9 Reasons Your Child Should Be Playing Minecraft

While playing Minecraft, your child will develop and improve their visuospatial reasoning skills (aka visual perception of objects). As the basis for abstract thinking and problem solving, these skills will help your child answer science and math equations in the most effective way. It will also cut down the time it takes them to solve problems, which means more time to play!

When Minecraft first launched, the construction aspect was used as a survival tool. As the game grew, however, players let their imaginations take over and began building castles, tree houses, and homes that could only exist in dreams. Now, the game offers a creative mode option for players whose main passion is to, well, create.

Although the game has no specific goal like rescuing a princess or crossing the finish line first, players are rewarded when they complete certain tasks. This forces them to identify their own goal, develop a plan to best achieve it, and motivate themselves to accomplish it. Building self-regulation skills like these will teach your child how to complete tasks without constant reminders and help.

Geometry takes a little more work than plugging numbers into a calculator or drawing them on a line. Minecraft's use of shapes and space might make the subject easier to comprehend.

Kids are often told they aren't big enough, old enough, or smart enough to take on certain tasks. Minecraft, however, proves that kids can be just as successful and skilled as adults. Also, because of the open-world format, kids — not a computer program — control the game.

In addition to constructing shelter, players must survive in their new world by gathering materials and hunting for food. They must also protect themselves from a slew of dangerous elements such as hot lava and hostile creatures.

By switching to multiplayer mode, kids can work together to build and protect a whole new world.

Because of its diversity and popularity, Minecraft brings together kids from a variety of social groups. It has even helped some kids overcome their social struggles.

"My son does have some challenges with the kids at school, but Minecraft is the thing that brought them together," Christy Wyatt, a mother and the head of Good Technology, tells BBC News.

In a world of way-too-graphic games, Minecraft lacks the gore factor that makes other games so popular. Given the number of studies that link video games to violent behavior in children, this trait is especially reassuring to parents.