Snow Maze Counting Game

We received several inches of fresh snow that covered the backyard in a thick smooth blanket.  It was the perfect day to make a snow maze for my daycare children.  I asked all the kids to play at the back of the yard by the climber while I shuffled my feet to create a path in the snow.  Keeping all the children from walking through the maze before it was complete was the most challenging part of this activity.

I geared the complexity of the maze and the number of dead-ends according to my age group.  This activity was a maze but we also included a counting game into the event. I had the oldest child go first and she had to count each step she took to see how many steps it would take her to reach the exit.  This was a good way to review counting from 1-100.  You could also have a child count by 2s, 5s, or 10s.  On the second attempt through the maze the child could try to beat their score by taking a more efficient route.

I asked my younger children to count the number of times they changed directions during the maze to practice counting from 1-20. My littlest daycare child counted along with me as we noted the number of dead-ends we encountered together as we walked the maze (counting 1-5).

Last year, I made my daycare group a snow maze and brought out foam letters for them to find and collect.

They tramped through the maze finding all the letters and yelling out the letter name as they found them.

Snow mazes are fun and a great way to do some simple review activities while being active in the fresh air.  May the journey be an enjoyable event from start to finish!