Unleash Their Inner Detective: How Back to School Escape Rooms Ignite Teamwork!

Inside: Escape rooms are all the rage! But a back to school escape room? And is it educational? You betcha! Set the stage for a great year with a fun back to school escape room!

Are you ready to embark on an exhilarating adventure that combines learning, teamwork, and the thrill of solving mysteries? Say goodbye to traditional classroom settings and hello to the Back to School Escape Room! This immersive experience is not only a fun and engaging way to kickstart the school year, but it also ignites the inner detective within every student.

In this escape room, students are plunged into a world of puzzles, codes, and riddles that must be deciphered to unlock clues and solve the mystery. As they work together, students develop crucial skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, and collaboration. By challenging their minds and testing their abilities in a high-pressure, time-sensitive environment, the Back to School Escape Room offers a unique and effective approach to learning.

So, are you ready to unleash your students’ inner detective and embrace the exciting world of the Back to School Escape Room? It’s time to break free from the ordinary and embark on an extraordinary educational adventure like no other.

I’m a middle school Science teacher and TPT author. My goal is to share useful resources to make your life easier.

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Benefits of Escape Rooms in Education and Team Building

Escape rooms have gained popularity in recent years for their ability to provide a unique and interactive learning experience. By immersing students in a challenging and exciting environment, escape rooms offer a refreshing alternative to traditional teaching methods. The benefits of incorporating escape rooms into education are numerous.

First, escape rooms promote critical thinking skills. Students are required to think outside the box, analyze clues, and come up with creative solutions to progress through the game. These problem-solving abilities are transferable to real-life situations and can greatly enhance a student’s overall cognitive development.

Additionally, escape rooms foster teamwork and collaboration. Most escape rooms are designed for groups, requiring participants to work together to solve puzzles and unravel the mystery. This collaborative aspect encourages effective communication, cooperation, and the sharing of ideas. Students learn the value of listening to others, respecting different perspectives, and leveraging individual strengths to achieve a common goal.

Escape rooms also provide a positive learning environment. Unlike traditional classrooms, escape rooms eliminate the pressure of exams and grades, allowing students to focus on the joy of learning. Students are encouraged to explore, experiment, and learn from their mistakes without fear of failure. This creates a safe space for personal growth, building confidence, and nurturing a love for learning.

All of these above reasons are the exact motivation you need to utilize a back to school escape room! Your students are learning valuable skills while having fun!

Escape Rooms Don't Need Locks!

Don’t worry about spending money on locks or boxes or even prizes! My students are happy with candy or coupons for no homework as their prize if they win!

If you want to get fancy, go all out and splurge on locks! Grab some boxes and lock up a prize for them, but it is not necessary.

Just How Do You Play This Back to School Escape Room Game?

Educational escape rooms are adventure games where players are “locked” usually inside their classroom and must solve a series of puzzles and challenges to escape within a given time limit. There is usually an exciting narrative that adds to the overall experience.

In this particular escape room, your students have just finished their first week of school when they hear an announcement over the loud speaker. Their wicked principal is playing a trick on them! Unless they can figure out the clues they will have to spend the weekend at school!!

I make sure to read the narratives found on the papers on the right before we start the game. I tell my students that we only have this class period to escape or that is it! They are locked inside this classroom for the entire weekend!

Incorporating this Escape Room into your Classroom Timeframe

My classes are a lengthy 70 minutes long so I have a good amount of time to spend on this activity. After reading the narrative I set a 55 minute timer on my SmartBoard for everyone to see. This timeframe allows for us to have some time to clean up afterword and spend some time debriefing afterwords. Your classes may not look the same. You may have to:

Split the escape room into two classes
Take off a clue or two to make it fit into your time frame
Offer help to get them through the clues (I almost never offer help. It really is all in the struggle and there is no actual negative consequence.)

Find this escape room here.

Save Paper!

Print one copy of the escape room for each team and save them. Students do not write on them. Then:

Students can write on the Answer Sheet and show you the answers to proceed to the next clue or . . .
Students can use their devices to access a Google Form. You hand them the next clue if they successfully enter the digital clue.

5 Tips for a Successful Back-to-School Escape Room

Don’t let your students pick their teams. Pick your groups ahead of time. I spend a considerable amount of time planning my groups out. I know I disappoint some students who want to be with their friends. But I also help out those students who wouldn’t be picked. Picking groups also helps you put your extroverts with introverts. This helps with escape rooms.
Prep clue three ahead of time. This is the only clue that requires prior attention. I printed the puzzle on cardstock the day before, they sliced them in the paper cutter. I stored each puzzle in an envelope. I made sure to save the puzzles for next year so I don’t have to do it again. Easy!
Assign jobs for team members. I find that if I don’t assign jobs, one person does all the work, one goofs off, and the others just float around in the middle. In a typical group of four, I assign a materials manager, recorder, captain and assistant captain. This everyone is responsible for something.
Don’t be afraid to let them struggle. I know this one is hard. We are teachers. It is in our DNA that we have to help our students succeed. But the struggle is where the magic is. We overwhelmingly learn more from our failures than we do from our successes. Let them struggle. That being said, if the entire class is on clue 5 and one group is still one clue 1, then I usually go ahead and offer them some help to speed them along. (I’m not heartless!)
Celebrate the wins AND the losses! Not everyone should escape the room. I usually take the top few teams that complete all six clues. I do, however, celebrate everyone. Win or lose! I take their group pictures with a certificate of their choice and then save the pictures for their slideshow at the end of the year.

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