Who doesn’t love to have fun while they’re learning? The right activities can help make difficult concepts much easier for students to grasp. Fortunately, there are so many ways to make gaining new skills and knowledge more exciting. We’ve put together this great list of escape room games to bring everything from Shakespeare to genetics to life in your classroom.
What are escape room games?
Unfamiliar with escape rooms? According to Merriam-Webster, it’s “a game in which participants confined to a room or other enclosed setting … are given a set amount of time to find a way to escape (as by discovering hidden clues and solving a series of riddles or puzzles).”
While students won’t typically be confined in an enclosed area, they can still experience some of the fun and exhilaration by being virtually or figuratively trapped in escape room games. Use these resources to get started:
- How To Set Up and Run a Classroom Escape Room
- 10 Awesome Supplies for Classroom Escape Room Activities
- Digital Escape Rooms for Fun and Formative Assessment
- This Free Escape Room Plan Will Turn Your Students Into Cyber Detectives
Ready to have some fun in your classroom? We’ve put together this list of fun, educational, and engaging escape room games to share with your students. As always, please review the games ahead of time to ensure they are appropriate for your educational environment.
Elementary School Escape Room Games
Back to School Escape Room
Ideal for grades 3-6, this escape room is all about getting to know each other. After the principal is taken by aliens, the class must use the “find someone who” strategy to solve clues and answer questions.
Why we love it: This escape room activity is perfect for helping students get to know each other.
Asteroid Collision Escape Room
You live on the Space Station: Freedom 2 near a base for an asteroid-mining company. Unfortunately, they’ve mined too deep and a huge piece of asteroid is heading straight for the space station. You’ve got 45 minutes to find a way into the secret lab and save thousands of lives.
Why we love it: Along with building problem-solving skills, this game incorporates second grade math and science concepts too.
Escape From Narnia
This free digital escape room is a high fantasy adventure. Solve the puzzles and find the correct answers to escape Narnia.
Why we love it: Students will need to use reading comprehension and critical thinking to escape Narnia.
Growth Mindset Escape Room
Best for grades 4-8, this free escape room takes students on a secret mission around the classroom. They’ll need to decode inspirational quotes about growth mindset while learning facts about Rosa Parks, William Shakespeare, Theodore Roosevelt, and Oprah Winfrey.
Why we love it: This activity is inspirational and motivational.
Cracking the Classroom Code: Robot Malfunction
This free resource is great for grades K-5. Your whole class has been turned into robots, but if you follow the instructions, you’ll all be human again!
Why we love it: This activity provides a review of math concepts from various grade levels.
Escape the Island: Reading Escape Room
Fantastic for upper-elementary classrooms, you’ll need to figure out how to use the task cards and decoders to escape the island. While this free escape room does require a little prep work, it is worth it!
Why we love it: This activity is great for building reading skills.
End of the Year Escape Room
Play this upper-elementary escape room during the last week of school. This activity includes more than 30 awards, which can be collected and given to classmates at the end of the game. Along the way, students will need to answer reflection questions, solve clues, and decode ciphers.
Why we love it: This game builds multiple types of problem-solving skills.
Middle and High School Escape Room Games
Escape the Mummy’s Tomb
During an incredible tour of the great pyramids of Egypt, things don’t go exactly as planned. You’ll need to work together to solve a series of challenges to escape.
Why we love it: This grades 5-8 activity requires problem-solving, writing, reading comprehension, critical thinking, and order of operations.
Team Building Math-Based Escape Room
Everyone (best for grades 4-8) will have to work together to translate symbols and solve math crossword puzzles to crack the code.
Why we love it: This is a fantastic way to build teamwork.
The Misadventure of the Missing Manuscript
Working on Shakespeare in class? Here’s one way to make it more exciting! This is one of the best escape room games for learning about the literary legend.
Why we love it: Suddenly the “dry” reading material is fun!
Murder Mystery Escape Room
Small groups of three or four will work together to solve multiple riddles and clues from both Part 1 and Part II packets. Combine everything to escape the room!
Why we love it: There’s no content so students must use logical thinking to solve the puzzles.
Cold War Digital Escape Room
This content-driven activity provides a close look at the Cold War from the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan through the Korean War and Space Race.
Why we love it: This is an excellent resource for APUSH, US History, World History, and AP Euro.
Genetics & Heredity Activity
A mad scientist has trapped you in his laboratory. Work through 20 multiple-choice questions using decoders for each of the five levels to convince him to let you go! If you love this one, be sure to check out the Ecology Activity: Biology Escape Room, which follows a similar model.
Why we love it: It’s a fun way for students to boost their knowledge of genetics and heredity.
Quadratic Word Problems Digital Math Escape Room
Unlock five locks by answering questions related to the flight equations of five rockets such as “Find the total time the rocket is in the air,” “Find the time it takes the rocket to reach maximum height,” and “Find the maximum height of the rocket.”
Why we love it: How often are we going to find escape room games for solving projectile motion quadratic word problems?
Hogwarts Digital Escape Room
Escape as a group or as an individual with this activity, where you’ll go through many unusual experiences as a first-year student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Why we love it: It brings a little magic to the classroom!
Do you have any favorite online educational games? Share in the comments below!
Plus, check out Our Favorite Online Games That Are Fun and Educational Too.
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