As you start playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons, you will learn and unlock many new things during the first week. You will meet some NPCs, place your tent, unlock the NookPhone app, and more.
Most things are not compulsory for you, and you can skip them if you Time Travel. However, if you want to progress in a flow without Time Traveling, we have a detailed walkthrough of the first week and what you should do in it.
What you can do on Day 1 of the First week in ACNH
As the first day starts, you must have multiple conversations with Tom Nook to get a tent to place at the spot you like. Make sure to put it after consideration, as you can’t move it for a while.
The first two villagers will also arrive, and you can place their tents at locations you want. Soon after that, you will get the task of collecting ten tree branches and six native island fruits. Shaking trees can get you branches.
Once you do that, you will get to name your Island on the first day of Animal Crossing New Horizons. After this, a celebration will start, and you will become the Resident Representative. Now talk to Tom Nook and go to sleep.
After walking up, you will notice that you are playing in real-time, and the actual game will start from here. You will get the NookPhone and Nook Miles app, and Tom will introduce you to the Nook Mileage program and tell you about the 5,000 bells he will charge you. You can easily do that by completing objectives.
Donate Bugs/Fish to Tom Nook
To catch and donate Bugs and Fish to Tom Nook, you should talk to Tom Nook at Resident Services Camp and participate in the DIY Workshop. This will get you the recipe for the Flimsy Fishing Rod. After crafting it, Tom Nook will give you the Flimsy Bug net recipe.
Now catch Bugs and Fish using the rod and net and donate them to Tom Nook to unlock more recipes like Axe and Watering Can and progress to the museum construction. After donating 5 Bugs/Fish, you can place Blather’s Tent.
After placing the museum tent, it’s time to start Day 2. As a lot happens on day one, here is your ACNH day 1 checklist to ensure you don’t miss anything during the progression.
- Select Your Tent location
- Select tent locations of two Villagers
- Talk to Tom Nook for Objectives
- Talk to Villagers to get recipes
- Talk to Tom Nook for the Flimsy Fishing Rod and Flimsy Bug Net recipe
- Catch Bugs and Fish
- Place Blathers Tent
What you can do on Day 2
As day 2 starts, Blathers will be waiting for you at the tent, so for now, you need to focus on donating to Blathers.
Donate 15 Bugs/Fish
You may already have these, as you collected some during day 1. Give these to Blathers, which will start the museum construction that will be completed in a day, which means on day 3.
Upgrade your House
Afterwards, you can head to Resident Services and pay your 5,000 Nook Miles moving-in fee. This way, your tent will upgrade to a house. You can talk to Tom Nook and learn that paying him 98,000 Bells will get you the next house upgrade.
Tom will also mention that he will need x30 Softwood, x30 Hardwood, x30 Wood, and 30 Iron Nuggets to complete the Nook’s Cranny in ACNH. You can do that on day 3 if you are short on resources. You will also get a Nook Ticket to visit another Island and collect resources from there.
What you can do on Day 3
On day three, your main task is to collect resources. The Nook’s Cranny store will open today if you have already gathered and delivered the required items to Tom Nook and decided on the shop location. If not, you can harvest resources and submit them to Nook’s today, and the Nook’s Cranny will open on Day 4.
After collecting the required resources, you should focus on piling up resources for crafting better tools in the next few days.
What you can do on Day 4
As Blather Museum will be ready by this day, you should visit it and donate all the fossils you have. You can now buy items from Nook’s Cranny and even sell unwanted ones. After doing all this, building a bridge is the first major task for day four of the first week in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Talk to Tom Nook and Start Bridge Construction
Talking to Tom Nook, you will learn that more villagers would like to move to the Island, so you should build a bridge. You will need x4 Log Stakes, x4 Clay, and x4 Stone to complete the Bridge Construction Kit.
Make sure you place it on a spot on the Island where it is most needed, as more bridges will cost you a lot of Bells.
Place Housing plots and Build Furniture
After the bridge construction, it’s time to place three plots Tom Nook gave you so you can accommodate the villagers coming to your island.
You must craft and place three DIY items inside and outside each plot. Here, you will get to learn some handy recipes like Ladder. You can even make a permanent ladder to climb cliffs. After you place the required items inside and outside the plots, let Tom know, and villagers will start coming soon.
By this time, Mabel will also start appearing on your Island, so be sure to purchase a couple of clothing items from her. This will help you in setting up the Able Sisters shop later on.
What you can do on Day 5
On day five, the first thing that you will notice is your bridge is constructed. Other than that more villagers will come to the Island so you should meet them. On this day, you will learn how to customize Furniture and items.
Now, it’s time to hit every tree and rock to gather all the required resources to help you craft. There is a chance that you will get a Golden nugget, so hit as many rocks as you can.
What you can do on Day 6
This is a free day of the week on which you can interact with your Villagers in Animal Crossing New Horizons. You can buy a Nook Ticket and travel to some Island; you may find some items you don’t already have.
Completing some Nook Miles tasks that require catching bugs and bells is excellent.
What you can do on Day 7
Day 7 of the first week in ACNH has nothing happening except the construction of the Resident Services building. The construction will start, and the building will have more features once completed. Other than this, things will be normal like other days.
You can meet new Villagers arriving today and gather up resource sources and crafts using the DIY recipes. After the first week, things will get more interesting, and you will get some new buildings and meet new NPCs in Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
