Large Maze with Many Branches for Kindergarten and 1st Grade
A large 16-by-12 maze with a fairly direct route but 16 dead ends spread across the grid, for kindergarten and first-grade children who handle shorter mazes well.
1 A4 page · for home and classroom use
Maze: large (ages 8+)
How to use this worksheet
- Start at the arrow on the upper left and watch the third move: the route steps back to the left before it sets off.
- Somewhere in the middle, the route runs straight to the right for six squares, a good landmark for checking the way.
- It reaches the right-hand edge before the end and then drops down into the circle.
- Plan with a finger first; draw only the parts you are sure about, then continue.
What this worksheet teaches
Large mazes are about sorting important information from distractions. Here the correct way passes through just 53 of the 192 squares, so most of the grid is branches that lead nowhere, with 16 dead ends in total. Your child learns to ignore tempting corridors and check where a branch really goes. The same selective attention helps with finding the relevant numbers in a word problem. The narrow corridors also call for pencil control over a long distance, good preparation for writing on lined paper.
Play idea
After solving the maze, shade the dead ends in one color and count them together; this maze has 16. See how much of the grid was never needed.