Simple DIY Maze Craft for Kids
Matching Crafts with favourite books is a great way to get kids excited about reading and also helps to build comprehension. Crafts that then become a toy have a dual purpose and today for storybook summer ocean week we introduce the book The Storm Whale by Benji Davies and welcome Jenny back to Rainy Day Mum to share a fun craft that you and the kids can make and play with afterwards in the DIY Maze Craft inspired by the book. This book is especially poignant for our family this year as on a couple of our local beaches we have had whales washed up in Storms. Unfortunately unlike the whale in the book those whales weren’t so lucky.
Thank you for having me on Rainy Day Mum, I am excited to be taking part in this year’s Storybook Summer Series.
More Whale Book Based Activities for Kids
I have two small boys who love the ocean and so we chose one of their favourite books for today’s storybook craft. The Storm Whale by Benji Davies. The Storm Whale is about a little boy who lives on an island with his fisherman dad. One day he finds a small whale washed up on the beach and he takes it home to keep it in his bath. When his dad finds the whale they take it back to the ocean so it can swim back to its pod. It’s a lovely story and the illustrations are beautiful too.
We have included links to the products and books used in this activity. If you buy from these links we may earn a small commission.
We decided to create a simple maze craft to go along with the Storm Whale book. You only need a few items that you will probably have around the house.
What you need to make this DIY Marble Maze
Cardboard lid/ shoe box
Pens – we recommend these deco pens to be able to decorate your marble into a whale (via our affiliate link) Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
How to make a DIY Marble Maze
- First, make the maze itself, you need to cut strips of the card of varying lengths with little tabs to fix them down to the cardboard lid. For younger children, you can cut these parts out yourself and they can help with the placing.
- Fix the pieces of the maze down with tape, but make sure that there is enough room for the marble to pass through.
- If you have any ‘all surface’ Deco pens then you can paint a baby whale on the marble, but if not you can just explain to the child that the marble represents the baby whale.
- The boys drew pictures for the maze. We have 2 lighthouses, sea, the boy and his dad in a rowing boat and the mummy whales tail in the sea. We cut the pictures out and glued them onto the maze with a start and end.
- When you are finished place the baby whale marble at the start and let the kids guide the baby whale back to its mummy in the sea.
I hope you enjoy the craft and if you haven’t read the story then check in your local library, there’s a good chance you will find it there!
Jenny blogs over at Monkey and Mouse and is a mum to two delightfully energetic little boys who love to craft, explore the outdoors and cause chaos!
You can find her on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
Read Jenny’s other contribution on Rainy Day Mum a Twas the Night Before Christmas Shoe Box Theatre
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