Marvelous Mazes

The fourth grade classes at my school read the amazing book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. As much as possible, I like to coordinate my read-alouds and activities to go with whatever they are working on in class. This year I thought of having them make Lego marble mazes to go along with their in class book. I was super excited about the activity. The excitement was rewarded! (In all honesty it is not always. Often times I get really excited about something, and it tottally flops. Not this time though!) The kids were very focused and involved. I loved walking around and hearing their discussions about "design flaws" and "improvements" that needed to be made to their mazes. 

I gave each group of three a flat, a selection of Legos, and a marble. As I was preparing the bags for each group, I realized that in making 15 bags to be used in one day, I was going to have fewer Legos in each bag than I wanted. (I have already ordered more for next year.) I fixed the problem by putting dots on each flat to give them a smaller working space; that solved the issue. 

They had so much fun designing, creating, and then testing the mazes. Several groups used watches or just counted to time each other. Right before class was over, the groups were able to visit the other four tables of their classmates so that they could test out the other mazes.

My takeaway: I plan to do a multi-week unit on mazes for fourth grade next year. I know that there is so much information out there and so many possibilities for interesting activities for the kids. I am ready to begin researching right now! Oh, yeah, spring break is next week... I'll have time to do a deep dive on mazes!

Enjoy looking at their mazes below! All of the mazes are now out on a table in the hallway with cups of marbles nearby. Kids (and visiting parents) have had the opportunity to test their ability to complete the mazes.