How it works
These printable mazes for kids are made fresh each time, so no two pupils need the same sheet and nobody has seen the answer before. Choose from 4 sizes, easy 8 by 8 up to extreme 50 by 50, square or round. Pick one of 31 themes for the start and finish pictures. Every maze has exactly one route, and the solution prints on its own page.
Read the full guide
Pick a size for the child, not the grade
Easy is 8 by 8, which is 64 squares. On Letter or A4 the corridors come out about 2 cm wide, enough for a finger or a fat crayon, so this is the size for printable mazes for preschoolers and kindergarten. Medium, 15 by 15, has 225 squares and suits first to third grade. Hard, 30 by 30, has 900. Extreme, 50 by 50, packs 2,500 squares into corridors under 4 mm wide. It needs a sharp pencil, and plenty of adults enjoy it.
Why every maze has exactly one route
The maker starts with a grid in which every square is walled in. It wanders from square to square, knocking out a wall each time it steps somewhere new, and backs up whenever it gets stuck. When every square has been visited, the result is a perfect maze: every square can be reached, there are no loops, and only one route joins start to finish. Mazes cut this way have long, winding corridors and few junctions, so they look harder than they are. That is a kind trait in a maze for children.
Themes, six per sheet and the solution
Pick a theme under Pictures. It puts a picture at the start and another at the finish and sets the Title line, such as Help the mouse reach the cheese. The 31 themes cover everyday pairs, school, the seasons and nine holidays. Because each maze is new, these free printable mazes never run out: press New maze before each print for 30 different ones. Tick Six small mazes on one sheet for early finishers. The solution prints on a second page, so you can hand out the first and keep the other.
- Teach dead-end filling. Shade each dead end back to its last junction. When every dead end is shaded, the path left over is the solution.
- For a first maze, have the child trace the route with a finger before picking up a crayon. It separates finding the way from controlling the pencil.
- Slip a sheet into a dry-erase pocket and it can be solved, wiped and passed on.
- For counting practice, ask pupils to number the squares along their finished route by 2s, 5s or 10s, then check against a skip counting chart.
- A stuck child often does better starting from the finish and working back.
Questions and answers
What age can children start doing mazes?
Around 3 is a common age to follow a wide, short maze with a finger, and a crayon comes soon after. Start with the easy size, the square shape and a theme the child cares about. The aim at that age is pencil control and staying between the walls, not speed. When a child no longer stops at junctions, move up to medium.
Does the hand on the wall trick work on these mazes?
It does. Keep one hand on the same wall and keep walking, and you will reach the finish, because in a maze with no loops every wall is joined to the outside edge. It is not the shortest way, since you walk into every dead end on that side and out again.
Do you have holiday mazes, including Easter and Christmas?
Yes. The holiday mazes, printable in all 4 sizes, cover New Year, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Earth Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas. The Easter mazes, printable free like everything here, put a bunny at the start and a basket of eggs at the finish. The Christmas mazes, printable for the last week before the break, run from a gift to the tree. Season themes suit classes that do not mark holidays.
Is there an easy Bible maze for kids in Sunday school?
Yes. The Pictures menu lists three themes under Sunday school: Star to the Stable, Dove to the Ark and Shepherd to the Lost Sheep. Press Easy or Medium for mixed ages and edit the Title line to match your lesson.
Can this make skip counting mazes?
Not yet. Skip counting mazes are number grids where the route follows 5, 10, 15 and so on, and these are wall mazes. You can still get the counting practice. After solving, pupils write the count in the squares along their route, one number per square. An 8 by 8 route is short enough for counting by 2s, and a medium maze gives a longer run by 5s or 10s.