Nothing educational about roblox, Minecraft etc?

[Pastasau]

My dc is 8 & since last year all her friends have been meeting online (zoom) to play Roblox, Minecraft etc. They spend hours on these games & I understand sometimes beg their parents to buy extras within the games... Also they were huge tic toc followers also.
My dc has no device, she reads loads & loves art & crafts.
We are getting her a tablet for homeschool, I hate having finally succumbed but another device is necessary.
I know sometimes dd feels lost when they talk about the latest tic toc or what's happening on roblox😢 but I don't want her on a screen when she's such an avid reader & crafter.
She hasn't seen her friends from school since before Xmas but on the class whatsapp group last night most of the parents were so thankful for Minecraft so they could work in peace...
Aibu to think that these games are not educational & children would be far better reading, playing lego etc...?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

There's middle ground @Pastasau

Some screen time is fine alongside traditional play

Not everything has to be educational!

Having said that, minecraft is great and my dc use it both for fun and as part of their education(eg, they were learning about the Romans and built a roman house on minecraft).

It is a shame that you think so little of your parenting skills that you feel if your dc has a tablet you won’t be able to control how much it is used.

You realise you can limit screen time right..? My older two have minecraft on their tablets. They are allowed an hour and a half at the moment and then the screen time limit kicks in and they go off and read or play. As they get older I will allow more time.
There is a happy medium between totally screen free and mindless screen addicted zombie. I think kids are put at a disadvantage if they're completely kept away from technology.

I can't understand why you would dismiss a social and creative resource without even doing the basic research to find out whether it would suit your daughter or not. I would also be wary of cutting off a means for social interaction at the moment, regardless of whether I was trying to impose an 'educational games only' rule or not.

Minecraft is a brilliant educational tool. It is on the school curriculum in progressive countries. It is also a lot of fun.

I'm nit sure what you want from this, a medal?

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Mi e have roblox, they also craft and read. As the parent you can limit the time.

There's definitely a balance to be found which is perfectly healthy for your child. It's brilliant that she's an avid reader & hasn't been drawn towards electrical games etc so far, but with the best will in the world, the pull will get stronger as she gets older & wants to integrate more with her peers.

As lots have said before me, Minecraft can be amazing & some schools even use it in an educational way as the kids are so enthusiastic about it.

My own son decided he wanted to be an architect when he was about 9yrs old as a result of playing Minecraft! He rapidly learnt about scale & space, 3D shape, properties of materials, simple electrical circuits, etc. He even made an exact scaled replica of our house & garden at one point! Hard not to be impressed by that.

It's all about balance in my opinion

Meant to add...

Meeting on zoom &/or talking over a 'live' gaming platform is also fantastic if used/monitored well. My son is now 13yrs old & throughout the various lockdowns & periods of isolation, being able to connect with his friends in this way has been INVALUABLE for his mental health. I actually dread to think how he'd have coped otherwise.

DS doesn't play Roblox but has spent hours on Minecraft. Like others have said it has plenty of educational value and it doesn't have to be an either or.

Dd has played Minecraft since she was 8 and still plays it and loves it at 16. It's fine by me. She's still had lots of hobbies and done volunteering (pre lockdown.) Did well in GCSEs. It's given her social opportunities with friends while at home. After she started playing it I found her maths got better. I'm sure this is pure coincidence but it demonstrates that it didn't do her maths any harm at least!

DSs maths teacher used Minecraft to demonstrate some things during the last lockdown. I think there needs to be a balance but I do think some games develop creativity Minecraft and animal crossing included Personally I prefer books and lego but we live in the age of technology so have had to adapt my preferences

PS when I was at university ( over 20 years ago) the most prolific gamers I knew were all maths students at Cambridge so there may be something in them after all!

Minecraft is a great game and there are so many educational aspects to it, as well as it being incredibly creative. I don't see sitting and crafting with paper any different to spending time to build a model of your house in Minecraft. That before you get into redstone circuits, efficient mining patterns, building farms, mapping, and planning (if playing survival mode).

I'd happily get it for my son when I think he will be able to play it independently, and we can play together once I trust him not to ruin my stuff :p

Our child learned to read playing Minecraft - we are Home Educators permanently not just for Covid and he struggled with reading - being able to communicate with his friends and read the direction etc were the spur to wanting to read.

He researches history and geography to look for buildings landscapes to build and often takes inspiration from learning he has done in day to day life to expand his minecraft skills.

He played Lego The Hobbit and this spurred him to start reading the book.

He owned his first device at 9 and we did not feel like we succumbed it was a natural progression in his development. He is now 11 and has a laptop and had a PS4 for Xmas. He is going to have a phone for his next birthday (12). We simply buy our children what they ask for (within reason of course) and he did not ask for devices until 9.