It seems that nowadays so many kids are stuck in front of screens wasting their life away playing popular videogames such as Minecraft.
What if you could engage and spend time with your little one while they enjoy the games they love?
I think millennials like myself have an advantage when it comes to connecting with our children this way. Most of us grew up on Nintendo and know how to hold a controller. In fact, most of us probably still play video games!
While Minecraft is not a game I would naturally gravitate to, I still have lots of fun playing it with my daughter. And, in all honesty, she is far better at it than I am!
To keep things interesting, and maintain my sense of coolness and relevancy, I like to learn Minecraft tricks and tips to impress my child.
Never played Minecraft? Don’t worry! I’ll break down how to play the game as well as how to execute hacks so that your kids think you’re cool.
What is Minecraft and How Do You Play?
Minecraft is a virtual open-world game that allows you to build and craft buildings as well as explore areas and fight monsters. Visually, it’s a simple 8-bit styled game but the possibilities are endless!
To get started, you need to purchase and install that game – which you can do for Playstation, X-Box, Nintendo Switch, smartphone, and the computer. To play multiplayer with your kid on separate consoles, you may need to sign up for memberships on the consoles to access network gaming.
Once you launch the game, create your account and log in. At the main menu, select multiplayer. You can either create your own world and have your child join there or get invited to the world they have created.
You can customize your avatar and change its appearance.
Whoever created the world can switch between “Survival Mode” and “Creative Mode” either at the beginning of play or during.
In Creative Mode, you have access to all available items and you can’t die. In Survival Mode, you have to mine and gather materials in order to build stuff and can get killed by the monsters that lurk about.
There is also an Adventure mode you and your little one can play that allows you to interact with objects and fight creatures in order to complete an adventure.
Playing in Survival Mode can be stressful as a first-time player (I speak from experience), so it’s easier to start in Creative Mode to get a feel for the game.
Depending on how you’re playing the game (on a console, computer, or phone) determines how the controls work – but you can find out how the controls work here.
And that’s basically it! Because it’s an open-world game, there is so much you can do in Minecraft from exploring mines to building villages and farms!
Now that you have an idea how to play, here are some cool hacks you can use to impress your kids:
8 Cool Minecraft Hacks
1. Zombie Proof Your Doors
Zombies are hostile monsters in the world of Minecraft and can invade your home. One trick to prevent them from getting into your humble abode is to build your door one block higher than the ground. You can also use a fence instead of a door – zombies can’t break down fences.
2. Be a Pumpkin Head
To wear a pumpkin on your head, drag a pumpkin from your inventory onto the helmet slot. Not only does this make you totally cool but it will keep Endermen from attacking you, even if you attack them.
Endermen are tall purpley creatures with creepy eyes that will only attack if you make eye contact with them. So wearing a pumpkin on your head prevents them from seeing your eyes and wards off any attacks.
3. Raise Some Cats
Yes, you can have adorable little pets in Minecraft! Cats are particularly useful because they scare away Creepers.
Creepers are monsters that look like walking cactuses that attack by sneaking up on you and exploding. If you have enough cats around your house, Creepers will leave you alone.
If you’re playing in creative mode, simply spawn a cat by searching “cat” in your inventory. In survival mode, you can tame a stray cat by feeding it any type of raw fish.
4. Create an Infinite Water Source
When you’re building a farm in Minecraft, it’s important to have a nearby water source to encourage the growth of your fruits and vegetables.
You can avoid hauling buckets of water by creating an infinite water source.
Just start with two buckets of water and a 2-by-2 hole in the ground. Pour the first bucket in the top left corner of the square and let the water spill. Pour the other bucket in the bottom right corner – now you have an infinite water source!
5. Use Bone Meal to Grow Trees and Plants
Speaking of growing things, you can use bone meal made from skeleton bones to quicken the growth of plants and trees. This is helpful if you’re building a farm or need to quickly grow trees for wood in survival mode.
Just kill a skeleton and grab their bones. Use a crafting table to turn the bones into bone meal.
6. Exploding Beds
This Minecraft hack isn’t really useful but is definitely something cool you can show your kids.
If you can get to the Nether dimension via a portal, sleeping in this area causes you to explode! Just bring a bed along with you and grab a little snooze for some explosive action!
7. Personalize Pet Collars
I’ve mentioned how helpful it is to have pets hanging out in Minecraft. Dogs are especially helpful when it comes to fighting and hunting.
You can keep track of all of your pets by giving them personalized name tags and collars. You can change the color of your pet’s collar by equipping a dye and right-clicking on the animal.
To personalize their tags, grab a nametag from your inventory and use the anvil to choose the name to put on it. There are a plethora of legitimate reasons as to why one would want to use a spy phone app. You can use these apps to track your stolen or lost phone, monitor your child’s cell phone activity, or track incoming and outgoing SMS and phone calls. Today there are a variety of options at hand when it comes to choosing such apps. So the prospect of choosing the best phone spy apps can be daunting. We are here to help you at ease in your decision-making process. You can monitor a phone’s incoming & outgoing calls, SMS’s and track the phone’s location. These apps are undetectable and go unnoticed by the end-user.
8. Fish Bomb Your Kid
Personally, I use this Minecraft hack for my own enjoyment since it drives my kid absolutely crazy and she hates it!
Search for fish eggs in your inventory and equip them. Use your action button to toss them all over the place – they flop around until they eventually die.
It may sound cruel but watching a bunch of colorful fish flip and flop all over the place is absolutely hilarious! Well, to me it is.
Be a Cool Parent
I remember how badly I wanted my mom to play Super Mario with me as a kid! Unfortunately, she did not possess the skills to make it past the first Goomba – but she tried.
Being able to share the love of video games with my daughter is amazing. So, if you’re kiddos are into Minecraft, hopefully these hacks will help you spend more quality time with them and nurture your connection.
I’m sure I missed some really cool Minecraft hacks! If you have any you want to add, drop them in the comments below:
