Camp Combe YMCA is encouraging kids to stimulate their minds as much as their bodies by allowing them to spend time playing video games.
The YMCA campers aren't picking up the controller to play first-person shooter or RPGS, but rather use "Minecraft" to create their own virtual worlds to explore, according to Polygon.
Groups filled with third through fifth graders have signed on for the MinecraftEdu session. The sessions are so popular kids have to be put on a waiting list to get into an class.
Camp Combe YMCA's Executive Director Thad Gifford-Smith explained to Polygon how the game has stimulated the creativity in their campers. Gifford-Smith thought it would be a challenge to get parents on board with allowing their kids to play the game, but parents didn't object to the use of "Minecraft" as a learning tool.
"When we first brought up this idea we thought we were going to have to spend a lot of time educating parents," Gifford-Smith said. "We've had to do very little of that. They either realized that Minecraft was the lesser of several evils, or they had already recognized that Minecraft was a different kind of game."
Gifford-Smith claimed the class was used to teach the basics of technology, including how to navigate a keyboard to logging into a server. The goal of the class is to teach kids teamwork and application of the scientific method. Gifford-Smith added the children will also learn how to create a particle accelerator in one of their tech sessions.
However, Gifford-Smith stressed the most important lesson children are learning in MinecraftEdu is "digital discipline."
"Every parent who's got a kid who's addicted to some kind of video game knows what it's like to try and get their attention," he told Polygon. "We wanted to be able to help kids to develop the skills to move fluidly from a virtual environment to the real world without irritating the people around them."
