Block party: eight brilliant Minecraft models to attempt at home - MW

When the device locks in its fifth week, Minecraft is a useful place for friends and family to meet, play together and work on collaborative projects. The game is widely used in schools around the world to teach everything from sustainable agriculture to art history, and Microsoft has recently provided many lessons and exercises in the Minecraft Education program for everyone with a Office 365 account.

If you have a game at home and are looking for new projects to try - be part of your home study program - here are eight ideas that will test and expand your model skills. you.

And we would love to see you how! Check out one of these ideas and send us your screenshots or model images to minecraft.club@theguardian.com before April 27. We will organize a collection to define our favorite examples.

Build your own house

When you're building something real, it's best to research, take notes, and describe it first on paper. This will help you determine the dimensions and blocks to use. In Minecraft, a block is about a meter in real life. This ratio works mainly, except for doors, so don't worry too much. Think about the colors and textures you want. Don't be afraid to use melons to make floors - Minecraft has a lot of blocks to choose from and you can be creative! Half the plate is your friend. They can raise or lower a room to create a feeling of space or height, and can add borders and depth to the exterior. Also think about furniture and accessories - using steps and panels that can create interesting seats, or using black wool on an anvil to make a TV? Do not forget to decorate your home; have fun and experiment For an additional project, seduce the whole family by discovering what your parents or grandparents are - then build them.

Pixel art portrait

To create a pixel art portrait, first print a picture of yourself or a family member, then print square paper. (There is a lot of free graph paper online.) Paste the image in a window, then trace the image with graph paper. Estimate the squares of different colors and also think about the nuances of color. Colored pencils or pencils are great for this. Once you have a pixelated copy of your image, use it as a template and match the colors with the blocks in Minecraft.

Minecraft Museum

The museum buildings are available in a variety of shapes and sizes, from neoclassical to conceptual. Start by studying the different museums. You can build your base on a real or imaginary museum. Start with simple shapes that you can see. We call it a gray building - it creates overall dimensions and shapes to give an idea of the size and size of the room. Then let's move on to the decoration for the first time - don Patrick stayed in the details. Instead, look at the more clearly defined corners, add the stairs and green spaces, and possibly the seats and the desk. Finish with the little details - your doors, windows, plants, lighting and museum collection.

Perfect school

It's time to go back to school. For this version, recreate your place of study. If you are still studying at home, you can create a book from a favorite book. Minecraft has lots of new blocks that are perfect for school themed constructions. Think of the different classes and spaces you can find and the different activities you can do, from medicine in a scientific laboratory to parkour in a gym.


Armor support

Like music? Why not make an armband stand - pop, rock, punk or glam. You can wear your armor in a variety of styles, from diamond crowns to dyed leather. On the Bedrock version, you can even create different poses by bending down, looking at the armor support and clicking. You also have the choice between many Minecraft heads: Steve, zombies and skeletons and even a dragon. See what styles of music you can create and why not turn them into a stage?


Shipbuilding

Whether they are made of wood, metal, old, new, shipwrecked or illusory, ships are all very interesting to build in Minecraft. Although they are essentially static structures, they are large and difficult to build. Here are some tips to get you started. To create a basic hull, start by building a line, drawing the hull sideways, at the top, drawing the outline of the ship. Once you've intercepted the two, simply combine them - you can add stairs and half panels to smooth out the curves. When the hull is finished, think about the decks and how your boat is powered - sails, oars or steam; Go to the beach or balloon? Once you have the hull and deck, you can add whatever you want on it - it's like a cake to decorate.


Perfect parkour or little games

Minecraft is great for creating small games - from parkour challenges to Hunger Games survival contests. These games can be as simple or complex as you like - the choice is yours. Parkour simply jumps from block to block. However, some jumps require perfect timing and landing, and you can have a lot of fun with the obstacles - so why not risk it a bit and add a lava pit? To make a parkour map easy and fun, think about styles and themes. Write down as many ideas as possible and combine unusual things. The next step is to build it. I went to look for colorful balloons floating in the brain of a giant. Make friends online together to test and refine your homemade games.


Build a roller coaster by theme

Rollercoasters are lots of fun and making a Minecraft one is fairly straightforward, using mine carts and powered rails. Spice it up a bit by adding a theme: dinosaurs, ancient Rome, deep space - whatever you fancy. It does take a bit of practice to wind a rollercoaster up and around a landscape using well-placed redstone blocks for power, but that’s half the fun.

MW