Blindfold maze
Using directions to guide pupils through a table maze
Discover an enthralling maths game crafted to captivate and challenge KS1 learners. Engaging in this activity, students will not only enhance their mathematical skills but also foster critical thinking and teamwork abilities.
This game centres around a thrilling blindfold maze adventure, where participants will rely on verbal instructions from their peers to triumphantly navigate the maze’s twists and turns. With an ideal balance of enjoyment and education, this activity ensures that mathematics becomes a delightful and interactive experience for all KS1 students.
Are you ready to embark on this exciting journey? Put on your blindfolds, embrace the adventure, and let the mathematical exploration commence!
Activity introduction
This activity is one of a series of STEM resources aimed at supporting the teaching of the primary national curriculum. These resources are thoughtfully crafted to reinforce essential math and science concepts. This particular resource concentrates on nurturing comprehension of geometric directions for KS1 students. It engages learners in a table maze challenge where they give and follow verbal instructions.
Providing clear instructions and employing accurate vocabulary is paramount to ensure optimal learning outcomes. This engaging maths game serves as an excellent starter or main exercise to introduce the concepts of geometry, position, and direction to eager young minds.
This activity needs to be completed in pairs or groups of three, with one learner acting as an observer who can give feedback at the end of the game.
During the game, learners must give instructions one at a time, emphasising that the receiver of the instructions can only execute each step as it is given and cannot perform any additional actions. To draw a parallel, the teacher can illustrate that this mirrors how robots function.
If time is an issue, this activity could be done with just one pair, with the rest of the class watching and commenting on the performance.
The engineering context
When engineers program robots, they must be very clear in their instructions to avoid confusion. For example, the Mars Rover must follow very detailed instructions to help it move safely on the planet and send back pictures.
Suggested learning outcomes
By the end of this activity, students will be able to follow a set of verbal instructions to navigate a maze successfully, they will be able to understand the importance of clear instructions when instructing others, and they will be able to use mathematical vocabulary to describe position, direction and movement.
Download the free activity sheet below!
All activity sheets and supporting resources are free to download, and all the documents are fully editable so that you can tailor them to your students and your schools’ needs.
The activity sheet includes teacher notes, guidance, helpful web links, and links (where appropriate) to the national curriculum in the four devolved UK nations; England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
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