This month, 18 young people in Warren County are playing the sandbox game and learning while they’re at it.

The Warren-Forest Higher Education Council brought its popular Minecraft Camp back for a second year.

Students going into grades three through five got together in the Information Technology lab at the Warren County Career Center and Hi-Ed School-to-Work Coordinator Jenny Burroughs thanked Warren County School District and the career center for allowing Hi-Ed summer programs to use their spaces.

The students built simple homes and grand structures, probably killed zombies and creepers, and learned along the way.

Matthew Perry builds a wall of his castle on the gaming computer with the curved gaming monitor at Minecraft Camp on Tuesday after being named King of the Camp for the day.

Career Center Information Technology Teacher Scott Burroughs is the instructor for the camp.

Each day of the camp, he comes up with a goal.

On Tuesday, students had to build a castle with a moat, a gatehouse, and a keep.

What they might build it out of or how they build it was up to them – the game provides a plethora of construction options in creative mode.

“If they follow directions, they can win a prize,” Jenny Burroughs said.

Following directions is one of the outcomes. The others include collaboration, making new friends, and even public speaking.

On Monday, students built a house. The castle was the goal on Tuesday.

Exactly what the students might make on Wednesday hadn’t been decided on Tuesday, Scott Burroughs said.

The students will get to play even more collaboratively Thursday as they join a server and play in the same world at the same time to create a Minecraft town, he said.

“On Friday, they will present something they built,” Jenny Burroughs said. Having the students speak about the projects introduces them to public speaking with a topic they are confident of, she said. “They’re into this.”

It’s not supposed to be all fun and games.

“There’s learning behind all of this,” she said. “They just don’t realize it.”