Teacher’s Brain

3 Reasons To Use Holiday Escape Rooms

Let’s talk about escape rooms! 

If you know me, you know that I’m a huge fan of this incredibly engaging and exciting way to teach little learners various concepts. It feels like a game and it’s just, well, fun for teachers and students! What’s not to love?! 

If you’re looking for the perfect classroom escape room kit or even a fun digital escape room to use in your classroom, you’re in the right place! But first, let’s discuss some of the many benefits of escape rooms for students. 

escape rooms

What skills do escape rooms build? What does an escape room teach?

It Boosts Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving

Escape rooms are like a real-life puzzle that our young learners get to solve together. As they work their way through the challenges and riddles, they’re not just having a blast; they’re also honing their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It’s like a sneak-attack on those important cognitive abilities!

It Fosters Teamwork and Collaboration

Escape rooms are all about teamwork. Our students have to communicate, share ideas, and assign tasks to successfully complete their mission. This experience helps them learn the value of working together and teaches them essential skills for life. Plus, it’s a whole lot of fun in the process!

It Makes Learning an Exciting Adventure

The best part is that escape rooms can sneakily incorporate educational content. Think math, science, history, and language—all cleverly disguised in the form of puzzles and challenges. By turning learning into an adventure, we can keep our students engaged, curious, and excited about learning. It’s like a magic potion for knowledge retention!

With the holidays around the corner, it’s the perfect time to bring in some engaging holiday themed escape rooms to your students! Whether it’s Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, or anything in between, it can be celebrated with a classroom escape room. 

Luckily, I have the perfect resource for you! I created an all inclusive Holiday Escape Room bundle that will have you covered for all holidays! 

escape rooms

Use these holiday themed Escape Rooms to guarantee student engagement while they learn and solve a classroom mystery. With little prep, your students will work as a team to break into a box, which breaks them out of the classroom as they beat the clock!

What’s inside this download?

6 escape rooms all meeting 1st and 2nd Grade Standards to use for the holidays. Several can be used with 3rd or Kindergarten too! 

classroom escape room kit

These escape rooms are focusing on Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Veterans Day, Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day. 

What does an escape room look like for primary students?

You will have to spend about 40 minutes to prep your materials. Students will be separated into two groups. First students watch the YouTube video as a hook. Then, students are handed or find a mystery envelope with a clue. The clue might have them find letters to build sentences, solve puzzles, or solve a riddle. (Each escape room is different.) 

Each time they complete a challenge, they get another mystery envelope. There are 3 to 4 clues in each activity. Eventually, they will discover keys that will open a box. (The keys are paper. The box can be an old paper box filled with a treat or homework pass that you will open together once each group has their key.) 

Once the box is open, the student can escape the room to recess or the library. 

escape room kit for kids

Certificates are provided for students who are Master Mystery Problem Solvers. The activity takes about 45-60 minutes to complete! 

escape room bundle

Check it out here! 

Have you tried escape rooms in your classroom? How did it go? Let me know in the comments! For more escape room fun, check out my post here!

Veterans Day Ideas for Classrooms

We all want students to do some meaningful activities to learn about veterans. You can still have fun and create engaging activities to get your students to see how important veterans are to our country.

Veterans Day Activities

I remember teaching first grade and just showing a movie about veterans around Veteran’s Day, but then I created an escape room for primary classrooms. The students were 100% engaged! They were learning and didn’t even know it! Students worked as a team to solve clues about veterans, opened a box and escaped the classroom to recess. They went home and talked about it to their parents.

Veterans Day Activities - ESCAPE ROOM

During the rest of the week, I had students make pennants to display in the classroom. A veteran was invited to come speak to the classroom. She took questions from the students. During centers, students created a Veterans Day layered book and wrote about why veterans are so important to our country. We discussed how we should treat veterans.

Students can make a KWL chart at the beginning of the week to show what they know and what they have learned at the end of the unit. Venn Diagrams make a great way to help students identify the difference of Veteran’s Day and Memorial Day. These two days are confused easily. Memorial Day honors the military personnel who died while serving. Veteran’s Day honors the persons who have served.

Escape Room