Most children that I know have heard of the popular game Minecraft. If you haven’t heard of it, Minecraft is a game where you can build almost anything you want out of cubes. Okay, I know what you’re thinking, but once you see it, you will understand. You can go to the Nether, go to The End (on the computer), create worlds, and play with your friends. Minecraft has two modes: Survival or Creative. Survival mode is where you have to make or find the resources yourself, and can die if you don’t eat or run into monsters. Creative mode is where you have all of your resources in front of you and are good to go build whatever you want and can fly but can’t die.

Parents, you are probably thinking that this Minecraft nonsense is only for fun, and how are my kids going to learn from this? Well, what you might be overlooking is that your children are learning some basic math. For instance: How many bricks do I need for that column over there? I know the perimeter, but what is the area of the rectangle that I need to build? And from red sand, gravel, and sand you can learn basic physics. See? Minecraft makes the player ask these types of questions. But, usually children grow out of Minecraft faster than other things. Also, playing it would mean staring at the screen all day, and is that really what you want your child doing? Given that kids enjoy playing it and that it has a math and physics component, I shall give Minecraft a three and a half star rating.