Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

Amazing Minecraft Webshows, Music Videos and Parody Animation Videos

This weekend my son, who is now 15 and in 9th grade, shared several YouTube videos he’s been watching recently about Minecraft. This fall he recorded and shared a presentation for the 2012 K-12 Online Conference, “Creating and Playing in Minecraft,” in which he shared some of his favorite YouTube channels by Minecraft gurus. Here are some of the amazing, new Minecraft videos Alexander shared with me on Saturday.

First, here’s one of the most professional web shows I’ve seen to date on YouTube: “Get Minecraft ANYWHERE! Crazy projects & Upcoming changes – Minecraft Monday Show 88” The author is BebopVox, who identifies himself on his Twitter channel as a “Video game media Director, Producer, Aeronautical Engineer, C130J Crew Chief.” Creating web shows like this is a very impressive skill for anyone. It’s cool to learn he’s in the USAF! His wife is @NeonGlitterbomb on Twitter. In some of the outtake videos he’s published you can hear her advice/suggestions in the background.

If you’re a teacher you should know about MinecraftEDU. BebopVox shared a very cool Minecraft project which could be used by students and teachers in a lot of creative ways in his latest webshow: The recreation of the Earth 1:1500 scale. If you were unsure how Minecraft could be integrated into your curriculum, this might be the ‘light bulb’ you’ve been looking for. Think “Google Lit Trips” but in Minecraft instead of Google Earth!

The recreation of the Earth 1:1500 scale in Minecraft

Parody videos created by Minecrafters are often catchy and can include pretty spectacular animations. In April 2012, Alexander posted some of his favorites to our family learning blog, “Learning Signs,” in the post, “Minecraft Music Video Parodies.” BebopVox’s Minecraft parody video, “Don’t Mine At Night” – A Minecraft Parody of Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night (Music Video)” follows in this same tradition. You can download this original parody song for 99¢ on iTunes, and also download free wallpapers based on the video.

Next, check out the amazing Minecraft stopmotion video, “Moving Blocks [Minecraft Stop-Motion].” I’m going to share this one with Chris Simon, the grade 4-5 STEM teacher at one of our intermediate elementary schools in Yukon, Oklahoma. Chris is going to challenge students in their after-school “Scratch Club” to create Scratch projects where sprites move to a beat, and this video might inspire some of the kids to see what’s possible with music-aligned animation!

Another Minecraft video worth checking out, also referenced by BebopVox in his latest webshow, is “Animation Spotlight: Endertroll by BlueMonkeyAnimations.” The graphics for this look like they were built in Minecraft, but according to Alexander this kind of spectacular animation had to be rendered in another program. If you or your students want to see stuff blow up in Minecraft, this is the video for you!

Last of all, check out the Minecraft Music video, “Here Where I Stand (Minecraft Music Video).” It’s a catchy western/country style tune, and yes… it’s also available in iTunes for 99¢!

For more Minecraft YouTube video recommendations, see my July 2012 post, “Amazing Minecraft Time Lapse Building Videos.”

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