Help the Astronaut Find the Rocket — Level 1

The one sheet in this set with a person on it rather than an animal, and the only one where the goal is somewhere to go rather than something to eat. That gives it a story a child can narrate while they work: the astronaut is trying to get back to the ship. For a child who drifts off a silent puzzle, having something to say about it is often what keeps them at the page.

This is a level 1 maze: 8 cells across, with corridors a shade under two centimeters wide. That is roomy enough that a five year old's pencil control is never the thing holding them up, so the page is purely about finding the way.

The way through runs 27 squares and turns 16 times, with 9 dead ends branching off it. The grid is carved so that exactly one route connects the start to the finish: no loops, no second way round, and no corner walled off from the rest. Every square can be reached, and a child who follows the route carefully will always get there.