Youth Digital’s Minecraft Mod Design 1 Class: First Impressions

My son is nine years old. He’ll be ten soon. He became obsessed with Minecraft about halfway through last year. In his spare time, he watches YouTube videos about Minecraft mods and walkthroughs. When I learned that there was a class, specifically designed for kids in Grades 3-7 to teach how to write Minecraft mods in Java, I knew it would be a perfect fit.

Youth Digital provides this class, along with other such classes on making 3D games, apps, and video games, and they have two new classes coming out in May on animation and 3D modeling. Their whole company is set up to provide a valuable service to kids like my son who are really into various computer activities. The classes will get them well on their way to developing job skills in computer fields.

My son is only a few sections into the Mod Design 1 class, but it is proving to be quite entertaining and educational. The instruction is clear, step by step, and entertaining. There is enough help for the students, and they enjoy it because they get to change things in Minecraft that they’ve never gotten to change before. Obviously, a hearty interest in Minecraft is useful for this class, but it’s also a great way to begin learning Java.

Our initial impressions are that the class is most excellent. My son is truly enjoying himself, and learning a brand new skill. We will report back in a couple of months for a full review. But in the meantime, check out Youth Digital and their classes. The fact that they offer such computer science classes for kids so young is impressive, and they do a stellar job of not talking over kids’ heads, or down at them, at any time. It’s also taught at a very appropriate speed. I recommend these classes to any kids interested in the topics.

Youth Digital provided access to the Minecraft Mod Design 1 class for the purposes of these reviews.