15 Ways Minecraft Can Be Used As An Education Tool (For Kids)

Last Updated on January 25, 2024 by Gamesver Team and JC Franco

Minecraft has become one of the most well-known educational games on the market today, so much so that there’s even a dedicated Education Edition. Educators and homeschooling parents that want to modernize their classrooms will do well incorporating Minecraft into their lessons. Here are 15 ways to use Minecraft as a tool to help educate kids, either in a school or at home.

Minecraft Education Edition has many curriculum-approved maps and other custom content to help teach various subjects, including maths, history, physics, geography, and more. If you can’t get Education Edition, don’t worry. You can use any Minecraft edition for education.

1. Use Minecraft Education Edition’s Built-In Tools

If you can get access to Minecraft Education Edition, that’s the best way to use it for educational purposes. Education Edition comes with a plethora of different maps, worlds, and resource packs that are designed to teach almost every subject or topic imaginable. 

Unfortunately, Minecraft Education Edition is only available to registered schools and educational institutions. If you are a teacher with one of these, encourage your school to get a few licenses. It’s worth it.

If you are homeschooling your child or want to use Minecraft to help your child in a tutoring capacity, you won’t be able to get a copy of Education Edition. The good news is that any edition of Minecraft will do if you know where to look and how to use it. Most of the options listed below are available for any Minecraft edition, and similar options are already included with Education Edition.

2. Countries Of The World Custom Minecraft Map

Geography is not known as one of the favorite subjects of most kids, but it can be. Minecraft has some options that can make Geography fun while learning. This includes maps of the countries and flags of the world. You can use these free Minecraft worlds and maps to broaden their perspective of the world they live in and introduce them to some other cultures.

3. Great Fire Of London Custom Minecraft Map

There are many great Minecraft resources that can help you to teach history. Two examples of this are the Great Fire of London and the Pre-Fire London maps. They have detailed maps of London both before and during the great fire of 1666, which is valuable for teaching European history and giving kids a better understanding of how the world worked in the early industrial age.

4. “We Are The Rangers” Minigame For Minecraft

Do you want to teach kids about the dangers of animal poaching and endangered species? We Are The Rangers is a Minecraft map that does that in a tremendously fun way. The kids become a team of wildlife rangers that have to chase poachers down before they can harm animals. 

Kids love this Minecraft world that’s filled with rhinos, elephants, and other wildlife species that are endangered or popularly poached for various reasons.

5. Explore The International Space Station In Minecraft

Most kids dream of becoming an astronaut at some point. Now it’s easier than ever for any young child to explore the International Space Station and even complete some tasks on it. There are many ISS maps for Minecraft with a variety of functions, from showing how the ISS evolved to even having to complete challenges to survive on the ISS. These maps are excellent learning tools.

6. See And Experience World War II In Minecraft

Teaching history has never been easier. There are over a thousand Minecraft maps dedicated to World War II specifically. Some of these show detailed models of planes, tanks, and ships used during the war, while others focus more on the historical aspects of the war, like the invasions and attacks that went with it. Kids can even compete in a Risk-like Minecraft battle to conquer countries!

7. “Math Rush” Mathematics Game For Minecraft

Another rather unpopular school subject is Maths. Thankfully there are excellent Minecraft maps and minigames that can help you teach it in a fun way! Some teachers let their kids design rollercoasters to help with trigonometry and geometry. There’s also Math Rush, a custom Minecraft minigame that tests and improves children’s math knowledge.

8. Minecraft Science Kit Lets You Do Science Experiments In Minecraft

There is a complete resource pack for Minecraft called the Minecraft Science Kit, which includes worlds and maps that teach everything science-related, including renewable energy, eukaryotic cells, chemistry, biology, bridge building, etc. The list is nearly endless, and new maps and minigames are being added all the time. 

9. Coding And Programming Is Easy To Learn Using Minecraft

Minecraft can be used to teach basic coding skills. There are many Minecraft coding add-ons that you can download for every edition of Minecraft, including the official Code Builder. These use a Codeblock system to teach kids the basics of computer programming structures like if statements, loops, and simple algorithms, leading to immediate changes that they can observe in the game.

10. Technology, Electronics, And Mechanics Are Central To Minecraft

Minecraft has an excellent built-in system called Redstone. Redstone is a resource that can be mined and used to build electronic-type circuits and mechanical contraptions. Redstone is similar to electricity in many ways, and building challenging machines using Redstone mechanics is an excellent way to teach kids how technology works.

11. Play Minecraft Yourself To Get Creative Ideas

Sometimes you can’t find a map or resource that does exactly what you need. But nothing’s stopping you from designing or developing it yourself! To do that, you must be familiar with Minecraft. The best way is to play Minecraft yourself. If you play it with your kids, it also gives you valuable opportunities to educate them informally in various different ways, without them even realizing it.

12. Learn Minecraft’s Mechanics So You Can Build Your Own Worlds

It’s essential to understand what you have available to work with in Minecraft if you want to build your own maps and resources. An excellent tool you can use called All The Particles shows every Minecraft block with descriptions and how to use them. Familiarize yourself with Minecraft’s blocks and mechanics, and you will be able to create the greatest educational tools ever.

13. Get To Know Minecraft’s Commands

Some capabilities in Minecraft require the use of special commands. There are so many commands available that it can quickly get confusing. But a custom map called Command School was specifically designed to teach you these commands. It’s helpful to get to know all of them so you know what you can and cannot do while you’re using Minecraft to teach and educate others.

14. Start A Minecraft Club At School

Minecraft Clubs or eSports Teams are valuable ways to teach children essential life skills like leadership, strategy, creativity, quick thinking, decision making, etc. Start a club and give them challenges to complete. You will be blown away by the brilliant ideas and implementations that these kids can come up with when they can compete in an open, unlimited world like Minecraft!

15. Get Everyone Involved In Minecraft Education

When you’re using Minecraft as a teaching tool, it helps if you have everyone on board. If you’re teaching in a school, try to get other teachers to use Minecraft as well. Get the school management and parents in on the project. If the kids have more access to Minecraft, the possibilities are literally endless. There is so much potential, and with everyone working together, it can become spectacular.

All in All

Minecraft is one of the most valuable resources that any educator could have at their disposal, but we have barely started with everything that’s possible. With these tips and tricks, we can turn any lesson into something memorable and change the face of teaching forever. Don’t shy away. Start using the resources you have at hand and make a lasting difference in education!