When it comes to keeping your children entertained, it can be very easy to run out of new things to keep them occupied. However, we have a cheap and fun solution to your problems!
Mazes are an incredibly creative way of making fun for you and your children, at the same time. The best types of games that you can make for your kids are the ones that you can join in with too! That being said, here’s our guide on how to build a maze.
How To Build A Maze
Depending on your budget and location, you can change your maze to suit your environment and needs. Building a maze is a lot like building a fort – you just need to use some initiative and imagination to present your vision in physical form.
Common things to use to build a maze can include cushions, pillows, cardboard, and other household materials that could be used as a substitute for walls.
Where’s Best To Build My Maze?
When building a maze in the house, it can be just as important to find the right location as it is to build the maze itself. So, here’s how to build a maze in the house.
It’s vital to utilize pieces of furniture around the house like tables, chairs, and doors to add extra obstacles and directions to face. Sometimes using a blindfold can be a great way to add an extra challenge for your child to face.
Using features like cardboard boxes can make most locations around the house suitable for use. All you need to do is use boxes that are large enough for children to fit in.
However, not all mazes have to be big enough for your kid, they can also be used for pets and other things like marbles or soccer balls. You can change the game so it’s your child’s goal to find the end of the maze using a ball of some sort.
The other way to get your child involved is to help them design and create the maze themselves. This way they can build the maze for other children, like their siblings or their friends. This can help to expand their imagination and their creative side, whilst making fun for everyone else as well.
Smaller Types Of Mazes
A smaller type of maze that can be great for creating fun, is to make a maze out of Lego. Of course, this is great from a parenting point of view because it creates less mess to clean up at the end of the day.
A great way to start is by finding a flat surface and an assortment of bricks to start building your walls.
Lego is just an example of the type of product that can be used, using other brands like Megablox, or even using more natural materials like chopped wood to build a maze in miniature form.
The aim of the maze now becomes for the construction of the maze, not just the escaping. You can use small items like marbles and small toy figures to represent a player navigating their way through the maze.
These can be a great option because once the maze is navigated once, you can break it down again and start from scratch. This way you have unlimited amounts of fun for the whole family! You can even do races to see who gets to the finish line first!
Other Forms Of Mazes
With kids becoming more and more immersed within technology nowadays, you can always create mazes on your computer, console, or tablet. One of the most successful video games in human history is Minecraft.
Because of its simple nature and variety of different block types, you can make a maze out of most materials in the game. Nowadays, the possibilities are endless, so the world sizes you can make are incredible. Because of this, you can build a maze any size you want.
When it comes to the timeframe for making a maze, you can set a timer for someone to make the best maze they can. On top of this, you can also include a list of different materials that need to be used, if you want to make it more challenging for your child.
Alternatively, because this isn’t a physical obstacle that may clutter up your house, you can save the game and come back to your maze whenever you please.
How To Build A Maze Outside
If you have a driveway or a backyard, then building a maze outside can be a great option. On top of some of the choices we have listed previously, it’s a good idea to include something like tape or rope. You can easily place tape on the hard surfaces that form a maze using lines on the floor.
This way the players of the game can imagine the walls around them and walk through the maze.
Another great way to build a maze that both stimulates the imagination and allows children to enjoy the outdoors is to use tunnels. These can be found online and are a great way to provide your children with obstacles and direction choices when navigating through the maze.
On top of this, you can also use ropes to create the illusion of walls, by tying them to trees, fences, and just about anything you can get your hands on.
If you’re building these mazes around holidays like Halloween and Christmas, you can use things like chocolate and other candy as things to collect in the maze. These treats and prizes can be a great incentive for kids to want to play and spend time outside.
Additionally, you can decorate the maze with Halloween-themed lights and fake snow to make the maze fun for all seasons!
Final Thoughts
When it comes to building a maze, the two most important things to remember are that they’re meant to be safe and fun.
If you can find the perfect balance between these two aspects then you’re onto the right track. The good thing about building these structures is that a lot of it is down to imagination and creativity.
Because of how many different materials and features you can use, the list of variations in maze designs can be endless. It’s all about finding the right format that suits you and your kids best.
Hopefully with our handy guide, you have learnt how to build a maze to suit your requirements. Have fun, and always leave a trail of breadcrumbs!
My name is Joyce Bailey, and I am a mother of two wonderful children. When I had my first child five years ago, at first I struggled to know which method of parenting I wanted to adopt. Traditional parenting just did not seem right for my family.
