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SUMMER FUN: Minecraft summer camps enhance STEM skills

Christ Church Cathedral School offers healthy screen time for kids
12000918_web1_VNE-SummerCampMinecraft
The creativity required to play World of Minecraft has plenty of crossover with other games, such as World of Warcraft, from which this Stormwind city map comes. Christ Church Cathedral School is offering a Minecraft summer camp for youth that offers numerous healthy breaks as well as teaching STEM skills. Courtesy minecraftdl.com

Is a video game summer camp a good idea?

For parents trying to reduce the amount of screen time for their children, and wanting to encourage more outdoor recreation and social interaction, it may not seem like an appropriate choice.

What’s important to look for is a camp that has a healthy mix of indoor and outdoor play time, as well as a structured and guided program for the video game portion.

At Christ Church Cathedral School, the popular Minecraft Summer Camps provide students with a good framework for getting the most educational value out of the gaming time, with plenty of activity breaks both in the class and outdoors on the playground.

Minecraft is a video game that encourages creativity and problem solving, with limitless opportunity to build, discover and work collaboratively to reach goals. In recent years, the game has been recognized as an educational tool for engaging kids and teens in such STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields as programming, video game design and development, level design and more.

So how is the camp different from playing at home?

Typically, kids and teens play Minecraft at home with little to no direction or goals in mind. At Minecraft camp, students are empowered to discover the underlying mechanics of the game in a collaborative environment.

Beginner to advanced students in Minecraft summer camps learn how to think critically about their work with the infinite possibilities of the game. Students create themes, storylines, dialogue between characters, objectives, goals and more, while more experienced players delve deeper into game design and development, modding and level design.

Cathedral School is offering four weeks of camps for summer 2018. There are two levels of the camp: Level 1 for beginner to intermediate players, and Level 2 for those familiar with the game who are ready to take it to the next level. This is called “Modded” Minecraft among gamers.

To inquire or register, visit the school’s website at cathedralschool.ca.

editor@vicnews.com