Step 1: Punching Trees

Your first priority is wood. Walk to any tree, hold left-click to break the trunk. Collect 4-6 logs. Press E, convert each log to 4 planks in the 2x2 crafting grid. Craft sticks by placing 2 planks vertically.

Crafting Your First Tools

In your 2x2 crafting grid, make: Wooden Pickaxe (3 planks+2 sticks), Wooden Axe (3 planks+2 sticks), Wooden Sword (2 planks+1 stick). Prioritize the pickaxe — mine 3 cobblestone to upgrade to a stone pickaxe (2x faster, can mine iron).

Building a Temporary Shelter

Hostile mobs spawn at night. Three quick shelter options: 1) Dig into a hillside (3x3x2), block entrance with dirt. 2) Build a dirt box (4x4), leave 1x1 door. 3) Climb a tree and enclose with planks. Always place a torch inside (coal+stick).

Getting Food

Hunger is critical. Early food: kill pigs/cows/sheep for meat (cook in furnace), break grass for wheat seeds, find apples from oak leaves. Start a small wheat farm (hoe dirt, right-click seeds).

Mining for Resources

With a stone pickaxe, start staircase mining downward. Place torches every 5 blocks. Target: Coal (Y=96), Iron (Y=16), Copper (Y=48). Smelt iron ore into ingots — 3 iron+2 sticks = iron pickaxe. Now you can mine diamonds!

Day 1 Timeline Summary

First 2 min: 6 logs, planks, sticks, wooden pickaxe. 2-5 min: stone pickaxe. 5-10 min: 20+ coal, torches. 10-15 min: hunt/start wheat farm. 15-20 min (sunset): build shelter, torches. Night: smelt food/iron, plan Day 2.

Your first twenty minutes First Day: A Bed Before Nightfall One full Minecraft day lasts 20 real minutes — 10 day, 7 night, 3 transition. day · 10 min dusk night · 7 min 0–3 min 3–7 min 7–11 min 11–15 min 15 min+ ① Punch a tree 3 logs → planks → crafting table Then a wooden pickaxe. ② Stone tools Mine 17 cobble: pickaxe, axe, sword Stone tools last 4× longer than wood. ③ Food and wool Kill 3 sheep (3 wool + meat) Never let hunger drop below 3. ④ Shelter and bed A 5×5×3 box or a dug-out hillside Sleep skips the night entirely. ⑤ Go mining Stairs down, torches on the left so you can always find the way out. Three mistakes that end day one ✗ Digging straight down Lava and caves are right under you. Always dig stairs. ✗ Sleeping without walls A bed in the open is a respawn point next to mobs. ✗ Fighting at low health You cannot regenerate while hungry — eat first, always. If you cannot find sheep: 4 string from spiders = 1 wool. Sleeping also resets your spawn point so place the bed where you want to respawn.
A Minecraft day is only twenty minutes, and the goal for the first one is simple: have a bed and walls before dark. Spend the first three minutes turning wood into a crafting table and wooden pickaxe, then upgrade to stone tools with about seventeen cobblestone. Kill three sheep for wool and meat around the middle of the day, throw up a small shelter, and sleep — that skips the night completely and sets your spawn. Only then is it worth going underground, and never dig straight down while you are there.
Related guides： Best Mining Levels Guide · Nether Survival Guide · Taming Guide
✓ Last verified on Minecraft 1.22 (2026-09-22) Minecraft mechanics change with every update — this guide is only guaranteed to work in the stated version.