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DAY 2: CREEPY CREEPERS!
Welcome to our “Think, Craft, Repeat – A Minecraft Week” – an at home week filled with days of relaxed learning and fun activities all themed to the ever popular game – Minecraft! After all, what better way to get them to keep learning than to pick a theme they already think is fun! For this week, rather than focusing on just the Minecraft game and how to play, we used their love of the game to dig deeper into the history of the game and learn more about very popular characters!
For this day, we learned all about the oh-so-terrifying creepers and how they came to be in the game! It has an interesting origin story – one we never would have guessed if we hadn’t looked into it! And it’s a great way to show kids that even if things don’t turn out exactly as planned, they can still make things turn out much better! Read on to check out a fun filled day of learning, reading, crafts, and activities all on creepers!!
A TYPICAL DAY
All kids are different and you can definitely vary your day with whatever works for you 🙂 Our relaxed & learning fun day kicks off with an introduction to the day’s theme. Then, we move onto videos and themed activities (reading, writing – or story telling – time, crafts, food crafts/snacks, and games or experiments). Feel free to pick and choose whatever works for you 🙂
INTRO
If you or your little ones are into Minecraft, chances are you’ve heard of and perhaps have had the unfortunate experience of getting up close and personal with a tall green monster – the Creeper! It’s iconic, part of the Minecraft logo, and visible on just about anything Minecraft. But did you know that the creeper wasn’t actually created intentionally??? Amazing!
If they haven’t or aren’t familiar with the creeper, these sites are great introductions with interesting facts, images, and related content! They’re perfect for providing a brief intro for your little ones (or to gather up some knowledge as well!)!
- Meet the Creeper by Minecraft
- Minecraft: 10 Explosive Facts You Didn’t Know About Creepers by GameRant
WHAT TO WATCH
We find that mixing in a short video themed to our day is a great way to add some learning fun! We try to pick informative videos OR mix in a cartoon favorite (where they don’t even realize they’re learning). Below are some of the videos we picked from for the day:
- The Entire History of Minecraft Creepers, i guess by Galaxy Goats (7m)
- 40 Minecraft Creeper FACTS (2009 – 2020) by Logdotzip (20m)
FOOD CRAFTS / SNACKS
What’s more fun than taking a break and having a simple snack??? Including the snack in your theme of the day! We find that our kiddos are more than happy to eat the snacks they create especially when they can arrange them into fun shapes and scenes!
We did want to try our hand at creating some Rice Krispies Creeper Treats but instead opted for a quicker snack – Kellogg’s Minecraft Cereal
READING
It’s no secret that reading is an important part of learning, which is why we pick out a handful of books that are fun and filled with some learning tidbits. For our older ones, we have them fill out some worksheets (or let them create some of their own comics) to describe what they read and/or learned! These are a few we picked from for the day:
- Diary of a Minecraft Creeper Book 1: Creeper Life Paperback – by Pixel Kid
- Adventures of a Creeper: An Unofficial Minecraft Diary (1) (Unofficial Minecraft Diaries) Paperback – by Books Kid
- The World of Minecraft (pg 14-15) – by Mojang AB
WRITING & WRITING PROMPTS
Just like reading, writing is a great way to keep kids learning by both encouraging their creativity and thought process as well as helping them practice their motor skills and penmanship.
If you’ve got a little one, have them trace words related to the theme: MINECRAFT, CRAFTING, BUILDING, CREATIVE, CREPPER
If you’ve got older children, have them write a sentence or two up to a page or two (depending on their age). Encourage them to be creative AND give reasons for why they made certain choices. This was our writing prompt of the day (and we offered up some examples as well) but definitely pick something your kiddo might be interested in writing about!
- Write a short story about a creeper who wanted to be something different in Minecraft.
- If you could change the creeper from exploding to a different action, what would it be? How would it change the game?
CREATE & CRAFT
If you’ve got a crafty little one, a simple craft is a great way to keep them interested in the topic. While their creative juices are flowing, you can also chat about what they’ve learned so far or ask them what else they’re excited about learning! Below are some of the crafts we looked at:
- Easy Creeper Crafts for Kids by Fireflies and Mudpies
- How To Make A Papercraft Creeper From Minecraft by Art for Kids Hub
- Minecraft Creeper Crochet Kit by Woobles
- DIY, Upcycled Creeper Pencil Holders
- Balloon Creepers – and once you create them you can create a whole bunch and play with them!
STEM & STEAM ACTIVITIES
While crafting and writing get their creativity and imagination flowing, we also like to add in an activity that gets them thinking along the lines of science, technology, engineering, or math! These engaging activities or experiments are a great way to keep them learning!
- Exploding Minecraft Creeper Alka Seltzer Rockets by Steamsational
- Lego Creepers: There is an official Lego Creeper by Lego but it’s for ages 10+. If you have a younger one or can’t get your hands on this kit, grab some green and black legos & let your little one’s imagination soar 🙂 They’ll probably come up with a decent looking creeper!
THANK YOU!!!
Thank you for checking out our at home learning fun article! If you enjoyed this post, please let us know what you think in the comments below and/or follow us on Pinterest
Also, if you haven’t already, check out some of our other Minecraft Ideas days as well as our DIY At Home Camps!
Happy Learning!
MORE MINECRAFT FUN:
Check out our ULTIMATE Minecraft Party!
