Move one square per arrow, starting at the robot. These grids have no internal walls. Check every intermediate position.
(1,1) → (1,2) → (1,3) → (1,4) → (2,4) → (3,4)
1: C 2: A 3: D
Move one square per arrow, starting at the robot. These grids have no internal walls. Check every intermediate position.
▸ Why It Matters The first maze in this series asked your child to trace commands one at a time. This second one raises the stakes by making the command list noticeably longer, and that single change shifts what the puzzle is really testing. It's no longer just about knowing which way "up" or "right" moves the character — it's about holding "where am I right now, after everything I've done so far" in mind while still reading and processing the next instruction coming up. That juggling act, keeping a running result active in memory while taking in new information, is exactly the skill that trips kids up in multi-step math word problems, in following multi-part spoken directions, and later in reading longer blocks of real code where a variable's value keeps changing line by line. A short command list can be solved by memory alone; a long one forces your child to build an actual strategy for tracking state, which is the real point of this worksheet. ▸ Getting Started Because the sequence is longer, resist the urge to let your child try to hold the whole thing in their head and blurt out a final answer. Suggest marking the character's position lightly in pencil after every 2-3 commands rather than only at the very end, essentially creating checkpoints along the way. Treat each checkpoint like a save point in a video game: once it's marked, your child can stop worrying about everything before it and focus fully on just the next few commands. This breaks one long, error-prone task into several short, manageable ones. ▸ If They Get Stuck When a child gets lost partway through a long list, it's often because they're trying to understand the instruction and execute the movement in the very same mental step. Separate the two: have them read the entire command list out loud first, in a steady rhythm, before moving a finger or pencil at all — "up, up, right, down, down, left." Only after the whole sequence has been spoken should they go back and actually trace it, one checkpoint at a time. If they still lose their place, send them back to their most recent pencil checkpoint rather than the very beginning — that's often enough to save time while still forcing careful re-tracing. ▸ Praise Points Watch for the moment your child catches their own mistake mid-maze — pausing, frowning slightly, and backing up a square because something doesn't look right. That instinct is worth naming out loud: "You noticed your path didn't match the commands and you went back to fix it yourself — that's called debugging, and it's exactly what real programmers do every single day." Praising the self-correction, not just a correct final answer, teaches your child that catching your own errors is a skill in itself, not a sign of failure.
This worksheet extends sequential logic with longer command chains, training your child to hold their current position in mind while reading ahead to the next instruction — a working-memory skill that also helps with multi-step math word problems.
Next, try iq-code-maze-03, which adds walls the character can't pass through, so your child has to check whether a move is even allowed before making it — much closer to how real code handles conditions.