Mazes in real life….. ALA Midwinter 2007, Washington Convention Center, Seattle.

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