Wanna know why escape rooms for the classroom are so fun? Because they engage your students into learning by turning it into a game! Sure, you can have them complete worksheets or exercises in a textbook, but this is way more fun. And the best thing is, you can make them analogue or use a digital version that is self-checking. Can you think of a more fun way to learn?
Ever since escape rooms were invented, I’ve felt like they would make an excellent teaching tool. But it’s a heck of an effort to create one! It took me super long to create my first one, but I’m happy to tell you that I did! So what was my inspiration to finally do it? The template I got from Hot Teacher Summer for an online, self-checking escape room activity. I love giving escape rooms to my students! Let me tell you why.
Wanna check out an escape room classroom activity free of charge? Grab my Frequently Confused Words Digital Escape Room by clicking here!
Why use an escape room for the classroom?
So why are escape rooms for the classroom so fun? There are a few reasons:
- They provide engaging learning opportunities, as they encourage participation and collaboration, as well as critical thinking and problem solving.
- An escape room makes the application of knowledge very hands-on.
- Escape rooms promote teamwork as participants must work together to solve a puzzle.
- Students learn about time management as they will only have so long to ‘crack the code’ and unlock the escape room.
- It’s fun and challenging to solve an escape room, so students will be motivated to participate!
Escape room topics
And what are my classroom escape room puzzle ideas, you ask? Ask yourself what some topics are that you teach that you can make into an escape room for your students? I think basically any grammar topic can work if you can ask questions about it and students answer. For example, ask them to fill in the gaps in sentences with the correct verb form, or with the correct preposition, Or have students choose, out of multiple choice options, the correct modal verb, or determiner, or question word.
You could also have them read pieces of text and answer reading comprehension questions about it at each stage. The same could be done with watching videos or listening to audio on devices (if you have those available). And last, if you’re covering a list of vocabulary words, you could have students answer questions about those. That’s what I feel are the options for language lessons, and of course you could also have a mix of all of them.
Escape room classroom template
Wanna learn how to create your own digital escape rooms? Check out the Hot Teacher Summer course! Among other things, Jillian and Lisa will teach you how to use a template for any topic that you can think of. I made one there that you can try out.
Click here to try my Frequently Confused Words digital escape room for classroom free of charge!
But what was the most fun…
After I made all those digital escape rooms in the course, I decided I had to create a real escape room for use in the classroom itself. Like, a PHYSICAL ONE! So what I did was I created an escape room for English classroom pdf in which I laid it all out! All the steps to making the escape room possible.
First, I decided the topics involved in the puzzles and the way I would structure the solutions. I created the different puzzles that students have to solve and the matching codes they need to uncover at each stage. Then I wrote down all the steps a teacher has to take to print my escape room off for their class. And I wrote an instruction for students. Last, I made a digital way for students to enter a code in a lock and see the lock opened. It was super fun to make!
Look at mine!
If you want to check it out, my first one is also about Frequently Confused Words in the English language, like their, they’re and their, and your and you’re. I made 5 sets of questions about these with multiple choice answers. Students have to find the correct answers and from those correct anders must form a word. This word will be the code to move on to the next stage. My students loved it so much when we went and gave it a trial run! They said it made practicing grammar much more fun 🙂
Click here to check out my escape room!
So that’s why I love escape rooms for the classroom. Give them a try yourself!
2 Responses
I really appreciate your original classroom idea. Learning becomes more engaged and interesting when escape rooms are used in the classroom. How are the puzzles made with instructional content?
I make them myself! I just come up with questions I could ask students to answer and stick them into the card file that I make in PowerPoint. Something like that 🙂