MCHistoryBuilder is a free site where pupils build historic buildings layer by layer and learn how and why they were built that way. Below you find why the site suits the classroom, what you can do per subject and 11 lesson ideas you can use straight away.
Lesson ideas
Each lesson idea can be done in one or two lessons. The time is an estimate and the ages are a guide. Feel free to adapt them for your own class.
Building and understanding a castle
Subject: History · Age: 10–14 · Time: 90 minutes
In pairs, pupils design a medieval castle and explain why each part is there.
Learning goal. Pupils can name the keep, curtain wall, moat, portcullis and battlements and explain what they were for.
Tools: Castles, Battlements and windows, Towers
How it works
- Read the history story of the castle tool together.
- Pick an example and change the plan: where do you put the gate, and why?
- Present your castle and point out the defences on the build plan.
Check. Ask each pair to point out three parts and explain how an attacker was hindered by them.
The Roman town
Subject: History · Age: 12–16 · Time: 90 minutes
A group builds a Roman town together: each pupil picks a building and explains it to the class.
Learning goal. Pupils know how roads, aqueducts and amphitheatres held a town and an empire together.
Tools: City gates, Aqueducts, Roads, Amphitheatres
How it works
- Divide the buildings: gate, road, aqueduct, amphitheatre.
- Build or plan each one with the layer-by-layer plan.
- Explain which problem the building solved, and how the Romans did it.
Check. A two-minute presentation per building, with one source from the sources card.
Pi from little blocks
Subject: Maths · Age: 12–15 · Time: 50 minutes
Pupils count the blocks of filled circles of different sizes and find out for themselves that the count divided by radius × radius comes close to pi.
Learning goal. Pupils understand the link between radius and area, and see why a circle of blocks is never perfectly round.
Tools: Circles, Spheres and domes
How it works
- Make three filled circles with the circle tool: 11, 21 and 41 blocks wide.
- Read the number of blocks, divide by radius × radius and fill in the table.
- Compare with pi and discuss why the difference gets smaller for bigger circles.
Check. The table with three circles and a sentence about what pupils see happening.
Scale and ratio: the Greek column
Subject: Maths · Age: 12–16 · Time: 60 minutes
Pupils measure the ratio between thickness and height of a column and build it at a different scale.
Learning goal. Pupils can use a ratio to enlarge or reduce an object to scale.
Tools: Columns and temple front, Pyramids
How it works
- Look at the Doric and Ionic column in the columns tool and note width and height.
- Calculate the ratio and build the same column twice as big.
- Check: does the ratio still hold?
Check. A calculation with ratio and scale factor, and a picture or build plan of both columns.
Building with what there is
Subject: Geography · Age: 11–15 · Time: 60 minutes
Pupils compare homes and fields in different countries and explain the differences from climate and material.
Learning goal. Pupils can explain why a yurt, a longhouse and a terraced field suit their surroundings.
Tools: Nomadic dwellings, Historic farming, Scandinavian houses
How it works
- On the page 'By country' choose three countries with very different climates.
- Open a home or field for each country and note the material.
- Write one sentence per country: why do people build like this here?
Check. Three sentences, each with a climate or material reason.
Why does a cathedral stay up?
Subject: Technology and physics · Age: 13–17 · Time: 60 minutes
Pupils investigate how an arch, a vault and a buttress carry the load to the ground.
Learning goal. Pupils can show with a drawing where pressure and sideways force run in an arch and a vault.
Tools: Arches and arcades, Vaults, Buttresses
How it works
- Build a round arch and a pointed arch of the same width with the arch tool.
- Draw where the force goes and where the buttress has to stand.
- Add the buttress from the build plan and explain the height that Gothic churches reached.
Check. A drawing with force arrows and an explanation of two sentences.
Comparing styles
Subject: Art and culture · Age: 13–17 · Time: 90 minutes
Pupils compare two building styles side by side and learn to recognise their features.
Learning goal. Pupils recognise at least four features of two styles, such as round and pointed arches, and can point them out in a building.
Tools: Churches, Moorish architecture, Palaces
How it works
- Pick two examples from different styles, for instance a Romanesque church and a Gothic cathedral.
- Make a table of features: arch shape, windows, walls, decoration.
- Build one feature in Minecraft and explain how you recognise the style.
Check. A completed comparison table and a screenshot of the rebuilt feature.
The Amsterdam canal ring
Subject: History · Age: 12–16 · Time: 90 minutes
Pupils build a stretch of canal with houses, warehouses and a bridge and investigate why the city was planned like this.
Learning goal. Pupils know why Amsterdam grew in the seventeenth century and can link trade, water and building.
Tools: Dutch gables, Harbours, quays and locks, Storehouses and warehouses, Bridges
How it works
- Read the history on the facade and harbour pages.
- Build a stretch of canal with three different facades and a warehouse with a hoist beam.
- Explain what makes the World Heritage site (2010) special.
Check. A short report with three facts from the sources card.
Subject words in another language
Subject: Languages and CLIL · Age: 11–16 · Time: 50 minutes
Pupils work with the same build plan in two languages and make their own word list.
Learning goal. Pupils know twenty subject words for building parts in the target language and use them in a short description.
Tools: Castles, Churches, Town halls
How it works
- Open the tool in the target language (English, German or Spanish) with the language switch.
- Make a list of the parts that occur in the build plan, with the Dutch translation.
- Describe your building in the target language with at least ten words from the list.
Check. The word list and the description.
Decay and preservation
Subject: History · Age: 12–17 · Time: 60 minutes
Pupils age a building with the decay slider and investigate why buildings decay and how we preserve them.
Learning goal. Pupils can name causes of decay (weather, war, abandonment) and explain why monuments are restored.
Tools: Megaliths, Castles
How it works
- Open a castle and set the decay slider to 0, 30, 60 and 100 percent.
- Describe what disappears first and what stays longer, and why.
- Discuss: should we restore a ruin or leave it as it is?
Check. Four screenshots with captions and an own opinion with an argument.
A design is an algorithm
Subject: Computing and design · Age: 14–18 · Time: 60 minutes
Pupils investigate how a computer draws a circle or dome of blocks and write down the rules.
Learning goal. Pupils can describe a design as a series of rules with numbers you can change, and predict what happens when a number changes.
Tools: Circles, Parametric shapes, Geodesic domes
How it works
- In the circle tool change the width and see how the pattern changes.
- Write in your own words the rule that decides whether a block belongs.
- Do the same with a parametric shape and predict first, then check.
Check. The rule in words and three predictions with the result.
MCHistoryBuilder is a free fan project and not an official Minecraft product. It is not approved by or associated with Mojang or Microsoft.