Let's pretend to run in a maze!
While I was working at the Skilled Nursing Facility, I gave some patients maze to play while standing. However, to my amazement, they appeared confused. They do not know what to do: They will start to color all the routes. To help them to understand the game better, I decided to make 3D mazes.
By making the maze 3D with a marble, I can just tell them "Bring the marble from 1 to 2." However, I also add additional targets to make the activity longer, and have more opportunities to problem solving. If they have trouble knowing where to go, I can ask them to draw a line on the plastic sheet protector to encourage them to use problem solving skills.
What does this work on?
1) Standing endurance (If you want the patient to stand up)
2) Problem-solving: Finding you way from the start to the end
3) Position in space: Knowing where objects are in space
4) Attention
5) Spatial vision: Finding where objects are in space
What you will need?
Scissors
Tape (Or glue gun)
Drinking straws (The number of straws will vary according to the complexity of the maze. The maze can have any color straw, but I prefer to keep mine consistent.)
Marble
Sharpie
Sheet Protector
Maze template
Steps:
1) Create and print the template (I created this one by using Microsoft Paint, but you can also search for mazes in Google too and use it as a template.)
2) Match the appropriate size straw to the template
Red Circle: Use a marker to mark the straws to know the exact size to cut
Orange Circle : You can take advantage of the bendable portion of the straw to make the curves.
3) Tape the straw to the template until the whole template is covered by straws
4) Put the marble and the maze into the sheet protector! Then done!
Variations:
You can make the maze more fun by adding multiple targets to the dead ends. The targets can be shapes or alphabets depending on personal preferences. However, I lean towards shapes and colors so I can accommodate the Non-English Speakers.
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