Avoid the Walruses: Get the Polar Bear Home Safely

White trails cross a sheet of Arctic sea ice. A polar bear starts at the green circle, and an igloo waits at the other end. Several trails reach the igloo, but sleeping walruses lie across some of them, and dark holes in the ice cut through others. The strip under the picture shows a walrus and a hole, each crossed out, so the rule is clear even before reading: do not take a road with a walrus or a hole. A seal, snowflakes and icicles decorate the ice.

The quick way to the igloo is blocked, which is the point of the page. A child has to hold back from the obvious path, check each trail for walruses and holes, and choose the one way that is completely clear. Holding back from the first idea and keeping a rule in mind while working is a real first grade skill, and a maze makes it visible: you can point to the exact walrus that a wrong route crosses. The line is drawn from the bear to the igloo along the safe trail.

The page prints as a PDF, works as a screen version where the child drags the bear's way and presses Check (a route past a walrus or a hole is circled in red), and comes with an answer key showing the one safe trail. In the same family, the rabbit garden maze turns the rule around, asking the child to collect every carrot instead of avoiding things. These are picture mazes with a story; square-grid mazes, dot-to-dot and word sorting have their own pages.