Nothing educational about roblox, Minecraft etc?

They can be educational. My son is in a sports league on roblox and he builds sports stadiums that take him hours and he gets paid in robux.

Minecraft is amazingly educational.
My DC play it 3-4 times a week in our living room (so we can see what’s happening) and they build the most incredible things. It’s like Lego on steroids. Youngest DC wants to become an architect and reads tons of Minecraft books and draws his structures endlessly on paper. You can play it in ‘survival’ mode or ‘creative’ mode.

In lockdown they also play with a couple of friends which we’ve succumbed to as a way to socialize.

Can’t speak for Roblox and I definitely wouldn’t let an 8 year old on Tik Tok.

I do the opposite. Let my DD socialise and play with her friends on Roblox online and then try and get her to do some crafting / baking etc for breaks in between. I hear her happy, laughing, interacting on Roblox. They play imaginary role-play games where they pretend to be different characters. I really want to maintain fun and socialisation for her during lockdown. To me this is more important than learning craft activities. She also has Roblox studio in which she designs and decorates houses so there is an element of creativity to it. She is excellent at Minecraft too and has designed some impressive structures from her imagination. She has also taught herself a lot in terms of the functions of the games. Each to their own, but just thought I would let you know my perspective which is v different to yours.

Our neighbours kids are 4 & 6. They are constantly on their tablets. They don't seem to play. Whenever we've popped in for a cuppa my dc are 8, 6 & 5 they show them where the toys are & the neighbours kids just sit on their tablets ignoring mine....

It's called parenting. If that isn't your bag you add limits. Does everything you do in life have some higher purposeful meaning? Must everything your child do have educational value? We all need downtime especially at the moment and the socialisation of it at the moment I would argue is very valuable. You set the boundaries acceptable to you, we only allow on weekends in school term and they still opt for lego, arts and crafts too. It's not either or.

I'd say regardless of how educational the games are there is a massive benefit at the moment for DC to be able to play with friends online as they are lacking face to face interaction.

Reading and crafting is great, but it isn't an all or nothing with screens. You can minecraft (which has educational and creative elements) AND read AND craft (and do other stuff).
As with everything, balance is the key. Variety never did anyone any harm - as long as they arent being forced into something they hate (aka as craft kits and art in this house).

Can’t speak for Roblox but minecraft is very creative and educational too. I’d hardly touched a computer aged 8 but my ds is a genius at building stuff. Lots of interactive blocks making mini-machines; he builds this stuff in the blink of an eye now. He has statistics overlayed on the screen and understands exactly what all the jargon means, and is typing with one hand whilst building with the mouse in the other. He’s already almost touch typing, I think it really accelerates (or at least can) his computer literacy which in this day can only be a good thing. You don’t get that from the vast majority of games at all.

Minecraft is definitely educational. What's impressed me more over the last year is how children have developed their skills in communicating by cooperative play on online games: developing skills in describing position, organising teams/rules, sharing tasks.

My sons are now almost 18 and almost 15. They both played Minecraft and Roblox and I do consider them to be educational. As sashh says you can use Minecraft to build logic gates.

Ds2 has built some incredibly complicated systems within Minecraft basically this is electrical circuits, self watering farms, self harvesting stuff, huge automated systems. He now uploads videos onto YouTube to help others understand how to do some things.

Roblox does have some crap stuff on it but also my two played the game where you get "jobs" and understood that you build your skills to get better paying jobs, that "money" that you earn allows you to buy things for your "house" that again you buy or rent.

Tik Tok is something I wouldn't let her on at 8 on but Minecraft and learning the names of gems, understanding how you craft things together is learning something. ie you get a log from a tree, you put that onto the crafting table and it turns it into 4 planks and then you turn the plank into sticks. Take 3 planks and 2 sticks of wood and you get a wooden pick axe. Mine stone with the pickaxe to make a furnace, then you can heat iron ore to make an iron ingot which makes an iron tool.

But this is about balance between games and everything else. At no stage have I ever paid for anything within a computer game, my sons spend family time with us, we watch tv or play card games or board games.

Just because you have a device doesn't mean they have to live on it. Give them set times to be on it. The rule in this house was if you complain about coming off you lose it for a day. Obviously my children are online more as teenager but if I come back from the supermarket the second I put my key in the door they are off their computers to help bring the shopping in and put it away.

My DS and his mates create the most incredible creations on Minecraft,,,very intricate football stadiums, villages, lavish houses where they all have bedrooms. He's just applying to college and told me that Minecraft has given him an interest in being an architect. This is the child that is rarely interested in anything academic. Thanks Minecraft.

You can create your own games with roblox, via Roblox Studio. Both my boys have played around with this and my youngest has done some impressive stuff with it. Neither of them use it now, but as with Minecraft, there is more to the platform than many think.

YABU for thinking every activity should be educational. I wouldn't be expected to only do educational things, so why should children?

Unfortunately your post comes across as a humble brag. Your child is happy with reading and craft- great. My kid despises craft, and I'm not going to force it on her. She prefers being outdoors to indoors, and likes playing games/ talking to her friends when playing roblox. It doesn't have to be an either or scenario. She reads, spends time outdoors and spends time 'playing' with her friends and still having contact with them through the game. There is nothing inherently wrong with video games, like anything, limits and parental responsibility is more important than a blanket ban and a parental head tilt with I don't possibly understand why parents would let their children play these........

Roblox is variable depending on which games they want to play. My eldest has it and some of his friends do too and they now use it as a way to play together.
Minecraft is not a "junk" game. There's a lot of creativity involved and (shock horror) maths if you play in survival mode. My ten year old is learning to use command blocks and basic programming.
Then of course there's redstone circuits and logic.....
You could just accept lots of people like these games and just put time limits in for their use. We have remote access to turn off my children's tablets and windows accounts. He he he!

My dd is 8. She loves reading, crafting, Lego and sylvanians. She also enjoy playing minecraft with her friends. It's creative and they tell stories and act out roles. It's also a nice way for her to have interaction. She's learning typing and is actually a pretty decent touch typer now. It's not an either:or situation. Everything in balance.

I wouldn't let her on tick tok though, it's far too mature for her.

Everyone is doing their best, there's no need for the judgement.

Yanbu my ds is 7, he does not have mine craft etc. He uses an iPad for online school work, I do think it's ridiculous that small dc are allowed to play these junk games. Not very safe either.

My 6 year old plays minecraft but with her dad. She doesn't play in alone, they play ok their tablets in the same world. This limits the time and of course is safe.

I think it is educational but not everything has to be an educational resource. Some things can just be fun. My children love watching The Floor is Lava. It's fun, it makes them laugh. My 6 year old also does all the things that people who say they don't do screen time do (including me freezing my bum off for hours in this weather while she scooters and skateboards off hills!)

There's so much to learn in these online games. Minecraft is much more complex than Lego. Even Roblox teaches skills, such as team work, budgeting, creativity, bargaining, negotiating and there are games such as teaching fire escapes and learning how to script. There's also the social aspect of chatting online to their school friends at the same time.

I think some parents see the words video games and automatically think they're a waste of time when it's actually the complete opposite. Obviously you don't want them on there every second but they do actually learn from them.

Minecraft is actually a great game because it enhances creativity, problem-solving, self-direction, collaboration, and other life skills. In the classroom, Minecraft complements reading, writing, math, and even history learnings!

All children don't wish to craft. Each to their own.

Is everything you do educational OP?

Children are allowed down-time too - time to just be and spend time with their friends. If that can't be in person then we should allow it to be online.

And as for the educational content of Minecraft (never played Roblox) the creativity is incredible- it's like online Lego! And there are huge opportunities to problem solving, perseverance, team work, and patience. A lot of it is based on geology and the scientific elements. There's a whole educational platform available now!

Go and read up on it properly before you brush it off as a nothingness. I think you'd be surprised!

Minecraft Education Edition was given to all learners in Wales for free even pre covid. I don't know about tictoc and there's plenty of stuff on Roblox that isn't educational it depends how it's used but Minecraft encourages a lot of useful skills and encourages creativity. Coding is a very important skill.

Minecraft is creative, they literally build the most amazing & detailed worlds; can multiplayer and chat at same time with friends jointly building those worlds- have you looked? . Roblox has many games some are great, some less so.

They key is to limit screen game time and mix it in with school work and a variety of activities - few people want to bake and make crafts 10 hours a day. This isn't a typical year.
During lockdowns and social distancing restrictions DCs haven't been able to play out with their friends . They've found other ways to keep connected. And it's great if it helped some parents be able to get on with work from home ...

Aibu to think that these games are not educational & children would be far better reading, playing lego etc...?
Minecraft is basically an extremely complex version of Lego.

There's a middle ground between no device and unlimited access to devices OP!

My sons are 8 and 10, they have limited screen time, which works for our family. When they have too much they get ratty and badly behaved so we limit them to an hour a day (not every day). It works well. Agree with PP that Minecraft is a good and educational game. Roblox not so much

These things are ok if you are prepared to be strict and police usage properly. It gets quite addictive to some kids and that’s the issue.

My kids have fire tablets, but they’re not allowed on tiktok and although one has Roblox I’ve not got time to police messages so she can’t do messaging. So therefore she doesn’t use it.

I think kids don’t miss what they don’t know. Once you introduce it, then they may start playing up if you want to restrict usage. The games much like fort nite are designed to be addictive.

I’m not a dinosaur I spent far, far too many hours playing games and on internet chat rooms as a kid. Being exposed to ridiculous amounts of inappropriate chat and invitations for sex when I was only 13. My parents had no idea.

If my kids want to video call a friend I organise it with their mother and we do it that way.