Creating a printable escape room game for your art room is not as hard as you might think. It makes for a great break and my students loved it. Here’s how I did it.
Come up With Theme
The theme of an escape game can be a story such as an art heist or an art collector collecting famous artworks. A theme can also focus on something you want students to learn, such as the elements of art or periods of art history. I chose ‘artroom escape’ as my theme. The story is that you are accidentally locked in the art room after everyone went home and you need to use available clues to escape.
Decide How to Win
After choosing your theme, you need to decide how students will win. Basically, what information will they have to provide to you to prove they have โescapedโ. This can be anything you want, a secret code, a number or a sentence. In my game, it is three numbers that must be provided in a certain order to unlock a padlock.
Plan the Storyline
The next step is to plan how the players will come to the solution. I recommend writing or mapping it out on a piece of paper. You can have every puzzle they do have its own answer. Maybe at the end, players unscramble the words to make a sentence that is the final solution. Or you may have every puzzle in a sequential order, so that the answer from one puzzle is needed to complete the next.
I chose to have a couple puzzles that provided clues that were needed to complete other puzzles. But I also wanted to have some stand-alone puzzles. That way students working in a group could all have something to be working on without having to wait on each other.
Design the Puzzles
There are many ideas for printable puzzle ideas for an escape game. Some simple ones are: word searches, connect the dots, counting objects in a picture, a maze, or creating a cypher code. For example, one puzzle I created used scrambled “puzzle” pieces on a paper. Students had to cut the pieces apart, then reassemble them to reveal a clue. Another idea is creating one piece of paper full of text, another piece of paper that has students mark and cut windows. When the papers are place on top one another, the windows allow the secret message to be revealed. Another good idea is having students decipher a code. This can be done with symbols or even morse code dashes, just provide them with a code and a key showing what each symbol represents so they can decipher it to get a secret message.
Decide the Time Frame
A good thing to keep in mind when planning an escape game is the amount of time the average student or group of students will take to complete the puzzles.ย I planned my escape room with the idea that upper elementary and middle school students working in groups of 3-4, would most likely “escape” in 30 minutes. That gave me plenty of time to explain the process, pass out the materials, announce winners and wrap up with completion certificates for students who escaped. After using it with one class, I learn how many clues are needed to keep students moving along at a steady pace. More or less clues can be given based on the age and skill of the students.
Test and Prep Your Game
Even, the best planned escape game can have a flaw preventing it from being completed. I printed mine out twice and did it myself before using it in class. The last thing I did was fill a caddy with the materials students would need to complete the escape room. I designed my game to only require pencils, erasers and scissors. However, I found students also wanted highlighters, rulers and tape. These items were provided to all students, but I told them not all tools were necessary to complete the puzzles.ย My Printable Artroom Escape Game is available here.
Thank you for reading! – Trista
Related Post: Art Games for the Classroom: How to Use Art Games to Enrich Your Curriculum
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