Minecraft

If last year was "Lego Christmas," this one is "Minecraft Christmas."  Hannah found out about Minecraft from kids at school and has wanted to play it for some time.  I am anti-video game (and really anti-screen time in general.)  Kids should be outside getting dirty, exploring the world, making things, and playing make believe.  Because kids learn by doing, feeling, and experiencing...not watching a screen for hours on end.  But who am I to argue with the kids at school? :)  And so it was with much trepidation (and Steve and Hannah's urging) that we downloaded Minecraft as a Christmas present.  The girls are HOOKED.  Steve is also pretty excited and built his own world.  Minecraft is like virtual legos.  There are different modes of play and we just use creative mode to build things.  In survival mode you fight people and die.

Previously the girls only had screen time on the weekends.  But I agreed to 30 minutes of Minecraft on a weeknight IF they complete everything on their daily list of chores/learning activities.  The nice thing is they are super motivated to do chores!  The bad thing is, well, the screen time.  But I'm hoping in a month or so they will be over it.  Because these are the screen zombies that currently live at my house...