How to Get Sponges in Minecraft

As a huge sandbox game, Minecraft offers players various tools for them to play around with, and one of them is Blocks, which all have unique properties. While Sponge Blocks have been added to Minecraft since way back in 2009, if you need some pointers on how to get some of them, this guide will help you to obtain Sponges.

How to Get Sponges in Minecraft

As you can expect, once deployed, Sponge Blocks will instantly absorb water up to 7 Blocks away. But they will turn wet and won’t absorb any more water after absorbing 65 Blocks of water. There are three ways you can obtain Sponges Block in Minecraft. The first two manual methods can be done in Survival Mode, while the last one is only available if you’ve activated cheat codes for your World.

1. Elder Guardian Drop

One Wet Sponge will be dropped by a defeated Elder Guardian, the defender of Ocean Monuments.

To find an Ocean Monument, you can try looking for it using your own eyes by crafting a Boat and setting sail during the night. You’ll need to look for Sea Lanterns since they emit light and make it easier to spot the Monument. Otherwise, you can trade Ocean Explorer Maps to locate the Monuments from Apprentice-level Cartographer Villagers for 13 Emeralds and a Compass.

2. Mining Sponges in the Sponge Room

Aside from beating Elder Guardians, you can also try mining some Sponges in the Sponge Room inside an Ocean Monument. While not all Monuments will always generate Sponge Rooms, one can be easily identified once you’ve found approximately 30 Wet Sponges on the ceiling of a room.

3. Use Console Command/Cheat

To spawn a Sponge with cheats, all you need to do is to type the command below in the chat box:

/give @p minecraft:sponge [x number]
(Example: /give @p minecraft:sponge 5)

If you need to know how to activate the console command or cheat on your World, here’s what you need to do:

Open Minecraft.
Select the Create New World option.
Look for the Cheats option in the Game Settings menu.
Toggle on Activate Cheats. Remember that Achievements will be disabled.

Alternative to Using Sponges to Clear Water

Sponges Blocks are obviously the most efficient way to clear water. Other than that, you can use Sand Blocks instead; dive underwater, block out the area that needs to be cleared, and add Sand blocks to the inside. Once the inside is completely filled with Sand, simply remove the Sand Blocks, and the water will be gone. Of course, you will have to also completely enclose the area. Otherwise, the water will refill the area.