Maker Monday: Labyrinth Game

This Labyrinth Game is played by pulling three clue cards and placing them on the sequencing mat. The player reads the clue card and then rolls the ball through the corresponding labeled tubes in that order. It’s simple to make with handy materials and a fun challenge for kids of any age!

These hint cards came from a kindergarten class about identifying different types of fabric — fleece, denim, corduroy, etc. But this game could be done with any identifying activity. Kids can make up their own quiz clues related to some of their favorite subjects. And there’s no need to keep everything plain and gray: Kids can decorate the tubes and the inside of the box to fit their Labyrinth Game to the subject.

Jennifer Martin, from Keystone Oaks School District’s K-5 STEAM unit, shared this Maker Monday activity.

Supplies:

Box lid

Cardboard tubes

Marker

Paper for clue cards

Paper for sequencing mat

Scissors

Glue gun

Wooden ball

Zipper-style plastic bag

Using a marker, write the labels you need on the paper towel tubes. The Keystone Oaks kindergarten studied types of fabric, so they chose their five favorite fabric names to write on the tubes.

Hot glue the tubes onto the inside of the box lid. With adult supervision, this is an excellent way to show young children how to use an engineer’s “tool” responsibly.

Type, print, and cut out the clue cards. Again, since the kindergarten kids studied fabrics, they were all sentences describing those various materials. You could do color words, vocabulary definitions, or math problems, to name a few. Or venture into pop culture with their favorite book characters or TV shows.

Have the kids mix up and set the clue cards face down like a card game. Set out the sequencing mat, too.

The player pulls the first three cards from the pile and sets one in each sequencing box.

Here comes the best part! The player has to identify the three answers from the clue cards. Then, they roll the ball through those corresponding tubes in that order by tilting the box lid to roll the ball in the proper direction.  If they mess up, they have to start over. Repeat as many times as you want.

Store the cards, sequencing mat, and ball in a small baggy for next time. Enjoy!