Minecraft First Night Survival Guide: Spawn to Shelter

The Ultimate Minecraft First Night Survival Guide: From Spawn to Shelter

Welcome to the Survival Blocks Community! You’ve just spawned into a brand new, blocky world. The sun is high, the scenery is beautiful… but a sense of urgency is setting in. In Minecraft, the first day is a race against time. This is because when that blocky sun goes down, the night fills with Creepers, Zombies, and Skeletons.

Don’t panic! This guide will walk you through everything you need to do to survive your first night in Minecraft and set yourself up for long-term success.

Step 1: The First 60 Seconds: Punch That Tree!

Your first action in any new survival world is always the same: find the nearest tree and start punching it.

1. To begin, walk up to a tree trunk.
2. Hold down your “attack” button (left-click by default on PC).
3. The block will crack and eventually drop a Wood Log.

Collect about 5-10 logs. This is the most fundamental resource in the game. In fact, you can’t do anything without it.

Step 2: Crafting Your Basic Toolkit

Now that you have logs, you need to turn them into tools.

1. Planks: Open your inventory (press ‘E’ on PC). Place your Wood Logs into the 2×2 crafting grid. One log, for example, creates four Wooden Planks.
2. Crafting Table: Next, place four Wooden Planks into your 2×2 grid, filling every slot. This creates a Crafting Table, the most important block in the game.
3. Sticks: Place your Crafting Table on the ground. Right-click it to open a 3×3 crafting grid. Place two Wooden Planks, one on top of the other, to create Sticks.

With Planks and Sticks, you can now make your first tools. The most important one is the Wooden Pickaxe.

Step 3: Upgrade to Stone (Immediately!)

Your wooden pickaxe is weak and slow. In truth, its only purpose is to get you something better: Stone.

Look for stone on the side of a hill, a cliff face, or just dig down a few blocks under the dirt.

1. Use your Wooden Pickaxe to mine 3 Cobblestone blocks.
2. Go back to your Crafting Table and craft a Stone Pickaxe (just like the wooden one, but with Cobblestone instead of Planks).
3. Now, gather more cobblestone (about 15-20 blocks).
4. Finally, craft a Stone Axe (for chopping wood faster) and a Stone Sword (for defense).

You’ve just gone from “helpless” to “survivor” in about three minutes.

Step 4: The Hunt for Food and a Bed

Your hunger bar is going to start dropping. Additionally, you need a way to skip the dangerous night.

• Food: Look for easy-to-hunt animals like Pigs, Cows, and Chickens. A few hits with your Stone Sword will do the trick. They will drop raw meat, which you’ll cook later. Don’t eat raw chicken unless you have to, as it can give you food poisoning!
• Wool: This is critical. Look for Sheep. You need 3 Wool blocks of the same color to craft a bed. If you have a sword, you can get the wool. (Later, you’ll want to craft Shears to get wool without harming the sheep).

Pro-Tip: If you can’t find 3 sheep of the same color, don’t worry! You can still survive the night. Ultimately, a bed is a luxury, not a necessity, on night one.

Step 5: Build Your First Shelter (The Sun is Setting!)

Look at the sky. Is the sun starting to get low? If so, it’s time to build a home. On the first night, “home” just means “a box mobs can’t get into.”

You have two main options:

1. The Hobbit Hole (Easiest): Find a small hill or cliff face. Use your pickaxe to dig a small 3×3 room directly into the dirt or stone. It’s not pretty, but it’s fast and 100% monster-proof.
2. The Wooden Shack (Classic): If you have extra wood, you can quickly build a small 5×5 box on the ground.

[Image: A simple Minecraft "Hobbit Hole" shelter dug into the side of a hill, with a door and torches.]

Whichever you choose, make sure to leave a one-block opening for a door.

Step 6: Light, Heat, and a Door

You’re almost safe. However, you just need three final things.

1. Furnace: At your Crafting Table, place 8 Cobblestone in a circle, leaving the middle empty. This creates a Furnace. Place it in your shelter.
2. Charcoal & Torches: You need light. Mobs won’t spawn in bright areas.
   • Place your Furnace. In the top slot (input), put a Wood Log.
   • In the bottom slot (fuel), put Wooden Planks.
   • This will smelt the log into Charcoal.
   • Take the Charcoal and combine it with a Stick in your crafting grid to make Torches.
3. Door: At your Crafting Table, arrange 6 Wooden Planks in a 2×3 rectangle. This creates a Door. Place it in the opening of your shelter.

Now, place torches inside your base to light it up. You can also use your Furnace to cook that raw meat you collected. As a result, cooked meat restores much more hunger.

You Survived! What’s Next?

Congratulations! Consequently, you are safe, you have light, you have cooked food, and the monsters are outside, unable to get you.

You’ve mastered the first night. From here, your journey really begins. Your next steps will be to mine for Iron (check out our beginner’s guide to mining), start a sustainable food farm, and start exploring the vast world you’ve spawned in.

What are your favorite first-night survival tips? Did you build a hobbit hole or a shack? Share your stories and strategies in the comments below or join the discussion on our Survival Blocks Community forum!