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The Maze

Can you find the way out? Follow the path and try not to get lost in the maze!

Pre-braille Activity

  • Bi-manual
  • Fine motor skills
  • Spatial concepts

Level: 3

Number of players: 1

Duration: 10 min

Skills:

  • Develop tactile tracking skills

  • Develop bilateral hand use

  • Develop coordination

  • Accept new tactile experiences

This is a fun way to practice line-tracking. With both index fingers in a bottletop, the child pretends to drive a vehicle along a bendy path, trying to get out of the maze.

Goals

To explore the concept of tracking a line.

The adult prepares

  • 1 baseplate

  • 1 toolkit

  • a bottletop


Reproduce this maze with the bricks of your choice.

To roll a ball in the maze (see video), build higher walls of 3 bricks.

The children play

1


Help the child find the entrance to the maze. It is at the top left corner of the baseplate.

Show them the path to find the exit with their bare fingers.

2


Place the bottletop at the entrance and ask the child to put their index fingers in it.

Tell them to slide the lid through the maze until they find the exit.

This is the exit of the maze. And this is the entrance.
We will pretend this is a car and you will ride the car with your fingers, like when you read braille.
So you put your two index fingers here and you slide riding your car like that.
Yeah, that’s really good! Down, and then slide down and then to the left.
Find the exit. Yes.
Okay. Something else. So I have another maze. Are you ready?
So two index fingers in it. Ready? Steady. Go.
Yes!
That was fast.
So take a look.
High walls. And then I have a ball for you. Start at the beginning. Roll the ball.
See if you can get the exit. Yes. Yes. Perfect.
That’s great.
And to the exit. Yes.
Ready for one more? Yes. So we need to stand up.
Yeah. You have it!

Facilitation tips

  • Ask the child to help you build the maze.

  • As the child slides the lid, name directions and features of the maze: left, right, up, down, lines or columns.

  • Make sure that both of the child’s index fingers remain in the lid while they slide it, and that their other fingers are not bent. Their other fingers must be fanned out.

  • Turn the baseplate to change the direction of the path.

  • Use a ping-pong ball or a marble instead of the bottletop to work on balance too.