I love farming animals in Minecraft but it can get a bit confusing  even if your farming just one type of animal. First, I am going to tell you some tips to make your over all farming better. When animals eat if two have eaten they will come to each other and make a baby. No one has genders in Minecraft. I put my animals in pits 3 or more deeper with ladder to get out. Some people say have them in a small place but I make a bigger hole than I need so you don’t need to make more room later. Most people put animals in fence and I know it looks pretty but don’t put chickens in fence they get out easily. Animals will push each other in to walls especially chickens and suffocate themselves but if you put glass in the pits around the bottom the won’t die.

Here are the most common animals you will probable use.

Chickens: These are awesome. When you kill them you get feathers  for arrows (a stick in the middle an arrow on one side a flint on the other) and chicken to eat (just cook it in the furnace) and they lay eggs every Minecraft day. Chickens are the smallest animals being only one block high. They eat  and follow seeds and when you throw an egg you have chance to get a baby chick

Sheep: I use these lots. When you kill them you get wool which makes carpet (two squares of wool side by side) beds (a row of planks then a row of wool) and pictures (a frame of sticks and a wool block in the middle) also mutton to eat (just cook it). You can get wool with out killing the sheep by shearing it by right clicking on the sheep with shears (two iron ingots diagonal ) which will give you 1 to 3 which is more than when you kill it because you only get 1. They eat and follow wheat.

Cows: These are probable the most helpful animals.  When you kill cows you get leather for armor and books (a leather in the corner and 3 paper around it) and beef to eat (just cook it). And you can milk it and you can get unlimited milk and the don’t have to be milked. They also eat and follow wheat.

I hope this will get you interested in animals and farming them and be sure to comment if I left any thing out or any cool tips.                                              

Nerdpie

One of the big things in Minecraft is that you get hungry and then you can’t generate health. But when you eat food then you will fill your food bar and not be hungry. First I’m going to talk about the different types of food you can farm.

1)Wheat: This is the easiest one to get seeds for because they spawn as grass every where. When you hit a block of fully grown wheat a wheat piece and possible a seed or two. You can make bread (3 wheat straight across the middle of the crafting table) or cookies (1 wheat and 1 cacao seed) or cake (wheat across the top milk across the bottom and sugar egg sugar in the middle) but you can’t eat it raw. When you feed wheat to sheep and cows they will breed together and make a baby.

2)Carrots: This is my favorite but is hard to get because you can only find them in villages or very rarely a drop from a zombie. The seed is the carrot itself, this does not have any crafting recipes but you can eat it raw.

3)Potatoes: I like potatoes but I always get too many. You find them in the same places as carrots. You can eat them raw but then they fill 1 heart per potato but if you cook them then they fill 4 hearts per baked potato.

Wheat, carrots, and potatoes are all farmed the same way. You need to have a block of dirt within 4 diagonal blocks of a water source. Hoe the block of dirt with a hoe (2 sticks and a cobblestone up the middle and a cobblestone in the right corner). Put the seed (or the carrot or the potato) into the ground. After a while your plant will be fully grown hit it to harvest

 4)Pumpkins: These are delicious and kind of easy to find. They spawn in most biomes and are just sitting there.You can make pumpkin pie( sugar, pumpkin, and egg )

5)Melons: I haven’t had much time with this but they seem pretty cool. When you harvest the melons you get up to three slices.

You farm pumpkins and melons the same ways. You grow a vine and the fruit will grow next to the vine. I grow the vine then dirt then water.

Make sure to tell me any cool farms you make.    

Nerdpie

Today I’m going to talk about minecarts and rails. First lets start with the minecarts the only automated way to travel in Minecraft. There are many different kinds of minecarts and rails.

The Minecarts

1) The basic minecart: The basic minecart is the basis of all other minecarts you make them by putting iron ingot in a U shape on the crafting table. The basic minecart doesn’t have anything special about it except that you can ride in it. But keep in mind that other mobs can ride in them as well, from monsters to animals.

2)The minecart with chest: This is the same recipe but put a chest and a minecart on the crafting table. The thing you use this for is carry in items. You can’t ride in it so make a minecart for you too. It is basically a chest that can go on rails.

3) The powered minecart: The crafting recipe is the same except replace the chest with a furnace. This can work as a furnace and when you put another minecart in front of it it will make the other minecart go.

4)TNT minecart: This will blow up when on an active activator  rail but doesn’t blow up the rail or the block it’s on, which is cool. You make it with a minecart and a TNT block.

Now lets talk about the rails. This is what the minecarts ride on.

The Rails

1) The normal rail: this is like the minecart. It doesn’t have any fancy things but you need it. You make it by putting iron on the sides and a stick in the middle. There is no power on these rails so you need a powered minecart or other types of rails or gravity to go at full power.

2) The Powered rail:This will make the minecart go really fast  but you have to make sure its on or it will stop the minecart completely. To make it you replace the iron with gold and the stick with redstone.

3) The Activator rail: this just makes the TNT go boom and gets you out of the minecart. You make it by putting sticks in the middle, top, and bottom of the crafting table, a redstone torch in the middle, and iron in the sides.

4) The Detector rail: This will act like a button when you ride over them. You make them with a pressure plate in the middle , a redstone in the bottom middle , and iron on the sides.

I hope you can use this to make cool inventions and epic roller coasters! Make sure you come back and let me know all the cool things you build with Minecraft minecarts and rails.

Nerdpie

The Minecraft Nether is the monster dimension. Some people describe it as  Minecraft’s hell but once you get to know it you can have fun there like any other place.There is a lot of flames and lava and every thing is invincible to flames. First lets start with looking at  how to get there. 

Getting to The Nether

1)First you need obsidian. You need lava and a diamond pickaxes. pour water over the lava which will turn it into obsidian. then just dig out the obsidian with your diamond pickaxes.

2) Build the frame. You need 16 to 20 pieces of obsidian to make the frame of the portal. you can put cobble stone in the corners. Put 4 blocks of Obsidian on the top and bottom and 5 on the side.

3)Put a fire with a lighter in the frame and step through and you will be in The Nether. But keep in mind that mobs can come through from  both sides.

Now lets look at a the unique stuff in the Nether!

The Stuff of the Nether

1) Netherrack: Netherrack is the dirt of the Nether it can conduct fire forever and is blast proof.

2)Nether Quartz: Nether Quartz is used for daylight sensors and blocks like pillars and white blocks.

3) Nether brick: Nether brick is found in the Nether Fortress and you can make it (Smelt Netherrack then put it in the crafting table in the same way as a crafting table) and will make Nether brick fence and stairs in the same way as regular items.

4) Nether wart: Nether wart is found in the Nether fortress and is used for potions. It grows on soul sand.

5) Soul sand: Soul sand makes you slower which is good for traps and if you put it in front of door and you can’t go in that way but you can go in. 

6)Nether Fortress: The Nether Fortress is the only structure in the Nether. You can find chests full of rare items but there are monster spawners near any chest. Now lets look at the monsters.

The Monsters of the Nether

1)The Zombie pig-men: The Zombie pig-men are the only mobs in the Nether that don’t start hostile but if you hit one they will all attack you and they won’t stop trying to kill you for days. Their drops are all rotten flesh and gold stuff like nuggets and swords.

2) Blazes: Blazes are really hard to beat. Blazes throw fire balls and if you touch them you will be on fire. But the Blaze will be hurt a lot by snow and water. They drop Blaze powder and rods that can be used for potions.

3) Magma cubes: Magma cubes are rare but if you find one you will find lots of them. They jump around a lot and won’t be hurt by falls. When you hit them  they become  a bunch of smaller ones 2 times. You get magma cream which is used in potions.

4)Ghasts: Ghasts are big floating mobs that shot fire balls.And you can hit the fire balls back at the Ghast which gets you an achievement  You can use a fishing rod to reel in the ghasts. you get ghast tears that can be used for potions.

Now that you know ever thing about the Nether  go out there and have fun. What have you done with the Nether?

This is about the Overworld’s monsters in Minecraft. All monsters drop stuff that can help you from string to gun powder

1) The Creeper: The creeper has become unofficial face of Minecraft but he isn’t a big deal if you know how to deal with him. The scary thing about the creeper is that he blows up but if you just back away after you hit him he will start over his countdown till he blows up. Or you can shoot at him with a bow and arrow. The creeper drops gun powder and if shot by a skeleton it drops music discs.

2) The Zombie: I think that the zombie is the most common monster and one of the easiest monsters to kill. Often the zombies will come in a group so that can be a bit hard to take care of especially if you aren’t planning on battling monsters. The way they hurt us is by touching us but the knock back is enough to make it so they can’t touch you for a couple seconds. Zombies drop rotten flesh and can drop  some strange things like carrots (rarely).

3) The Spiders: The spiders aren’t hostile unless you look at them. spiders can go up walls and make a slithering sound when they move. Spiders drop string and spider eyes(gross right) which can be used for potions.

4)The Ender Man: The Ender Man is like the big mysterious guy. He can teleport and trys to rearange the landscape. He isn’t hostile unless you look at him above the legs because he doesn’t like to be stared at.

5)The Wither Boss: And finally The Wither boss. The Wither Boss is man made and is one of the least known monsters. To make the Wither Boss you need soul sand and wither skelton skulls (both found in the Nether). Put one block of soul sand then three across the top of the first then a wither skeleton skull on the last three blocks.

Did you see that one was missing? Good spotting! The Ender Dragon is in another piece all about the end! Check it out!

What is your experience with Minecraft monsters?

(The End) the mysterious third dimension of Minecraft that holds The Ender Dragon. It is the place that you go when you have mastered most of the game. The Ender Dragon only gives you experience and ultimate bragging rights but he is still pretty fun to beat. But first you need to get there.

How To Get To The End

1)Get your self about 20 Ender pearls which you get killing Ender men.

2) Get some blaze rods (by killing blazes) and turn your Ender pearls into eyes of ender(one blaze powder on the middle left and a Ender pearl in the middle.

3)Here is the tricky bit, throw out an eye of Ender and it will float to the nearest portal which will be under ground. Some times you can pick up the eye, repeat till the eyes won’t move.

4) Dig down, but not straight down, till you find the portal.

5)Put eyes in every portal block put the last one in while you are standing in the portal frame jump into the portal but be warned that this is a one way trip  onless you defeat the Ender Dragon

 The end is mostly made of Endstone (which is blast proof) with some obsidian pillars. The only mobs in the End except for the Ender Dragon are lots of Ender men which can spawn in the normal world and the End. Now I’m going to show you some things you need to know to defeat the Ender Dragon.

Things you need to know about the Ender Dragon

1)There are crystals on the tops of the obsidian pillar that when the Ender Dragosns near them they restore his health but if you break the crystals while he is still conected to them he will be hurt, these crystal just need 1 arrow in them to blow up.

2)The Ender Dragon attacks by swooping down and breathing flames at you, He goes within sword range though.

3)The Ender Dragon is hostile and will start attacking you  as soon as you are there.

4) Beds blow up in the End when you try to sleep in them, you can use them as weapons by blow in a bed up when he gets near.

5)The Ender Dragon has 20 hearts and you can see how healthy he is on a bar across the screen when he gets close.

I hope now you know every thing about the End that you wished to know        

Nerdpie

Want more? Check out all our Minecraft pieces! 

I have found lots of previously made worlds that I wanted to have from Lord of the Rings to Neverland. These worlds are so cool. You can take the world and play in it with out having to do all the set up to create it. You can also look at all of the cool things that other people have dreamed up. And often you can find worlds that are based on one of your favorite shows. My current favorite is this Neverland world. It  is based on my new favorite show Once Upon a Time when they got to Neverland. It had all of the details  and I haven’t finished exploring to find even more details.

But once I downloaded them I was stumped about what to do next. So I did some research and now I’m going to show you how to find them and use them.

Okay so first you need to find the world you want. My best source is Planet Minecraft which is a great source for all things Minecraft. That is where I found the Neverland world. I have also seen Feed the Beast but I haven’t looked around there much. I have only seen it in a book so I can’t say any thing sure about the quality and choices of worlds.

Getting the World

1) Once you pick your world check to make sure that it is completed because so people post the world information before the world is ready.

2) Press the download button. The world will be in your downloads file.

Putting your new world into your game:

1) You need to get to your  .minecraft folder on you computer.  The easiest way is to go into the Minecraft game.  

2) Go to “options” and  click on “resource packs” then click the button that says “Open resource pack folder” then you should see the .minecraft folder.

3) Open the .minecraft and open the “saves folder” that is in it.

 4) Then copy the world into that. How you copy it is by left clicking on it and clicking “copy”

5) Most worlds are zipped so try to unzip  them by Sometimes the person who makes the world will put the actual world file in a file within the zipped file. One time I found a map of the world I got as a file in the zipped file.

When you start a new world on Minecraft you are dropped  into the world with nothing. I’m here to tell you what you need to do to get started There are day  and night cycles each 10 minutes 1 1/2 minutes in between.

First you need to find trees and get wood to make tools and shelter. You dig out wood by pointing your mouse at it and holding down the right mouse button. You make planks by putting logs in one square of your crafting interface in your inventory.

You need to make a crafting table by putting planks in every square of the crafting interface. A crafting table lets you craft more things than the crafting interface so you will be using it a lot!

Next you need  to make a home. I like to dig down in a staircase or into a hill. But if you don’t want to dig you can make a small plank house. You have to  make a house because monsters come out at night and if your not in a lighted home they will kill you. Monsters spawn in dark and will try to attack you.

A way to help with monsters is to make a sword (a stick and two planks up the middle of the crafting table).

For a good plank house you need about 20 wood logs make those into planks. Make a door by  putting planks in every square on the crafting table except the three on the left. Sticks are made by putting planks one  on top of the  other on the crafting table.  

Make light by  first making a furnace (cobblestone in every square but the middle in the crafting table) then putting logs in the top  and a log on the bottom. What comes out is charcoal which you can use to cook stuff or make torches (charcoal over sticks).  

Next make some tools by putting sticks up the middle and putting planks in the shape of the top of the tool you want. Later in the game you will make tools with cobble stone instead of planks.

To sleep which basically skips the night, you need to find sheep. This is not necessary to survive but is helpful. A bed is 3 planks on the bottom of the crafting table then 3 wool. To harvest the wool, kill the sheep.

You need also will need food. The best way to get that is to kill animals and cook the meat that they drop in the furnace.

Hope this helps!      

Nerdpie 

(Check out How to Change You Skin on Minecraft)

These are 2 of my favorite series of Minecraft books. I like reading Minecraft books to help with all those things you can’t figure out on your own. And they are just fun to read! The only place to learn about mods with out just surfing the web is to read Minecraft books. Not that surfing the web is bad it’s just that the books are a much easier way to find the information and they have sites that can help you further.

The Minecraft Handbook series by: Scholastic

This is the official Minecraft book series. It will show you how to do every thing from starting out on a new world to making complex redstone machinery and cool houses. I love them and I think that anyone could benefit from reading these books.

The Minecrafter series by: Triumph Books

This series is more about awesome buildings, mods, and neat tricks. And they have all the essentials to! These are a great read and a lot bigger than above. I sincerely advise it to every one.

I love these books and hope these help you further your Minecraft experience. Want more Minecraft and me? Check out my post on How to Change Your Minecraft Skin.