Benefits of playing LEGOs and Minecraft gaming

        There are varied attitudes towards Minecraft and the hours that kids spend playing it, but not so much with LEGOs. However, both promote many skills and learning benefits.

        Great things never go out of style, thus is the fact of LEGOs. Playing with LEGOs have a whole bunch of developmental and educational benefits, such as the development of creativity, abstract thought, fine motor skills, confidence, problem-solving skills, patience, persistence, perseverance, individualism, engineering awareness, cooperation, and teamwork. Studies also show that even infants and toddlers benefit from sorting through the varied colors and shapes of the bricks. And as your child gets older, playing with LEGOs promotes creative problem solving and challenges kids to think in 3 dimensions. It's something not everyone does well, but mathematicians and physicists have to think in 3D all the time. Thus, playing with LEGOs could be laying a colored-brick foundation for a career. No wonder many architects and engineers look back on hours playing with LEGO as their first step toward a life-long love of building. Finally, LEGOs are even more rewarding when you’re working with others to build something. Working in a group with LEGO promotes co-operative behavior and good communication. Due to its effectiveness, it is often used as a form of group therapy for kids with autism. It’s been successful in teaching them how to interact with others to achieve a common goal.

        Popular belief says video gaming is a lazy, mind-numbing waste of time. Stereotypes like this are common, but they’re not exactly accurate. Building games like Minecraft develop spatial awareness, structural design, and for a sandbox game, resourcefulness. Players have to be aware of space requirements and scale when building large complex structures. These also play into the creation of real/fictional ships or buildings that have specific dimensions. Due to Minecraft's open-endedness as a sandbox game, players must also learn to be resourceful to find information on multiple aspects of the game. Also, through experimenting and working together, kids begin to develop skills in creative thinking, math and geometry, and even learn a bit of geology. And to complete large tasks, they need to plan a strategy, define goals, and work together to execute and see the mission through — sort of like having a real job.

        Playing is extremely valuable for kids, considered by many to be the most important activity in the development of children. In fact, the Journal of Adolescent Research published a study comparing children that played video games to those that didn’t. “Video game players, regardless of gender, reported higher levels of family closeness, activity involvement, attachment to school and positive mental health,” Paul Adachi and Teena Willoughby, the authors of the study, concluded. “Video game players also had less risky friendship networks and a more favorable self-concept. Even schools are taking notice, with some classrooms integrating Minecraft or LEGOs directly into their curriculum. Previously, teachers had to form their lesson plan to the game, but with Minecraft, they can form the game to their lesson plan.