Minecraft.  It seems to be the most popular game...ever.  My children all love it.  My students talk about it in a language non-Minecrafters can't even understand.  I find it fascinating.

I got to thinking about how to make a board game version (to of course give us a Minecraft fix without having to be on a screen).  With the kids expert help with the correct language and game play we cam up with BOARDCRAFT!

We designed the game board, the rules, the cards (both good and bad cards), the rewards (eyes of ender and armor), the chest, and the game play.  It is a dice rolled game where you move about collecting the armor and eyes of ender while fighting Minecraft mobs along the way.

I painted a wood box to resembled a Minecraft chest and laminated all the game cards. I ended up making several sets to give as gifts to family and friends who like both board games and Minecraft.

I think it might be one of my favorite board games.

I was pulled back into the world of Minecraft again when I saw the kids using an online skin editor to make their own unique Minecraft skin.  I thought how could we make something like this in the real world.  

Using my computer I designed a paper template in the correct proportions to a standard Minecraft character.  From there I printed it out, folded and glued it to see if it would work.  Once I had my template successfully built, I printed out several more and got the kids to use their personalized Minecraft characters and colour their paper characters out using markers or coloured pencils.  We even used brads to make the arms movable.

The kids love having a real world paper model of their own Minecraft skin.