Minecraft Social Skills & Team Games Group
Friendship skills - Negotiating - Expressing opinions - Co-operating - Playing as a Team - Learning Sportsmanship Skills
Minecraft Teamwork Groups
For any child looking to develop new social skills
Imagine your child working with other children or teens to build amazing things while having to negotiate, listen, and work with others. Minecraft is the ultimate tool for helping children learn to express themselves, to communicate well with others and to develop their teamwork skills.
Teamwork & social skills - Using Minecraft in an online community
How It Works
At each time slot, we will have about 3-4 students working together, with a couple of our leaders helping and guiding team-work negotiations. Each week we have a different project that we work on together as a team (e.g. create a beach scene or a playground or a factory etc).
Creative Mode (Building Stuff)
Minecraft building together - We will still have our normal building projects (Creative Mode) and everyone is welcome to keep building together like we have been doing for the last year or so. That will keep going if your child prefers it.
Games Together (Players-vs-Players) – Very fun – Sportsmanship skills (Optional)
This is EXACTLY what more than half of our kids have been begging us to get started. It’s also a much safer alternative for kids than just playing online games with strangers. We work together with our leaders and our mini groups. The social skills we work on our around sportsmanship skills and supporting each other and working together.
Team Survival Challenges - Mode for Increased Teamwork
Once our young people have learned some new social skills and team-work skills, they are ready for super-fun challenges. In team survival challenges, we get together and start from scratch… Working together to gather food and to find building materials - We start with not even an extra change of socks. Together we need to support each other's characters to create our own team survival setting. We do a great job and our older students love it!
Join Anytime - We have kids starting weekly, joining in groups & loving it.
You don't need to wait until a new school term - you can start any week. It usually takes just 1-2 weeks to get kids started.
Saturdays, Wednesdays or Fridays
Choose one or more 1-hour session time
Saturday Start Times
NSW/VIC/QLD/TAS times: 8am/9am/10am/11am/12pm
SA/NT times: 7.30am/8.30/9.30/10.30/11.30am
WA times 6am/7am/8am/9am/10am
Wednesdays Start Times
NSW/VIC/TAS/QLD times: 3:30pm/4.30pm/5.30pm
SA/NT time: 3:00pm/4.00pm/5.00pm
WA times: 1.30pm/2.30pm/3.30pm
Advantages
After School Sessions
Don't miss out on school.
We've set things up so that your child doesn't have to miss out on school and you don't have to deal with midday appointments. Instead, all sessions are at after-school times in the afternoons or evenings because your child needs routine. We can help that just by scheduling sessions conveniently for you.
No Waiting Lists!
You hate waiting lists and so do we!
Your child needs to learn asap. We have many, many groups and we would rather add more groups than have a waiting list. Every week your child is not learning new skills is a wasted week. We'll do everything we can so your child can start in our next course.
My son has grown in confidence tenfold since joining Minecraft around October 2022.
I am just thrilled at his growth in confidence, talking with a trusting community & gaining problem-solving skills along the way with Sebastian (his favourite helper) and other like-minded Saturday morning colleagues.
- Proud Mum of 11 year old
“Players vs Players” Games Days (Optional)
Our Leaders Run These Games...
- Obstacle Course (Building and racing)
- Hide and Seek (A bunch of us digging into a giant mountain, while another team searches for us)
- Bullrush (A running from base-to-base game in teams)
- Sword Battles (Sword-fighting - Playing ‘tag’ in a giant sword battle)
- What’s the Time Mr Wolf (Run, hide, stop… keep going)
- TNT Run (Explosive fun)
- Mazes (Solving mazes and creating mazes)
- Parkour (Safer than the real world)
- Scavenger Hunt (Teamwork & communication)
- Triathlon Racing (So much fun)
- Boat race / Mario cart (Future)
- Capture the flag (Future)
Why we do Players-Vs-Players Games
"Sportsmanship" Skills Sessions
- We want a SAFE environment to learn social skills and sportsmanship skills. Our kids are playing other online games that are UNSAFE. This is our solution.
- Some of our Minecraft builders have been doing the Minecraft program for 6 months 12 months or more and they are ready for us to stretch their skills.
- So many of our kids struggle to play with others at school when there is an element of competition.
- We going to stretch our children’s social skills a bit more by introducing an element of team games and player-vs-player mode for PART of each session.
Parent Choice - Will Your Child Be 'Building' or 'Playing' in Teams?
Easy Opt out from Team Games – Parents can communicate at the start of each session if they only want their child doing building. And that’s okay because not all children are ready yet.
About 90% of the parents will want their child to play the mini games and 10% want their child to 'stick to building'.
Here's How 'Team Games' Build Social Skills:
We Help Your Child Achieve Their Goals
We have different goals for each child and team. We set goals depending on your child's abilities, and for community members who are on NDIS, we set goals that match NDIS objectives and we match goals to your child's unique personality.
Community team motto
“It is more important to be a good team-member than to build good things.”
Grow Social Skills & Teamwork
- Express your opinions.
- Listen to others’ ideas.
- Take others' feedback on board.
- Politely say 'no' to others' suggestions.
- Give and receive compliments.
- Learn to build rapport and make connections.
- Learn self-esteem and self-talk strategies.
- Plan together.
- Build together.
- Be a great team-player.
Here’s How We Play
- We will express our own opinions using kind words.
- We listen when others have a different opinion.
- We will always listen to our leaders who are here to help us.
- We will try to not get cranky at people even if things happen that are unfair.
- We compromise - Sometimes other people want us to build things differently to how we want to build things, and we will be okay with changing our minds.
- If our leader tells us to go and get a drink of water, we will do that straight away because that is our chance to calm down.
- We keep our camera on (in Zoom) so our leaders/teammates can see our faces to know if we are feeling okay.
- We always use calm, kind and polite words and we have friendly faces.
- We finish on time, even if we are only part way through building things.
Ages 7-10 & ages 11-15
We have different session times, depending on your child's age group and Minecraft ability. We've deliberately designed these sessions so that your child can be part of a team, regardless of their age or ability. Really, Minecraft is a lot like Lego and often our older students help our younger ones. It is part of the teamwork mind-set.
Safety In Minecraft
This is safer than almost anywhere else your child could play Minecraft. That's because your child will work with two of our staff members who will make sure that everyone is using friendly voices and doing friendly things. Only children who we have let into the game can come and play in the team building area, so your child is safe from outsiders. Also we have clear guidelines and rules for our kids about how we speak to others, treat each other's work and protect what each other have built.
Tech Support
Our Tech Support People (Patrick & Lani) can happily show families how to get their child set up. We help children set up their own Minecraft account. If you have any trouble getting set up, our friendly Tech Support People and will even set you up. Easy!
Location
Your lounge room, using zoom - No need to travel.
You don’t need to travel anywhere. It's easy to use Zoom from your lounge room.
Keep doing sessions as long as you like
This is not a set-weeks-time course. We take public holidays off but most of our kids will stay with us for a long, long time.
What devices can kids use for Minecraft?
What devices can kids use for Minecraft?
Kids who are used to using Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo switch, or chromebooks can't use those playing Minecraft with us, but they would have the skills so we can transfer them onto their computer or laptop or tablet or iPad instead.
NDIS Funding
For Minecraft Social Skills Online Community Group
Which Funding Categories?
NDIS funding is generally available for self-managed and plan-managed NDIS plans.
Chat with your plan manager for what is relevant to your situation.
It is helpful to know that other families have told us they usually use these categories (or similar):
A. Increased Social & Community Participation
B. Improved Daily Living
For plan-managed participants, your plan manager will be able to tell you whether your plan will cover this, as some plan-managed participants may have some out-of-pocket expenses. Most families are able to cover this without out-of-pockets.
Pricing $67.65 (NDIS-Invoicing is easy - Just ask)
Pricing Structured for NDIS as:
[1.0 hour of face to face ($61.50) + 0.1 hour ($6.15) non-face-to-face, total $67.65]
Social & life skills taught in an ASD-friendly way (Yay!)
Each session, your child learns a new social skill, broken down into simple steps.
Your child experiences new skills in a fun way.
Your child practises new skills in a supported environment.
Your child plays fun games to discover effective ways to apply their new skills.
We help your child to try out these skills at home and at school for themselves.
We collaborate with parents and teachers to create opportunities for the new skills to be used.
What parents are saying
You are passionate about supporting, encouraging and growing the kids you’re working with. I’m so glad we’ve found you!
Sally J.
Mum of 9 year old daughter, near Melbourne.
Thank you for all your care and support with our son. We are so impressed and grateful for this program. Not to mention the skills he is using daily from it!
Irene
Delighted Mum of primary school son in Sydney.
Oh my goodness! Blake absolutely loved last night. Thank you so much! It made him feel very special and comfortable.
Vic
Mom of 10 year old child.
Tony Attwood (basically the go-to guru in Australia on Autism) said this:
This is what kids get out of computer game time:
- They can achieve a temporary escape - to get away from the world and it stresses.
- Create a sense of connection with other people who think like they do (which doesn’t always happen - in the real world)
- Computer games give instant gratification - because there are always a series of goals and you achieve them and you get told you are a champion for achieving them.
- There’s a good sense of challenge that appeals to kids with Autism
- Often kids to feel unpopular at school can feel a sense of popularity with other gamers
- There’s usually hardly any social chit-chat or off topic social cues to read. It simplifies interacting with others
- In some types of computer games, kids can build their own avatar, which is a pretend person who they can be, like a superhero or something like that.
Source: https://attwoodandgarnettevents.com/internet-gaming-and-autism/
Other Programs Loved By Kids & Teens
Secret Agent Society®
7-12 yr
Secret Agent Society® (SAS) is a fun, evidence-based learning experience, helping your child grow their social skills and emotional regulation skills. The engaging spy-game curriculum helps your child learn to make new friends and keep those friends. Kids can choose to feel happier, calmer and braver. Recommended by Psychologists, OTs and Speech Therapists.
Peers® Social Skills (Teens/Young Adults)
12-17 yr
Peers is an friendly, evidence-based learning experience for teens and young people. Together with a caring “mini-group” of new friends and leaders, your young person learns skills and confidence for social interactions - learning new ways to make friends, keep friends, and thrive in life. Recommended by Psychologists, OTs and Speech Therapists.
Minecraft Teamwork Group
7-15 yr
Each week, your child will enjoy creating and co-operating with other kids. Your child will be guided through teamwork skills, negotiation skills and friendship skills. Each week we build a different Minecraft building project together. Will we build a beach scene, a spaceship, or a theme-park?
Art Friendship Group
7-17 yr
Kids and teens create fun art activities together, with our leaders helping and guiding your child through social skills to make new friends. It’s relaxed, supportive and very social. Each week we have a different art project that we work on together as a team (e.g. a drawing, painting, graphic design etc).
Friendship Hero (Boys) Playground Skills
8-15 yr
Your young man builds on skills he’s learnt from SAS & Peers (Evidence-based social skills courses), targeted for the daily challenges that growing boys face. Your child learns to be more confident, contribute more to interactions with others and how to keep friends. It’s a fun experience, with a focus on playground-style social skills.
“Worth It” (Girls) Friendship Skills
8-16 yr
Your daughter will love learning new social skills, building on the skills she gained in SAS & Peers (Evidence-based social skills courses). In a fun, safe space your daughter learns how to navigate healthy relationships and develop social resilience. She can learn to ‘read the room’, evaluating social settings to drop her social ‘mask’ and shine as herself.
Adventure Team - Role Playing Game
11-25 yr
Social Role Playing - A fun interactive Zoom board-game-like Social Skills learning experience on Zoom. Each session, we learn new social skills and then we apply those social skills as a Pirate, a Space Pilot or a Farmer.
Parent Encouragement Groups
Parents only
Parents who love hanging out and exchanging ideas - What’s working in your family right now, and what is tricky? Let’s learn together. Parent support, ideas & encouragement night are so much fun.
Want to know more?
Is this course right for your child? Get in touch with the team to arrange for your child to get started. It’s a way to start learning about new social skills, making better friendships and enjoying their school experience more.
Social skills can be learned.
We love helping your family thrive.
Site Links
What We Offer
Connect With Us
We are AUSTRALIA-WIDE and even WORLD-WIDE on Zoom.
Office: 18 Wakool Circuit, Kaleen, 2617
hello@amazingskills.com.au