Some people are naturals at this and even when it is their first time playing have no trouble surviving their first few days in Minecraft... but other new crafters have trouble figuring out how to not get killed; I am in the last group. I died several times my first night and it would have taken me a while to survive if i hadn't found a how-to guide. I will do my best to show you my techniques for surviving the first days.
When i spawned in a new world this picture is the first thing that i saw. When you spawn it is midday in-game, so you need to hurry to find shelter on you first night.
The first thing you need to do is to find and harvest a tree.
Next, craft the wood into planks
Use 4 plank blocks to make a crafting table, and place it on the ground.
craft 2 of the planks into sticks. I need to place emphasis on using only 2 planks... i have all too often crafted ALL of my planks into sticks and wasted time trying to gather more wood.
the next step is to create the 2 tools seen above; a shovel & a pickaxe.
if you have at least 5 planks, the next thing that you might wish to craft are sticks, and then an axe.
the next thing you need to do is to dig a small hole into the side of a hill... think hobbit hole. remember, the important thing is that you make a small room. If you make the room as big as possible, monster will spawn inside when it is dark at night. until you can light it, the best thing is to keep your room small.
use 6 planks to create a door, and save it in your inventory for later.
next use some of the cobblestone that you most likely picked up during the digging and craft a furnace (if you do not have enough you might want to keep excavating your room until you have at least 8 cobblestone (remember to fill it back in with dirt until it is small again).
use the axe you crafted earlier to harvest another tree (or if you didn't, use your fist)
place the wood blocks in the top slot of the furnace, and a wood block in the bottom smelting slot (if you have some leftover, you can also use planks & sticks like i did).
take the first piece of resulting charcoal and place it in the bottom slot (when it disappears it is being used)
as the wood smelts, it will create more pieces of charcoal
by this time it should be dark out or getting close, place the door that you crafted at the mouth of your little 'Hobbit Hole' and take your crafting table inside.
when you get inside take the charcoal from the furnace and place it in your inventory. take a stick and a piece of charcoal and use them to craft 4 torches.
now that you have torches, you may expand your shelter as you see fit, as long as you keep it well lit.
wait for the safety of daylight, and then craft a sword. If you do not have enough materials to craft it, you may want to harvest a tree first. (If you are running out of trees, plant some saplings to grow more)
use the sword to go out and kill some food... i found some chickens!
NEVER eat the chicken raw, if you do you will be poisoned (you can also eat rotten flesh, however it will do the same thing)
if you want to store some stuff for later, craft a chest or two and transfer your stuff.
find some sheep and kill them (this is the only way to get wool outside of shearing which requires shears) until you have 3 pieces of wool (color doesnt matter).
use 3 parts each of wool & planks to make a bed. This is VERY important.
place the indoors... & try not to die until you sleep in it (sleeping in a bed will auto save it as your spawn point if you die, however you cannot use it until night).
well that was the basics for survival, this tutorial should work when you spawn near or in a forested area. Good luck, and fun crafting!
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