Make A Water Maze

Press release from the Winchester Public Library:

September 24, 2020

Do you have MegaBlox, Duplo, or Lego at home? Then you can make a water maze! You can also use other materials, like other plastic toys or items from the recycling, if you don’t have plastic blocks. Be creative!

This is a way to play with your blocks (or other materials) that you might not have tried before, and the weather is lovely out so this is the perfect time. (Although you can also do it indoors, in the bathtub.)

First, make your maze. You can make it so that water only flows one way, or you can have two or more paths; you can make a straight channel or a zig-zag route. Make a hypothesis (guess): Which way do you think the water will go? Make sure you have a starting point (you can have more than one) and a “finish line” (again, you can have more than one). Feel free to add decorations or other extra elements to your maze, like bridges.

Once your maze is made, take it outside (or into the bathtub). Angle the maze surface so there’s a downward tilt; you can do this by holding it with your hand(s) or propping it up on some extra blocks or anything else you find. Think: how will the angle change the speed of the water?

Use a watering can or a cup full of water and pour the water into the maze at the starting point(s). See which path(s) it takes. Were your guesses right? Were you surprised?

https://www.winpublib.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/WaterMazeVideo.mp4

Now, you can make changes! Make the angle steeper or shallower, or rebuild the maze with different paths. Make the walls of the maze taller, and see if you can float a tiny paper boat through it; or, take it back inside and try with marbles instead of water. Have fun!

Some books for inspiration…

I’m Done!

Mazes Around the World

This Beautiful Day

The Most Magnificent Thing

Rain!

Hey, Water!

Water Is Water

This press release was produced by the Winchester Public Library. The views expressed are the author's own.