Playing a survival world in Minecraft with your kids can be a complete blast and also some extra work in organizing things. This is especially true when playing with young kids in the 5-10 age range. When something happens to their build or character on a creative world they can keep their inventory or just grab more of whatever they need. In a survival world, especially large long-term ones, keeping them supplied without getting frustrated can be a challenge. With a little bit of upfront setup though it becomes much easier and can also be a fun way to get them involved in building the base. Setting up dispensers with a button is an easy way for them to start to learn some of the mechanics needed for more complex redstone builds.

#1 – Quick Food Access

Setup several food dispensers. Food is an important item to have when playing survival on any difficulty except peaceful. I place them close to the storage room exit so that it’s easy to just hit a button a few times to stock up on food before heading out. Easy ones to start off with are baked potatoes, fish, or bread. After we have a few farms established I usually have stews, fish, pumpkin pie, and beef.

#2 – Easy Inventory Cleanup

Setup a Dropoff chest for unloading loot to sort later. If they must sort everything into different chests when returning from a trip it’s more likely just going to fill up their inventory. Then when you are all out exploring your Minecraft world they end up having to throw things away to pickup new items.

I place a chest with a sign between the crafting table and storage chests. This way when I am about to craft something, I’ll check the drop chest to see if materials I need are in there before grabbing items from the storage area. With the random 2-3 pieces of wool, stone, gravel, or other items frequently dropped in there it becomes a kind of chest-of-all-trades.

#3 – Important Item Storage

For important items that aren’t always needed put up item frames. This way they can grab the item easily on the way out and put it back easily as well. Items such as a map, compass, shears, or a totem are convenient to grab from these before heading off on an adventure.

This is also something to do at various farms, especially if an item with a certain enchantment is needed. I always keep a Looting III sword in a frame at our mob farms and a Silk Touch Pickax at the Ice Farm. Keeping a good axe at a wood farm or shears near the wool farm are also great uses for these.  

#4 – Easy Tool Access

Setup dispensers for commonly used tools for quick access. Tools like axes and shovels are handy to have in a dispenser for when they need to run out to grab some wood, dirt, or sand for a quick project. When I am leveling up the tool or weapon smiths in a village I usually end up with quite a few extra stone or iron tools that work great for stocking these dispensers. A benefit to having easy access to these types of tools is if they are just grabbing a few materials or fixing a broken piece of farmland they can grab a stone tool and throw it away when they are done.

These are also nice when someone is heading out to where you are working and you can ask them to grab an extra axe or other tool to replace yours when it breaks. They just hit a button and head right on out.

Hopefully these are helpful for setting up your world and sharing it with younger kids. Have other ideas or tips? Post them up below, the more the merrier!