Minecraft Blocks

I've had a hard time being 'present' lately.

It's easier to get my stuff done when Toby is playing Minecraft or watching Youtube tutorials, but then I feel guilty for not spending actual time with him. However when I do try to organize an activity he takes very little interest and counts down the seconds until his screen break is over.

In the midst of our rut I came upon a post in our Facebook homeschool group that someone was selling off a bag of 90 wooden craft cubes. I love building blocks, and as a result we have LOTS and no reason to get more, especially when they're all cubes and you can't necessarily do much with all cubes.
And then I thought - Minecraft is cubes...I could paint them.

I dragged Toby along when I was picking up the blocks and I can tell he's looking at me thinking "Whyyyy???" So I hold up the bag and say "I'm painting these. To look like Minecraft blocks. So you can play with them."
His eyes lit up for the first time in a long time and he began listing off which types of blocks he wanted me to make.

The project begins.

Lots of stones.

This project quickly became more about me doing something creative for myself, than about making a toy for Toby.
37(?) blocks had to be stone coloured for various types of ore and stone. After painting them grey I used a sponge and a darker grey colour to add the store textures, but I don't think I got a good picture of that part.

First batch: Lapis Lazuli, Redstone, Gold, Emerald, Diamond,
Cobblestone, A furnace, and TNT  brick to blow them all up

Some of them evolved into reversable blocks to reflect things you can do in the game.

Working furnace, large chest, lit jack-o-lantern, and snow bricks have
spots so they can be used with the pumpkin for a Snow Golem.

Crafting box with the chest.

The beginning of wood planks so we can build a house.

Toby, at this point, sits at the table and watches me paint and counts the seconds until the paint is dry enough for him to snatch up and play with. He says "Mom, this is so cool casue it's like I can play Minecraft, WHEN I'M NOT ON THE COMPUTER!"

...Yes....Yes, that's the entire point there Toby... ;)

Dirt and grassy dirt blocks, and the set is complete,

Toby approved.

Homestead nestled by a hill with a jack-o-lantern to mark our location.

 Minecraft geology.

Final brick count:
1 Crafting table

1 Furnace

1 TNT
1 Pumpkin

1 Emerald ore

2 Chests

2 Snow blocks

3 Diamond ore

3 Lapis lazuli

4 Redstone

4 Gold ore

4 Mossy cobblestore

6 Coal 

6 Iron ore

10 Cobblestone

10 Dirt
10 Grassy dirt

22 Wood planks

While we still have small battles over computer time, it's nice to see him enthusiastic about something again. Grampa and Grama sit and play with him so he can talk endlessly about Minecraft without them all staring at the computer. Grampa invented Duplo Creepers which I haven't grabbed a picture of yet, but I will.

All in all it was a fun project which everyone thinks I should mass produce now. Pretty sure there is all kinds of copyrights involved with doing stuff like that, we we'll see what comes of it.