Create and test an animal maze

What can we use if we don't have a sturdy flat piece of cardboard about the size of a placemat or extra cardboard for the wall strips?

Use a flattened cereal box, shoebox lid, poster board, or foam core as your maze base and make walls from craft sticks, folded construction paper strips, or upright LEGO bricks taped along your pencil lines.

Why do the taped wall strips keep falling over or the toy animal get stuck, and how can we fix it?

Reinforce the long strips by folding tabs at the bottom or using stronger tape or glue when taping each strip upright along the pencil line, and widen corridors if the toy animal gets stuck between taped walls.

How can we change the maze instructions to suit different ages?

For toddlers, adults should pre-cut and tape wide corridors and simplify the path from S to F, for elementary kids let them draw winding paths and add dead ends, and for older kids have them time runs, redesign branching paths, and change one wall to create a harder challenge.

How can we make the activity more creative or challenging after finishing the basic maze?

Decorate habitats with markers or stickers, add multiple toy animals to compare routes and times, photograph runs before and after you change one wall to study how the animal solves the new challenge, and then share the finished animal maze on DIY.org.