of this book is How to Stay Sharp, Have Fun, Avoid Bullies, and Be the Creative Ruler of Your Universe so that gives you a little more of an idea of what you’ll find inside. It is a creative and imaginative book with some helpful information included. We recommend it especially to Minecraft fans and think it would be wonderful in a classroom, library or even as a supplement to a Bible class or such discussion group. This is good for older elementary and middle grade ages.
You’ll find hands-on activities even with the templates available at the end of the book so you can print them out as many times as you want or need. This is nice allowing you to redo anything because mistakes happen or change your mind or whatever reason you want to print again. They will learn positive lessons such as digital citizenship, responsibility and much more. Lessons within this book feature math, art and even astronomy, but that’s not all. After reading this book and working the projects together you and your child, or children, just might see life and even Minecraft a little differently. Oh, and that’s not a bad thing!

Lovely book. My son loved me reading it to him. The targeted audience. It was easy to read and well written

For kids who enjoy Minecraft, this is a book that encourages prior thought and craft before diving into the game itself.

This book is split into two sections: Acquiring skills and Applying skills to projects, with twelve ideas for the children to follow, from communication skills, problem solving to engaging with your community or supporting a cause. The ideas are split into offline crafts and then applying the discoveries to your online Minecraft worlds.

It might suit some kids who are patient enough to try stuff offline first, but I'm not sure about mine, though getting them to work together would be nice once in a while! I did like the idea of building blocks of connections which seems a bit like a game of charades using Minecraft blocks, so will suggest the kids try that this week.

It's also mainly aimed at those using a PC as the keystrokes given are for that only, though I'm sure some of it can be translated into Xbox use.

I received this book from Netgalley in return for a honest review.