Jump! Mag

Science, Nature and Tech, Toys and Games

Why DO Kids Want to Play Minecraft?

Sitting back, ready for another interesting and rather aggressive night on COD (Call of Duty), I launch my dashboard to see the usual suspects all gathered playing the latest shoot ’em ups.

Except one. Looking again, I notice my 13-year-old brother Jimbob is playing a game I’ve never seen – MINECRAFT.

After much persuasion and explanation “COME ON BRO, BUY IT PLEASE, YOU BUILD STUFF”, I decide to purchase it, in order to support him in our mum’s campaign to play online more responsibly.

The game launches and all I see is blocks. Have I got the right game? Where are the graphics?

Wandering mindlessly around, past trees, rivers and spiders, until Harvey Jimbob asks me to come to his house. Here’s the strangest part: he built it.

Science, Nature and Tech

The leg bone’s connected to the….

Why didn’t the Skeleton go to the party? Cos he had nobody to dance with….

Get it?

Yes, ok… so not the most original joke, but the skeleton is truly an amazing structure. Much like the rest of the body.

So apart from making a great Halloween costume, what is a skeleton for? What do the various bits a pieces do?

Home, Health & Style

Cool Bedroom Ideas for Kids

We’ve scoured the internet to find some fab rooms – not boys’ rooms and girls’ rooms, just really cool bedrooms ideas for kids.

Maybe you’ve grown out of your princess bedroom, or have gotten tired of your pirate room. Perhaps you didn’t have a real theme to begin with. We’ve gone for bedrooms that can be done without spending a ton of money – focusing quick fixes of a lick of paint and some new bed covers.

Stripes Galore!

We love this stripy bedroom – you can learn how they did the stripes here

Room Makeover by Melissa Mondragon

Language & Literature

12 Awesome Book Resources for Kids

Looking for great Book Resources for kids? These are our favourite sites for avid readers, and to inspire and encourage reluctant bookworms.

If you know of any book resources that we have missed, do let us know and we will add them to the list!

You can also browse our articles on Books on Jump! Mag.

Home, Health & Style, Popular

6 Things Kids with Special Needs Wish EVERYONE Would Do

When we published our article 6 Things Parents Wish Their Kids Would Do … and 6 Things Kids Wish Their Parents Would Do, one of our readers got in touch to say we should do one for the things that kids with special needs wish EVERYONE would do. So we asked our followers, and came up with this list.

It was a bit tricky to put the list together, because there are so many different kinds of “special needs”. For some children, their disability is quite well manageable with medication, or with assistance and therapy, and you’d hardly know they had any additional needs. You may have heard of autism or Asperger’s Syndrome – these are part of the autistic disorder spectrum, a range of conditions that affect how people communicate and relate to people around them. You can’t tell by looking at someone if they have ASD.

Other children have disabilities that are apparent when you meet them, such as those with Down’s Syndrome, which we have covered in more detail here. Or they might use a wheelchair to get around.

What thing do they all have in common? They sometimes get asked really silly questions, and get treated badly by people. Make sure you aren’t one of them, by listening to what the kids (and their parents) had to say!