5 Classroom Escape Room Tips & Puzzle Ideas

Do you use escape rooms in your classroom? Are you reluctant because of the time it may take to prepare the materials? Have no fear, the answers are here! I have been using escape rooms in my classroom for about a year now and I have come up with several fun, low-prep solutions, and tips so that escape rooms can easily be incorporated into your classroom. All of the escape rooms that I have created have the teacher in mind (at all times!) Teachers have enough on their plates. I understand this because I'm a teacher, too!

Yes, escape rooms can be intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of one, you (and your students) won't be able to get enough of them! They are a fun learning tool and serve as an excellent team-building activity. They are great to use during back-to-school, before holidays or at the end-of-the-year, when students are full of energy!

You don't necessarily NEED to use locks, but it is sometimes fun to use the lock as an introductory activity to the escape room itself. For example, I give each group one lock and a bunch of possible lock codes. You can give as many or as little as you'd like, depending on the time available.  In order for the teams to gain access to the contents of the first escape room, they have to select that right combination and bring me the unlocked device! Once they do that, I hand them their first task and they are on their way. I use my escape rooms as races, so students are pretty frantic when they are unlocking their device. It's pretty funny to see them get excited about these activities, especially high school students. Sometimes it takes them a few tries, even if they selected the right combination, because they are in such a panic to get it open! Grab this FREE (Editable) Lock Challenge HERE!

*Don't go out and buy the locks if you don't need to! Check with your school secretary first and use the extra locks that the school may already provide for the students!*

Examples of the unlock code handouts I gave each group!

While the escape room concept is typically designed for small groups, there is nothing to say that a student couldn't complete the activity individually or in pairs. I have given students an escape challenge if they are finished their work early, as a homework activity, and even as bonus work for a fun, critical-thinking assignment. Students are always happy to be working on something if they have nothing else to do, providing it is fun and engaging! Escape rooms created for classroom use are learning tools, so while students may be working on puzzles and games, they are still LEARNING!

Perhaps the best part about escape rooms is that you do not have to grade them! Why? Because the activities in the challenge are aimed to promote collaboration amongst peers. Saying that, should you or your administration require that these activities be graded, you can easily give each participant this FREE Escape Room Participation Rubric for their efforts. This way, you can still hold students accountable for their work ethic. On a side note, if you're tech-savvy, you can definitely create Google Forms to make the answer checking even faster.

Teachers, this one is especially for you! (But don't tell your students!) 😃 If you're not wanting to start anything new before a holiday break or you are trying to keep your classes under control with an impending holiday around the corner, check out these Holiday Escape Room activities.  The best part? These are not content-specific, so these can easily be incorporated into any class where time could be filled. In addition, you can mix and match the challenges depending on the time available, so if you can't get through all of the challenges included, you can pick which ones will work best for students and save the rest for another year (or class).

Anxious for the chaos that comes along with students before Christmas break, spring break, end-of-the-year, etc.? No problem! I've got you covered, in addition to several other holidays through the year! Check out all of my escape rooms, (including the ones pictured above) HERE! These fun activities and puzzles will help to calm the chaos (and help YOU keep you sanity) during those exciting times of the year.

Students have to review for their tests anyway, so why not ultilize classtime effectively for this review? I create escape rooms for a variety of the units I teach. It takes a TON OF TIME, but it's a really effective way to see where your students' skills and/or abilities are at. For example, I wanted to see how much my students knew about the basics of a 5-paragraph essay, so I created an escape room that covered various elements about essays. This gave me an idea of what experience students had writing essays, as well, it serves as a good reminder of the important elements of an essay, which were the expectations and requirements of their upcoming assignment.

This Essay Writing Escape Room reviews the following topics: (a) Types of Essays, (b) Parts of an Essay, (c) Essay Trivia, (d) 5 Paragraph Essay Format, (e) Thesis Statements, and (f) Essay Terminology. Students are not only learning more about the essay writing process, but also getting a refresher on what they may have previously learned.

I hope some of these tips and tricks will give you a better idea about how you can incorporate escape room activities into your classrooms! Trust me, once you do one, they will want to do more!

HAPPY ESCAPING!