Maze Book:Follow Me Finger Mazes

Follow Me Finger Maze Books

I just discovered Follow Me Finger Maze Books, and they're cool. Put your finger in the groove and trace over the maze. Spatial reasoning, finger isolation, simple problem solving, it's got my vote.

This is a board book, meaning extra thick pages, and it measures 9" x 8.25". There are 7 pages and a maze on the front of the book, so 8 mazes in all. Each is a different scene and includes underwater, forest, city block and more. There is a sentence at the bottom of each page asking you to find animals in the picture. 

The groove on the front of the book is about 2 cm deep, a nice depth to feel the sides on your finger and keep you on track as you trace. However, the inside pages are not made from the same material. Inside it is just a laminated card stock with a cut out maze on top of a colored page, so you don't have the depth to trace in like you do on the cover. However, I can feel the edges of the path as I trace because there is a tiny bit of depth. The edges are rounded so you won't get paper cuts. I will say that the background can be kind of busy, but you can see that the maze path still jumps out at you. When you reach your destination there is a hole in the page. Put your finger in the hole, lift and turn the page. You're ready for your next adventure.

There are several different books in this series including Follow Me Farm, Follow Me Around the World and even a couple of holiday books. The author also makes an alphabet book with large cut-out letters to trace. I would have loved that back in the day when I was a school OT. I can't justify buying more than one so I bought the one that has a different scene on each page. The other books look like they have more of a single theme running through them, but I didn't check out that thoroughly. I'll leave that up to you if you are interested.

Below are two pages from my book. 

Try this:

• Survey the picture before you start. Look at the different dead ends. Find the correct path on the first maze to teach what the end goal is. Then get busy tracing.
• Use different fingers.
• Look ahead, like you have to do with paper and pencil mazes. See a dead end? Try a different route.
• Choose a picture and take a good long look at it. Try to memorize the path. Put your finger at the start and close your eyes. Concentrate on feeling the edges of the path and try to trace from beginning to end with your eyes closed.
• Work backward from the end. That's always been the fastest way for me to complete a maze.
• If you get stuck, look at what is around you, such as the duck pond, then lift your finger so you can get the big picture again. Then you will know where to put your finger back down when you resume your travels.
• Talk about the scenery as you pass it if it won't be distracting. There is a lot to see on each page. Or do it before or after tracing. 

If you are interested in purchasing this book or just want more information, click on the image below.