Two Small Mazes for Ages 4-5 — Set 17474
Before children read words, their eyes must learn to search a page, and these two 8×6 mazes give four- and five-year-olds a playful way to practice.
1 A4 page · for home and classroom use
Maze: small (ages 4-5)
How to use this worksheet
- Start with a search: ask your child to find and point to the entrance and exit of both mazes without drawing anything.
- Then play spot the long corridor: which straight passage in the first maze is the longest?
- Solve the first maze with a crayon, keeping the eyes on the corridor just ahead of the tip.
- Solve the second maze, and afterward ask your child to find three dead ends they did not enter.
What this worksheet teaches
Searching for the entrance, the exit and the dead ends trains visual scanning, while following a corridor trains smooth eye tracking. These are two of the visual skills early readers rely on to find a word on a page and follow a line of print. The small grids keep each search short, so attention stays fresh.
Play idea
Play I spy in the maze: you say "I spy a corner that turns toward the bottom" or "I spy a dead end near the top", and your child hunts for it with a fingertip.
Questions and answers
Questions from parents
My child is not reading yet. Is this still useful?
Yes, the eye skills come before letters, so mazes are good practice for children who are only starting to notice print.
Why begin by searching the page instead of drawing?
Looking for the entrance, exit and dead ends first trains the eyes to sweep across the whole page, which is the scanning part of the skill.
Are two small mazes enough practice?
For ages 4-5, two short searches keep the activity positive; repeat with another small set on another day.