After a summer picnic, you probably have a few paper plates leftover. Instead of storing them or throwing them away, you can upcycle them and turn them into a fun game. Here’s how to make a magnetic maze out of paper plates and popsicle sticks:

Supplies:

Directions:

  1. First, draw a maze on your paper plate in pencil. You can either print a template such as the picture above or design your own maze. After tracing it out in pencil, you can use a pen or marker to make your design permanent.
  2. After drawing the maze, you can decorate it using crayons or colored pencils. Depending on the theme of your maze, you can draw a reward at the center or end of the maze. For example, you can draw a trophy in the middle or even small rewards along the way like stars.
  3. Next, glue one of the magnets to the end of your popsicle stick. Before you glue the magnet on you can also decorate the popsicle stick to make it more colorful and so it matches your theme.
  4. Glue the other magnet to the button.
  5. Once the glue dries, you’re ready to solve the maze!
All you have to do to solve the maze is hold the popsicle stick with the magnet under the plate. Put the magnetized button on top of the plate at the beginning of the maze. The magnets on the stick and the button will attract through the plate. The popsicle stick will allow you to control the movements of the button without obscuring your view of the maze so you can solve it quickly. These mazes are also perfect for long road trips. Because of the magnets, you won’t lose any of the pieces. After you make your first maze, you can time yourself to see how long it takes to solve. Once you’ve mastered the first one, you can make another one that’s a little more challenging. If you keep it up, you’ll soon be an expert maze solver!