Minecraft has released the 2021 “Timecraft” Hour of Code, free-to-play, to help educate its community.

Minecraft has released its latest Hour of Code, naming it “Timecraft”, as they describe coding as being akin to time travel and magic. 

Timecraft Apollo 11. Image by Minecraft.

The Timecraft Hour of Code can be obtained by downloading and installing the Minecraft Education Edition, which includes 10 free coding adventures to help teach players the power of coding. 

Players can play Timecraft for free, even without an official login from a school or educator. 

Timecraft is suitable for children as young as seven years old and includes in-game hints to guide players through coding tasks if they are playing on their own and not as part of a class or lesson.

Some examples of what players can expect to do include coding a solution to prevent Giant Pandas from interfering with the construction of the Great Wall in China during the rule of the Zhao dynasty, or sourcing a trumpet for a jazz musician in the 1920s New York.

The coding lessons from Timecraft come as part of the Computer Science Education Week in the United States, which will be taking place from 6 to 12 December 2021, and will be available in 29 different languages.

Educators and families can prepare for it by installing the Minecraft Education Edition and going over the lesson plans and breakdowns for the Timecraft Hour of Code event.