Mazes in real life….

ALA Midwinter 2007, Washington Convention Center, Seattle

LA Freeways

Metropolitan Museum of Art

New York Subway System

Wisconsin Bike Trails

Queen Mary 2 Deck Plans

Heathrow Airport

Central Park

Real life mazes?

Mazes and children

• Mazes help children learn decision-making and critical thinking skills. They have to think ahead and plan steps to be taken later. They understand that there are alternative ways to solve problems.

• Mazes help children learn to judge spatial relationships. Real world applications for air traffic controllers and similar occupations.

• Working with mazes is particularly suited to boys and reluctant readers.

• Games involve mazes. Computer games like Donkey Kongand Pac Man (retro games that are coming back in style) and chess are mazes.

• Also helpful in practicing “revision.” They have to backtrack and try another path.

• For the youngest children, mazes help develop fine motor skills. Research has shown that maneuvering through mazes helps improve children’s handwriting.

Projects

• Research and discuss historical and contemporary mazes, throughout history and throughout the world.

• You can help children, and adults, make a Geometric Maze or a Random Roxie Reversing maze. I have the instructions up on my website today. (go to www.roxiemunro.com/webinar.html)

• Create a maze sketch, let children draw it with chalk on the parking lot or sidewalk, and then have them walk through it.

• Ask your patrons to think about and make a list of where maze-like environments exist in their own every day life.

• Print out the 3-goal and the four alphabet mazes from my website and have patrons solve the mazes, do the finding/counting game, and color them in.

Good websites for more information

• http://www.labyrinthos.net/f_homepage.htm (British website, lots of history, photo library)

• http://amazeingart.com/maze-faqs/draw-mazes.html (maze resources; how to make a maze, downloadable mazes)

• http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/jo/maze/index.htm (my favorite; history, particularly unicursal, and how to make a maze)

• http://www.unmuseum.org/maze.htm (mainly history and terminology)

• http://www.crystalinks.com/labyrinths.html (history, how to make amaze, modern applications)

• http://www.geocities.com/mikesmazes/ (UK maze designers, definitions, types of mazes)

Thanks!

Check out www.roxiemunro.com

To revisit parts of this WEBinar, and follow the step-by-step instructions for making the Geometric and Random Roxie mazes,

go to

www.roxiemunro.com/webinar.html