Mitten Maze
Created for free at puzzleandprint.com
Mitten mazes
A winter maze that starts at the thumb and ends at the cuff.
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Mitten Maze, Solution
Created for free at puzzleandprint.com
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Four mazes, each a different size. Every one is a two-page PDF, the maze, then the solution on its own page.
Mitten maze, large print16 × 16 grid · EasyDownload PDF ↓
Mitten maze, everyday20 × 20 grid · MediumDownload PDF ↓
Mitten maze, longer24 × 24 grid · MediumDownload PDF ↓
Mitten maze, challenge28 × 28 grid · HardDownload PDF ↓Every sheet here is free to print as often as you like. If one saved you time, the tip jar is on Ko-fi.
The mitten is a rounded hand with the thumb angled out to the left and a cuff at the bottom, pulled in at the wrist so the cuff steps out on both sides. The way in is the tip of the thumb and the way out is the bottom right corner of the cuff, so every route runs from the thumb to the cuff, by however long a way the maze makes it take.
It is a roomy outline for its look, keeping 46 to 48 percent of its grid: 123 squares on the 16 by 16 Large print and 370 on the 28 by 28 Challenge. Most of that is the hand, which holds 71 squares on the Large print and more than 210 on the Challenge.
Mittens turn up in winter units from kindergarten through the early grades, and the sheet pairs naturally with a read-aloud about a lost mitten. Nothing on it is seasonal beyond the shape, since each page is headed only Mitten Maze with its size, so it goes out in December, January or February.
Every mitten maze has one route and no loops, and the solution prints as the second page of each PDF. The maker on this page carves a mitten from sixteen squares up to thirty.
Why the large print mitten maze is over so quickly
The Large print mitten has the shortest route of all 64 ready-made mazes across the maze pages: 24 squares from the thumb to the cuff, through corridors about 11 mm wide, with three forks on the way. It uses 6 squares of the thumb, 4 of the wrist, 9 of the cuff and only 5 of the hand's 71, so almost the whole hand is off the route.
Short does not mean simple, though. Seven squares before the way out, a turn leads into a branch of 69 squares, more than half the mitten, and the longest path into it runs 47 squares, about twice the length of the route itself. A second branch of 27 squares opens off the very last square. So the Large print is quick for a child who reads the maze well and slow for one who guesses, and it shows neatly that a way out can be close and still easy to miss.
Does the mitten maze route go into the thumb
It starts there, so every route uses some of the thumb, but how much depends on the sheet. The Everyday route takes in 12 of the thumb's 14 squares and the Longer 16 of its 20, so on those two the thumb is a real part of the journey. The Challenge route uses only 5 of the thumb's 26 squares, which leaves most of the thumb as a side branch.
The Challenge makes up for it with the longest climb: its route reaches both the top row of the mitten and the bottom row of the cuff, and spends about 90 of its 122 squares in the hand. The Longer route is the longest of the four at 132 squares. Both big sheets keep a long wrong turn for late in the route: on the Longer, 33 squares before the end, a turn opens a branch of 76 squares with a path 52 deep, and on the Challenge, three squares before the end, a branch of 152 squares with a path 86 deep.
Common questions
Is there a mitten with the thumb on the other side?
No. The thumb points left on every sheet and in the maker, because the way into every maze here is the leftmost square of its outline, and on this mitten that square is the tip of the thumb. Moving the thumb to the right would put the way in somewhere along the cuff instead.
Does the mitten maze leave room to decorate?
Yes, more than most shapes. On the Everyday sheet the route covers 67 of the mitten’s 184 squares, so the rest, mostly in the hand and the cuff, is dead ends that can take stripes, dots or snowflakes once the route is drawn. The cuff alone is 44 squares on that sheet, a natural band for a zigzag.
Why do the four mitten routes differ so much in length?
The generator does not aim for a route of any particular length; it carves the whole mitten and the route is whatever single path then joins the thumb to the cuff. On these sheets that came to 24, 67, 132 and 122 squares. If a route is too short for the child in front of you, New maze in the maker on this page carves another at the same size.
Want to know when new printables go up?
New printables when they go up, mostly seasonal, a few times a year.