Create a Maze Activity

 

Mazes for Kindergarteners & Preschoolers

 

Young children love mazes. Maze activities for preschoolers and kindergarteners are a must in your early childhood classroom. Check out this maze activity!

 

Ages/Grades:

Toddlers, Preschool

Learning Domains:

Approaches to Learning, Physical Development

Materials Needed:

Tunnels, hoops, household sheets, shower curtains or large pieces of light fabric

Preparation:

Gather the items you need to set up a physical maze in the classroom. Set up a maze that is appropriate for the ages and abilities of the children in your classroom. If you don’t have access to tunnels and hoops, improvise with classroom furniture. Find out what the children know about mazes. Are they familiar with that word? Explain that you are going to turn an area of your classroom into a maze. Every maze has a beginning and has an end. Sometimes when you follow a maze you go straight; sometimes, you make turns; and sometimes you go up or down.

Activity:

Children take turns moving through the maze. Ask children to describe the parts of the maze that they liked. Were there some parts that were hard or challenging? Did they ever feel scared? Ask for their suggestions on how to change the maze.

Follow up:

Introduce other kinds of mazes to the children that they can use during their free play time. Here are a few you can try. Children can use the same vocabulary words to describe their actions as they use these tabletop mazes.

Marble Maze
Q-Ba-Maze (Ages 5+)
Magnetic Marble Maze
The Original Rollercoaster

Vocabulary Boosters:

Here are some new words and phrases to introduce during this activity.

Maze - A set of pathways that are meant to be confusing
Straight, Turn, Zigzag, Up, Down, Sideways, etc. - The best way to teach directional words is to act them out!
Hard/Easy - Use this as an example to teach opposites. Is the maze hard or easy?