Top 4 Benefits Of Mazes For Kids & Free Maze Printable

Mazes are great for working on various skills for kids. Read on to know the benefits of mazes for children & also featured is a FREE maze printable / worksheet (Spring theme) for kids, which is powered by education.com. 

Mazes are loved by most of the kids & they provide a challenge for children that they enjoy! How the child solves a maze also provides a window to a therapist into the skill set of the child if therapy session is in progress. Mazes can also be taped to a wall at your child’s eye-level. Working on a vertical surface helps to promote wrist extension in kids.


Here are some benefits & reasons to do mazes with your child -

Fine Motor

Mazes require the child to control the pen/pencil through the maze without hitting the black lines. Fine motor skills are mastered by this very exercise that helps in writing later.

Visual Tracking

Mazes require the child to use his eyes to scan the maze in order to find possible solutions. Scanning is a great skill used for reading and writing, as it is important to scan from the left side of the paper to the right side.

Problem Solving

Mazes help the child to work on planning and problem solving skills to reach to the end of the maze.

Confidence

Mazes boost your child’s confidence like anything. Starting from easy to difficult mazes, a child can glide into the mazes gradually.

There are many websites that offer free printable maze worksheets for a variety of age levels and themes. 

Spring is in the air! This flowery maze is great pre-school practice for those fine motor skills. 

Download this FREE maze printable from HERE. 

This is powered by education.com , visit them for more fun educational activities.

MORE ABOUT EDUCATION.COM

Education.com provides learning resources in over 20 countries and six continents. Their digital resources, tools, and learning materials are developed by educational experts to incorporate leading pedagogical practices. They are useful in any type of teaching moment and many can be used to support national education standards. Their mission is to empower parents and teachers to help their children build essential skills and excel.

If you also have any activities ideas for kids, then we would love to feature them on this blog! Shoot us an email using the contact form HERE along with a brief about you & your idea & we will get in touch with you soon!

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Montessori - Practical Life Exercise For Toddlers - Line Drying Clothes - VLOG

I have been following Montessori principles with my son since he was 7-8 months old. And every day I thank my stars that I stumbled upon this philosophy. Here in this video, I share yet another beautiful moment my son gave me. He is 25 months old in this video. Suddenly he wanted to line dry, couple of hand towels & then also put the clothespin over them. I let him do it & only when he asked for help, I helped him.

Practical life skills form a very important part of Montessori principles & curriculum. They help children develop order, concentration, coordination, and independence - skills which help in all learning. This particular activity of line drying clothes is a great life skill to learn. Putting clothespin is an inexpensive fine motor activity. Doing real work gives the child a great sense of satisfaction & confidence.

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Importance Of Puzzles For Toddlers In Early Years & How To Teach Or Introduce Your Toddler To Solve Puzzles (VLOG)

Hands down, puzzles help in developing so many skills for those little beings. Here are some of the benefits of solving puzzles - 

Fine Motor Skills / Hand Eye Coordination
The ability to hold those pieces, putting them rightly in the slots/grooves does not come across as easy to the toddlers as it appears to us. 

Emotional Skills & Confidence
Ever seen the triumph face of a toddler after s/he successfully solves the puzzle? They learn patience & gain confidence in the process of solving puzzles!

Memory 
To remember which piece fits where & which one does not, no doubt the memory is being sharpened when your toddlers solves a puzzle

Logic & Problem Solving
Do I need to elaborate more? :) This soft skill is very much needed as they grow into independent individuals. 

Enhances Visual & Spatial Intelligence 
If you have not read about the multiple intelligence theory by Howard Gardner, please do read a summary HERE. And puzzles provide a beautiful opportunity to enhance the visual & spatial intelligence in an individual.


Now, something magical happened in the last 1 week. My son turned 2 yesterday and suddenly he wanted to do puzzles, puzzles and more puzzles! Who is complaining? :) Watch more in the video how & when I introduced puzzles to my son.

We have loved such 1 piece / knobbed puzzles in the beginning of our puzzle solving journey

Then we graduated to 2 piece puzzles like these



Now we are trying to do multiple pieces jigsaw puzzles like these

By the way, once your child has mastered a specific puzzle, if you are wondering what to do with that puzzle, here is an idea how you can repurpose a bunch of puzzles :)



I loved THIS post on how to introduce puzzles to toddlers. Do find time to hop on to this amazing blog.

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How We Switched To Ceramic Cup For My 22 Months Old Toddler - Montessori In Action

A small but significant step in making our little ones more independent, responsible, confident & self-sufficient 😊

We started with a ceramic cup for his milk last week. He is 22 months. It was completely led by him.

It started when I gave him mud clay figurines during Diwali for decorating them on the killa. I told him it's made of mud n easily breakable so be careful while handling. He played beautifully with them. One figurine accidentally broke while playing n he realized what it means to break n the consequence that he won't be able to play with it.
He then started asking for our tea cups (ceramic). I gave him telling they are breakable n he handled them beautifully. He used to take them from the kitchen slab, play n give me back happily.
Then one day he said he wants to have his milk in papa's tea cup. I gave him n he happily drank it by himself! This weekend I got a ceramic cup for him exclusively n he was super happy 😊

Its all about trusting them & respecting their demands, of course under supervision & danger limits.

I cannot count the reasons why I love Montessori 😊

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