How to make a printable maze

Mazes for a party bag, a worksheet or a rainy afternoon, at whatever difficulty suits.

Choose a size, generate, print. Every maze has exactly one path from entrance to exit.

Step-by-step

1. Choose a size. This is the main difficulty control.
2. Generate, and regenerate freely until you get one you like.
3. Print, with the solution on its own page.

Choosing a size

• Ages 3–5: around 8×8, with wide corridors.
• Ages 6–9: 12×12 to 16×16.
• Ages 10+: 20×20 and beyond.
• Adults who want a real one: 30×30 upwards.

Size raises difficulty faster than it looks, because the number of dead ends grows with the area rather than the width.

Why there is exactly one route

The maze is built as a spanning tree — every cell reachable, no loops anywhere. That structure guarantees exactly one path between any two points, so there is a unique solution and no shortcut.

It also means the wall-following rule works: keep one hand on the same wall and you will reach the exit, eventually. Loops are what break that rule, and there are none.

Printing

Line weight is set for ordinary printers; very large mazes on a low-resolution printer can blur, so drop a size if corridors are hard to distinguish. Black and white throughout.

A perfect maze, and why it is always solvable

The mazes here are what puzzle people call perfect: between any two cells there is exactly one path, and there are no loops anywhere. That single property does a lot of work. It guarantees a solution exists without anything having to check, because a structure with no loops that reaches every cell is a spanning tree, and in a tree every pair of points is connected by precisely one route.

It also means the answer key is not a separate computation. The solution is simply the unique path between entrance and exit, which falls out of the same structure that generated the maze — there is no solving step, and no possibility of a printed maze whose answer does not work.

Loops make a different puzzle, not a harder one

Deliberately adding connections back — braiding — removes dead ends and creates several routes through. It feels harder, and in one specific sense it is: the reliable trick of following one wall with your hand stops being guaranteed to work, because wall-following depends on the dead ends it is exploiting.

But it also removes the thing that makes a perfect maze satisfying, which is that every wrong turn eventually announces itself as a dead end. In a braided maze you can wander for a long time without learning anything. For a printable puzzle, especially for children, the dead ends are the feedback, and removing them mostly makes the maze tedious rather than difficult. Length and turn frequency are better levers for difficulty than loops.

Frequently asked questions

Is there always a solution?

Yes, and exactly one. The maze is generated as a spanning tree, which guarantees a single path between any two cells.

Does hand-on-the-wall work?

Yes, because there are no loops. Following one wall consistently will always take you to the exit here, though not by the shortest route.

What size for a five-year-old?

About 8×8. Younger children get more from finishing a small maze than from struggling with a big one.