Minecraft guide for parents: Using the Education Edition for free for you and your kids

Using Minecraft for your kids at home.

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With thousands of children coming home from school for the time being, parents are left wondering how they can help provide guidance in their children’s education. An unexpected contender for this task is none other thanMinecraft, the open-world creative sandbox title that nary a child hasn’t played and fallen in love with.

For most, Minecraft is simply a game, a medium through which to be entertained. Mojang and Microsoft, the companies behind the game, have also made it into a powerful educational resource used by thousands of schools in hundreds of countries, backed by high-quality lessons that anyone can access. With recent events changing the course of the world in the near future, Mojang and Microsoft have teamed up to make it even easier for parents at home to use this version of Minecraft, appropriately dubbedMinecraft: Education Edition. Here’s how you can get involved.

What do I need to know about Minecraft?

If you’re a parent concerned about the sometimes-unassailable mountain that is Minecraft — don’t be! You’re not expected to know every trick or secret to Minecraft, only how you can effectively use Minecraft as the specialized tool that it can be. To this end, there are four different guides you should read up on, depending on where your child will be playing. This includes:

How do I use the Education Edition of Minecraft?

Once you’re a master at getting Minecraft up and running, all that’s left to learn how to use all the resources at your disposal to not only help your child learn in subjects like agriculture, arithmetic, history, chemistry, architecture, and more but to be involved and share in the fun too. The special thing about Minecraft: Education Edition is that it actively encourages cooperation and creativity in a guided learning environment. It was already possible to use this to your advantage, but Microsoft has made this easier than ever before in the last few months. Here’s what you need to check out.

A smarter solution

It’s undeniable that a lot of things are changing right now, and much of it is not for the better. That doesn’t mean that your children have to disrupt their learning, or that they have to be miserable being taught remotely. Minecraft: Education Edition makes these lessons fun, interactive, encourage your children to learn with their friends, and means that you can be involved in the whole process. Who knows, maybe you’ll learn something too. It’s commendable that Microsoft and Mojang have made several critical changes to make these tools more pain-free to utilize because we need these kinds of solutions now more than ever.

Have you used Minecraft: Education Edition with your children?

What’s the best lesson you’ve found so far? Sound off in the comments below!

Available everywhere you play.

Minecraft is a veritable, inarguable and complete success. It has sold copies in the hundreds of millions, has a huge following of dedicated players, and lets you unlock your every creative desire. It’s also available on every platform imaginable, including Xbox One, Windows 10, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS. Play with anyone, and play anywhere.

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Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter@BoddyZachary.