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Draw a Maze: Wall Spacing, Path Continuity, and Entrance/Exit Layout
Learn to draw a solvable maze on a grid with consistent wall spacing, a continuous path, and clearly placed entrance and exit markers.
Free lesson
Four exercises
Worked answers
Object Drawing Lessons
A maze is a set of walls that creates one or more routes between an entrance and an exit. Good maze drawings depend on three measurable choices: how far apart walls sit, whether the open path stays continuous, and where the entrance and exit are placed. This lesson uses a square grid and a simple convention: walls run along grid lines, paths run through grid cells, and the entrance and exit are gaps in the outer boundary. You will plan spacing, draw walls, test continuity, and label a solution key. All measurements are in grid units so the arithmetic stays checkable.
Practice materials: Printable downloads are not available for this lesson yet. Use the instructions and four exercises below.
Choose a grid and define wall spacing
Start with a square grid of equal cells. A cell is one open square; a wall segment is one cell edge. Wall spacing is the number of cells between parallel walls. For a beginner maze, use a spacing of one cell: every corridor is one cell wide, and every wall sits on a cell edge. This makes the path easy to trace and the arithmetic simple.
If you want wider corridors, choose a spacing of two cells and mark every second grid line as a wall line. Do not mix spacings in one maze unless you label the change, because mixed spacing makes continuity hard to check. Record your chosen spacing at the top of the page, for example: grid 8 by 8 cells, wall spacing 1 cell, corridor width 1 cell.
- Draw an 8 by 8 square grid with equal cells.
- Label the top edge: wall spacing equals 1 cell.
- Mark the outer boundary as a wall line, leaving two gaps for entrance and exit.
- Lightly shade every cell that will stay open so corridors are visible before adding inner walls.
Place entrance and exit before inner walls
The entrance and exit are gaps in the outer boundary. Place them on opposite sides, such as entrance on the left edge and exit on the right edge, each centered on a cell edge. A gap must be exactly one cell wide when spacing is one cell; a wider gap reads as a missing wall rather than a doorway.
Mark the entrance with an arrow pointing inward and the exit with an arrow pointing outward. Keep the markers outside the grid so they do not cover path cells. If you place both gaps on the same side, the maze can still be valid, but the route must not simply run along the boundary; check that the path enters the grid before reaching the exit.
- Choose entrance on the left boundary and exit on the right boundary.
- Center each gap on one cell edge and keep the gap one cell wide.
- Draw an inward arrow at the entrance and an outward arrow at the exit.
- Confirm the two gaps are not on the same cell edge.
Draw inner walls and keep the path continuous
Inner walls are line segments on grid edges. Draw them one segment at a time and after each segment ask whether an open route still connects entrance to exit. A continuous path means you can move from cell to adjacent cell through shared open edges without crossing a wall. Diagonal moves do not count.
A useful rule is to leave at least one open edge on every interior cell that is meant to be part of the route. Dead ends are allowed, but the main route must remain unbroken. When you add a wall that would close the only remaining route, remove that wall or move it one cell edge away.
- Draw inner wall segments on grid edges, not through cell centers.
- After every few segments, trace a route from entrance to exit with your finger.
- If the route is blocked, erase the last wall segment and redraw it elsewhere.
- Mark dead ends with a small dot so the solution key can show them clearly.
Test continuity and build a solution key
Testing is arithmetic and visual. Count the cells on your traced route and confirm each step moves exactly one cell up, down, left, or right. The number of steps should equal the number of cell-to-cell moves, not the number of cells visited. For an 8 by 8 grid, a route from the left edge to the right edge needs at least 7 horizontal moves, plus any vertical moves.
A solution key is a second copy of the maze with the route drawn as a dashed line through cell centers. Keep the key separate from the puzzle so the puzzle stays blank. Label the key with the step count and the wall spacing so another person can check it.
- Trace the route and write down each move as U, D, L, or R.
- Count the moves and compare with the grid size.
- Draw the same route on a separate key copy using a dashed line.
- Write the wall spacing and total move count on the key.
Worked example
An 8 by 8 grid has entrance on the left edge at row 4 and exit on the right edge at row 4. Wall spacing is one cell. A proposed route uses 7 right moves and 0 vertical moves along row 4. Is this route valid, and what should the solution key show?
Worked answer
The route is valid if every edge along row 4 is open. It uses 7 right moves, which matches the 8-cell width (7 cell-to-cell moves across 8 cells). The solution key should show a dashed line through the centers of the 8 cells in row 4, with the entrance arrow outside the left gap and the exit arrow outside the right gap. Label the key: spacing 1 cell, 7 moves.
Four practice exercises
Exercise 1
On a 6 by 6 grid with wall spacing one cell, entrance on the top edge at column 3 and exit on the bottom edge at column 3, describe a route that uses 5 vertical moves and 0 horizontal moves. State one wall segment you must leave open.
Show answer and check
A valid route goes straight down column 3 from the top gap to the bottom gap using 5 down moves. The vertical edges between the cells in column 3 must stay open; for example, the edge between row 1 and row 2 in column 3 must not be walled.
Why: The grid is 6 cells tall, so a straight vertical route needs 5 moves. Each move crosses a horizontal grid edge between adjacent cells in column 3, so those edges must be open.
Check: Count the down moves: 5. Confirm each move stays in column 3 and crosses an open edge. Confirm the entrance and exit gaps are one cell wide.
Exercise 2
A 5 by 5 grid has wall spacing one cell. The entrance is on the left edge at row 2 and the exit is on the right edge at row 2. A proposed route uses 4 right moves and 1 up move. Is the move count consistent with the grid width? Explain.
Show answer and check
Yes. A route from the left edge to the right edge on a 5-cell-wide grid needs exactly 4 horizontal moves. Adding 1 up move gives 5 total moves, and the horizontal count remains 4; the up move does not replace a right move. The route is valid only if it includes 4 right moves and 1 up move, for 5 total moves.
Why: Horizontal displacement from left to right spans 5 cells, so 4 right moves are required. The up move changes row but not column, so it adds one move without reducing the horizontal requirement.
Check: Write the moves as R, R, R, R, U. Count rights: 4. Count total: 5. Confirm the final cell is in the rightmost column and row 1 or row 3 depending on the up move.
Exercise 3
On an 8 by 8 grid with spacing one cell, you want a route with 7 right moves and 2 down moves. What is the total move count, and what is the minimum number of open edges the route must cross?
Show answer and check
Total moves are 7 plus 2 equals 9. The route must cross 9 open edges, one for each move.
Why: Each move crosses exactly one shared edge between adjacent cells. The total number of moves equals the number of edges crossed.
Check: Add 7 and 2 to get 9. Trace the route and count each edge crossed; the count should be 9.
Exercise 4
A maze on a 7 by 7 grid has entrance on the left edge at row 4 and exit on the right edge at row 4. A wall segment blocks the edge between column 4 and column 5 in row 4. Can a route still connect entrance to exit without diagonal moves? Describe one way to check.
Show answer and check
Yes, a route can still connect if it goes around the blocked edge, for example by moving up or down before column 4 and returning to row 4 after column 5. To check, trace from the entrance cell and mark every reachable cell using only adjacent open edges; if the exit cell is marked, the maze is solvable.
Why: Blocking one edge removes one direct step but does not necessarily disconnect the grid. A detour through another row can preserve continuity.
Check: Use a flood-fill check: start at the entrance cell, mark it, then repeatedly mark unmarked adjacent cells reachable through open edges. If the exit cell is marked, a continuous route exists.
Common mistakes
- Drawing walls through cell centers instead of on grid edges. Erase the wall and redraw it along a grid line so corridors stay one cell wide.
- Making the entrance or exit wider than one cell. Narrow the gap to exactly one cell edge and move the arrow marker outside the grid.
- Adding a wall that closes the only route between entrance and exit. Trace the route after each wall; remove or shift the blocking segment one edge away.
- Counting diagonal moves as part of the path. Redraw the route using only up, down, left, and right moves between adjacent cells.
Self-check rubric
- Grid cells are equal and wall spacing is stated on the page.
- All walls lie on grid edges, not through cell centers.
- Entrance and exit are one-cell gaps in the outer boundary with arrows outside the grid.
- At least one continuous route connects entrance to exit using only adjacent cell moves.
- A separate solution key shows the route as a dashed line and states the move count.
- Valid alternatives are accepted if spacing is consistent and the route is continuous.
Questions and answers
What is wall spacing in a maze drawing?
Wall spacing is the number of cells between parallel walls. With spacing one, every corridor is one cell wide and every wall sits on a cell edge.
Can the entrance and exit be on the same side?
Yes, but the route must enter the grid before reaching the exit. Check that the path does not simply run along the boundary.
How do I know the maze is solvable?
Trace a route from entrance to exit using only adjacent cell moves. If every move crosses an open edge, the maze is solvable.
Do dead ends make a maze invalid?
No. Dead ends are allowed as long as at least one continuous route connects entrance to exit.