Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Minecraft vs. Scratch?

If it's Roblox, then my DS has escaped that one -- he says it's lame, and remains addicted to Minecraft.

I will need to check out this Scratch thing, though.

My son has extensively played with both (age 6). I have two recommendations. The first is if you have an iphone or ipad, buy that minecraft version as opposed to computer because there are no monthly fees and at the moment you can't play online with random people but you can connect two or more devices through wifi even if they are using the same apple account. This game can be addictive, but probably a phase like other people said. My son likes to watch YouTube videos to get ideas for new types of structures to build. It's pretty fun... We are building a lava palace at the moment.

Scratch is an awesome into to programming. We bought my son the book Super Scratch Programming Adventure (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1593274092?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links) which I HIGHLY recommend. He got through 5 or 6 chapters and is now capable of making his own games. It's great! You can draw your own characters and stuff or use all the premade guys.

Both games allow lots of creativity.

Beware of YouTube Videos on Minecraft because DD fried the hard drive in our laptop watching them.

Stephi: The computer version does not have a monthly fee. It's a one-time subscription fee to create an account.

Yes the files can be saved and sent to other people. You can also use the online version of scratch and save and download the files or upload files which is useful when traveling or going to friends or relatives houses. Makes it easy to have educational entertainment.

Ah yes YouTube videos... Wish there was a better way to screen those besides having to watch them all and make a kids playlist. I have no patience for that. He pretty much only watches them on the ipad which I think is safer than my computer in terms of messing stuff up. Doesn't help with other kids' bad language though! =]

Oh did not know that! Thanks dude!

We started them both on scratch this afternoon. They are out now but I am so curious to see what they thought of it and what they created.

We are considering the minecraft codes as Christmas Gifts.

Don't know much about Scratch but both DS10 and DD10 are into Minecraft although in different ways unless they are playing each other. DD is more into designing (skins, etc.) and likes it when strangers download her designs. DS is more into strategies (hence, all those youtube videos) and battles. I had to pay twice for the PC version so they would each have an account. The Pocket Edition for Kindle is nice as well and I only had to pay once since their Kindles are on the same account so all the software in the library can be shared.

I am very comfortable with un-monitored access to Minecraft at DS/DD's age and a couple of years younger but I would have been hesitant about introducing it to a four-year-old due to addictiveness/self-control issues.

My DD8 has really gotten into Cato's Hike. I started her with that one, but I really don't know the difference between them all. I've heard so much about Scratch that I was going to start her on that one. The other one that looked interesting was Stencyl because you can make video games and share them. Does anyone know the difference between Cato's Hike, Scratch, and Stencyl? Is there a reason to choose one over the other?

They kinda go in order of sophistication and intent.

Cato's Hike is a goal oriented system focused on moving a character and thinking programmatically. It is all drag and drop, and I don't think it ncludes like numbers.

Scratch is a free-form system with good programming structure and ways to use math and such values to do animations and drawing.

Stencyl is a programming environment even more wide open than Scratch but based on the Scratch visual approach. It can be used to make applications and games for i devices.

So, that order would make a nice progression. One interesting thng about Cato's Hike is it was crated using Codea a full programming implementation of Python that is all text based and can make i apps. It is also a reusable skillset to learn Python to program other things like robotic systems or websites.