Create a Digital Escape Room (Breakout)

It started with my innovative student teacher who was playing with the idea to do some sort of Escape Room activity. We priced the boxes and locks and it was going to be expensive and take time to acquire all of the materials. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention and this is how we were able to create a digital escape room for my 8th grade students.

Materials for the Digital Escape Room

• Access to Google Sites- you will create a website

• Google Forms- this is where they will try their answers

• Content- I have found that non-fiction really fits well with this activity

• Extras- Resources for your hunt

I started by visiting Tom Mullaney's website. He has a pre-made form that has various locks already programmed. On his site, he has a video tutorial as well as sample Breakouts for all subject areas. Next build your site. Each page has a clue and they answer using a Google Form.This is where you can customize the challenges (see my Amazing Race Season finale in the screenshot). We studied and read about various countries and this was culminating unit challenge to review what we had learned.

Amazing Race Finale

Next Level

Add a cipher or puzzle to create a complexity. This compilation of Escape Room tools is a great place to start.

Don't Want to Make Your Own

Sandbox has pre-made challenges. Some are content related or would work nicely to use with team building.

Benefits

This activity is loaded with problem solving and fosters grit. I always had my students work in a groups and was able to observe cooperation and collaboration; they divided work and each member was an asset to the completion of the challenge. It will be much harder to impress your students with anything less once you assign your first Breakout. This is perfect for dry, complex texts and you want students to re-read or close read. Forewarning, my students were absolutely obsessed with winning they resorted to cheating. You may want different versions if you plan to use it all day. In case you are wondering, they encountered a 10 minute penalty.