Minecraft - recommended age?

[LetterFromLorah]

DS is 6 and is obsessed with Minecraft even though he's never played it. He heard about it from his friend at school but I've always said no because I was under the impression that it's for older kids.

Recently we've been watching some family-friendly Minecraft videos on You Tube and it looks kind of ok.

Can anyone advise from experience if it's suitable for six year olds? DS can scare easily but doesn't seem to be bothered by the creepers and things like that, although the ender (?) dragon seemed to make him nervous.

I can't really answer about screentime as I'm an adut minecrafter however I will say that during lockdown Minecraft has allowed me to spend quality one on one time with my 6yr old grandson. I have a private server on Discord he logs into that and we chat whilst building things and going on adventures. It's also allowed me to remotely "babysit" as I can keep him occupied and in one place thoroughly engaged which allows his mum & dad to get on with stuff around the house without having a distracting 6yr old underfoot.

One thing to bear in mind when deciding on screen time is that if you are in the middle of something that you have spent a while building or getting to if exploring then you might need to perhaps be a little flexible and understanding that sometimes you need to have just 5 or 10 mins extra time to finish at a logical point otherwise it's a pain trying to figure out where you'd left things when you next log in.

@HariboFrenzy I personally think Minecraft is a much, better option than Roblox because you can play without online social interaction and chat screens.

It’s very hard to supervise what your children can see on roblox and the games on it often encourage app purchases. as they get older children will really push for roblox so put it off as long as you can.

We've always been flexible with screentime, to be honest. All I ask is that everything else gets done - homework, music practise etc - and that they helps round the house etc when asked.

They have always done outside clubs, so if they want to spend their downtime on Minecraft, that's fine.

Survivals hardly the end of the world... Just some cartoon characters that can get you... It's not gory or anything! Creepers are awesome

I agree that Minecraft is way more suitable than roblox for a 5 Year old. Although DS 6 has and loves them both.

Screen time is a tough one, my DS plays on the ipad which thankfully just runs out of battery causing a natural break

Ok in survival if you have set it to peaceful. Better on creative though.