How to create a Minecraft account for a kid

Last verified 2026-07-25

Create a child Microsoft account for your kid, add it to your family group with you as organiser, then buy Minecraft while signed in as them. Doing it in that order takes about ten minutes and is what makes screen-time limits, content filters and purchase approval possible later. Using your own adult account instead gives away all of it.

Do this in order

The order matters more than any individual step. A licence bought on the wrong account is genuinely annoying to move.

  1. Create a child Microsoft account

    Go to account.microsoft.com and create a new account, entering your kid’s real date of birth. This is the step people are tempted to fudge to skip the approval prompts — don’t. The real birth date is what tells Microsoft to apply child protections, and it is what puts the controls in your hands.

  2. Pick a username that gives nothing away

    Not their real name, birth year, school or town. A made-up word, or an animal plus a number. It is visible to everyone they play with, on every server, more or less forever.

  3. Add them to your family group

    From family.microsoft.com, signed in as yourself, choose Add a family member and add the account you just made. Add them as Member, never Organizer — an Organizer can change their own limits and remove themselves from the group.

  4. Set the controls before they log in

    Screen-time limits, content filters and purchase approval are far easier to introduce as “how it has always been” than to impose two weeks later. Our Windows 11 Family Safety guide walks through each setting, and the Minecraft guide covers the game-specific ones including multiplayer and chat.

  5. Buy Minecraft while signed in as your kid

    Sign in as the child account and buy from minecraft.net. On Windows, Minecraft: Java & Bedrock Edition for PC includes both editions in one purchase, which sidesteps the Java-or-Bedrock question entirely. With purchase approval on, the payment still runs through you.

  6. Turn on multiplayer deliberately, not by default

    Multiplayer and chat are controlled from the Xbox privacy settings attached to the child account, not from inside Minecraft. Decide with your kid which of “friends only” and “everybody” you are comfortable with, and revisit it as they get older rather than setting it once.

The mistake worth avoiding

Letting a kid play on a parent’s adult account is the shortcut that costs the most. It removes every control in one move — no time limits, no filter, no activity reports, no spending approval — and it leaves saved payment details behind a login your kid uses every day. If that is where you already are, creating a proper child account and re-buying is usually less painful than living with it; Microsoft support can sometimes move a licence, but do not count on it.

Frequently asked questions

What age does my kid need to be to have a Minecraft account?

There is no minimum age for playing, but a Microsoft account for a child under the age of digital consent in your country must sit inside a family group with a parent as organiser. In Canada that means you create the account as a child account and approve it from yours. That is not an obstacle to work around — it is what gives you the parental controls later.

Should I just use my own account for my kid?

No, and this is the single most common mistake. If your kid plays on your adult account you lose every parental control at once: no screen-time limits, no content filter, no activity reports, no purchase approval, and your payment details sit behind a login a nine-year-old uses daily. Making a child account takes ten minutes and is the thing that makes everything else possible.

Java or Bedrock — which edition do we need?

Bedrock if your kid plays with friends on consoles, phones or the Microsoft Store version, and it is the simpler one to manage. Java if they want mods, shaders or a self-hosted server — that is where the modding scene lives. Minecraft: Java & Bedrock Edition for PC includes both in one purchase, so on a Windows PC you generally do not have to choose.

Do I need to buy the game before creating the account?

Create the account first. Buying attaches the licence to whichever account is signed in, and if that is yours rather than your kid’s, moving it later is awkward. Account first, family group second, purchase third — in that order.

Can I change the username later?

The in-game Minecraft profile name can be changed, though not freely and not instantly — there is a cooldown between changes. The underlying Microsoft account email is separate and much harder to change. Pick something your kid will still be happy with in three years, and nothing that identifies their real name, school or age.

What should the username be?

Not their real name. Not their birth year. Nothing that reveals their school, town or age. A made-up word or a favourite animal plus a number is ideal. This is worth two minutes of conversation, because the username is visible to everyone they ever play with and follows them across servers.

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