Minecraft for 7YO

[PaddingtonBearHardStare]

Never posted in gaming before!!

DS turns 7 this year and over the Christmas holidays has become obsessed with watching Minecraft videos!

We've decided to get him it for his birthday but at the minute we don't have anything to play it on so obviously that will become his main present

So looking for recommendations of which is best given his age and will have other games suitable for him as well as Minecraft

Id recommend an Xbox one. We use ours for games aswell as a dvd player, netflix, amazon, spotify etc. The lego games are fun and good for that age group

What's the budget?
It comes on PC, tablet, PS4, Xbox 1....
PC version is the best followed by console then tablet but a new PC is obviously £££ compared to a tablet.

Thanks for replies. We don't have a budget as such (within reason!) but I guess we would like it to be an investment he'd use for a long time. Our PC is on its last legs and only gets booted up when it's something which can't be done on iPads/phones etc

Does he have his own iPad? You can get it on there
Or I'd go with a preowned ps3, personally :)

Ps4 and xbox1 are the current generation of consoles. PS3 and xbox360 are the previous, so would be a lot cheaper to get second hand but lack any new games so not future proof- but there is a ton of games you can get very cheap as its older.

Phone or tablet versions are like £5 so more affordable but more annoying to play!

PC comes with modded gameplay to increase the gametime but it's not needed, I only just got into that after years of minecraft! Another thing to consider is playing together, if DS has friends who play and wish to play together you need to have the same platform. You can play together on console, it's not like public online gaming as such, you can make your own world and have friends play.

The iPad app will be cheaper than the other versions but he may want to try mods like YouTubers in which case you need a PC.

He doesn't have his own iPad and I am loathe to lose mine to him!!

The controls on ipad/mobile are doable but annoying so a chance of damage!

Ds has pocket edition on a tablet. This is more than sufficient for him. He prefers to use creative rather than survival mode, building houses etc.
No doubt at since point he will clock on to all the other stuff it can do but hopefully not for a while. (We don't have and gaming systems)

I will have a look and see if I can get it on his tablet. I assumed it would need some kind of gaming platform

Thanks for the advice everyone!!

If you google minecraft wiki there is lots of info. We used it to check which tablets run it OK. We got an Acer which runs it pretty well.

My DS(7) got an ipad for Christmas and loves it.

He has minecraft on it and finds it much easier to use on there than on the xbox. He also spends time making stop motion films with 'imotion', listens to music, plays other games and watches youtube kids.

He has a reading app called Epic! which I love because it has a HUGE range of books and I can make him a library of non-fiction books to go with his topics at school.

He does all his times tables practise on it too. And uses it to time how long he's cleaned his teeth for.

Much more versatile than the xbox.

My DS started playing on it on his Kindle Fire and we now have an Xbox one. It’s a slippery slope!!! DS still goes back to playing on it on his Kindle, he seems to find that way more simple - cheaper too!

As a long time gamer I can't stand the controls of Minecraft on tablet but my kids much prefer it. I think the 'touch where you want the block to go' setup is much more intuitive for younger children. Also if you have a lot of devices you can all play together which is nice. I use my phone and my son and I have built a massive world together. It's become rather a precious thing to me and I've backed up the save file in several places in the hope we never lose it.

Be ware that the console versions have split-screen multiplayer, plus the minigame modes which can be a lot of fun. You'll miss out on these with Pocket Edition.

My DS has it on the wiiu but prefers creative mode. Is it really just building stuff???

My ds is a massive Minecraft fan and uses it on the Wii U, tablet, and most recently the Xbox one.
His preferred mode of play is the Xbox, but I'm not sure if it's the newness that he's loving (it was a Christmas present)

And when he doesn't play, he loves to watch Minecraft videos too thankfully with headphones

My kids just play it on their tablets. They like to connect and play together. They’re interested in playing it on my computer but it’s too old and slow.

If he likes Minecraft, I'd suggest Terraria. It's a similar concept, but looks and plays differently enough so it's a very different game (harder too but easy to pick up for my 5yo who got it for Christmas).

I'm reading this with interest though as there don't seem to be that many proper games for younger kids in comparison to the smaller toddler type games on Android or iPhone. Lots of great games also rely on the player being a good, fast reader to understand what's happening too.

DS is nearly 6 - he has played it on tablet, PS4 and Xbox one. From what I can tell, he prefers it on Xbox one. He also has a couple of Lego Marvel games and which he enjoys.

DD is 4 1/2 and able to play Minecraft on Xbox too. She struggled on a tablet.

Ds had Minecraft on his kindle fire and for Xmas we bought an Xbox one for him and his sister (ages 6 and 8). They love the Xbox version as it has lots of extra features to the kindle game but then they sometimes connect both up together too so they can 'join each other'.

The Xbox One.

On a tablet you only get the pocket version and the controls are terrible.