Miss Kelda is a Queensland teacher who wanted something to really engage her very busy students. She had this idea that she wanted to do a classroom escape room, but her online search feel short of her wild and wonderful ideas.

After many sleepless nights turning the idea over in her head, she gained permission from her principal to convert an old green room into a proper primary school Escape Room!

You can hear the entire story here on the podcast.

Kelda has very generously shared her entire primary school classroom curriculum-based Escape Room plan, with the hopes that more teachers can bring this joy to their students!

Note that this room was originally designed for year 3/4 primary school students. Due to the popularity, however, she adapts it for all primary year levels at her school. Every challenge can easily be adapted to suit the abilities and curriculum of whichever year level you’d like to make this for.

Escape Room Order Sheet

1. START HERE BOX
2. Clue says “TEDDY”
3. Find teddy’s – scissors hiding behind them with clue that says “If you know your 3’s you’ll open me with ease” (CODE: 3,6,9)
4. Use scissors to unlock “cut me open jar”
5. Inside jar is key for GOLD PADLOCK
6. Gold padlock is on BAG – open bag – get out puzzle and complete
7. HAND PLAYERS Globe clue sheet
8. Clue revealed is CLOCKS (Students look to clock wall)
9. Time on clocks (all the o’clock times) reveal code for silver # padlock on small jar – code is 6,3,9,2
10. In small jar has book shelf clue leading to “LOST IN TIME BOOK”
11. Leads kids to book shelf, need to find the book called “lost in time” where key is hidden inside
12. In book is key for TOOL BOX padlock
13. Inside tool box is magnet tool for #12 PIPE
14. Use tool to reveal hidden clue for blue #lock (ODD and EVEN sort game – see image sheet). Code is 9,7,5
15. Sort ODD/EVEN numbers in less than 1 minute to get next clue (time students to complete this in under 1 minute). HAND SUM CLUE – answer is 168
16. Leads to balloons where students need to find the balloon with their answer on
17. In 168 balloon, says “look under chair”
18. Under chair says “Measure exactly 450 grams
19. When measure exactly 450g HAND clue for pink # lock, code is 2,4,0
20. Inside pink lock jar says “find stack of 15 cups” – stack the cups
21. When last cup gets placed -STOP TIME AND ESCAPE!!

Start Here

The first task is the “Start Here” box. Inside the note reads “Put the letters in the correct order to spell a word. This word is where you’ll find your next clue”. The word I used was “TEDDY” which leads to the cabinet with Teddies inside. You can do any word you wish and change the difficulty of it depending on your target students.

Scissors

The scissors are hidden amongst the teddies, wrapped in a note that says: “If you know your 3’s you’ll open me with ease” (again you can change the clue to whatever you prefer, this was just my idea). The jar is placed somewhere else in the escape room, and they have to find what to use the scissors for. I filled my jar with coloured gems and one key. When the students pour out the contents, they hunt through to find the key.

Puzzle

The key inside the jar opens this gold padlock on a bag placed in the escape room somewhere. Inside, is the puzzle with a note that says “Solve this puzzle as quick as you can for your next clue”.

Globe Search

When the students complete the puzzle, physically hand them the next clue. The GLOBE SEARCH (ESCAPR ROOM GLOBE SHEET TASK – click this to download a copy). This is the most challenging clue I have but I have been surprised with the amazing teamwork that comes with trying to solve it. This can easily be adjusted to suit either upper or lower grades. This one is upper grade (3-6) and they’ve all solved it so far. I have 3 globes placed around the room for them to find and use. Also, a compass rose and continents map on the wall for extra support if they look around! My GLOBE SEARCH clue reveals the word ‘CLOCKS” which leads to the clock wall.

Clock

On the clock wall I have clues that read “TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK, O’CLOCK, O’CLOCK”. I also have 4 clocks set with o’clock times displayed. The clue is quite cryptic, but many have guessed it with little help. All the o’clock times present numbers (6,3,9,2). These numbers open a number padlock somewhere in the room.

Bookshelf

The numbers from the clock wall clue open this padlock. Inside are folded pieces of paper (all the white ones are blank, the orange one is the clue). The clue in here reads “ONE OF THE BOOKS ON THE SHELF HIDES YOUR NEXT CLUE. DON’T GET “LOST IN TIME” OR YOU’LL NEVER BE FREE”.  This leads the students to the bookcase where the book called “Lost In Time” is hidden amongst all the books. Inside the book is a key.

Magnets

The key from the book leads to the padlock on the tool box. Inside is an extendable magnet and a note that reads: “You can use me to reach the clue you can’t reach. The tube number you need is 3 X 4 = ?” Students then find the tube with the number 12 on and poke the magnet down it. This will get them their next clue. (This clue is just written on paper and wrapped around a metal clip so the magnet picks it up. Easy peasy!). The kids absolutely LOVE this one. (All you need is some old polly pipe. I just stuck mine into a bucket of sand.) The clue collected from pipe #12 says:

“Find the blue padlock, your code is:

7 + 2 =?

Half of 14 = ?

3 X ? = 15”

The code revealed from the pipe (9,7,5) opens this jar. Inside the yellow post-it-note reads:

“Sort the numbers into ODD and EVEN in under 1 minute for your next clue”

The kids get so excited racing to do this one. You could have any challenge in here. I only chose odd and even because we had been focusing on this during class. When they successfully sort the numbers (written on the pink pieces of paper in the jar) into odd and even piles, physically hand them the next clue. (The MATH CHALLENGE SHEET).

Math Challenge & Balloons

This part can be easily adapted for any age group or task you are focusing on in class. I have this laminated and give them a whiteboard marker to solve to sum. When they get the correct sum, they pop the balloon that coincides with their answer. Hopefully they get the right answer! (I do sometimes give a ‘cough” here if I see the wrong answer and remind them of the borrowing rule!!).

I have different balloons with different numbers on (this photo was when some had deflated, and I couldn’t be bothered to re do more balloons! HA HA). I have put pieces of paper in every balloon so if they pop the wrong one it says, “WRONG ANSWER”. In the correct balloon, 168 (answer to my maths sum) when they pop it, the clue jumps out and reads “LOOK UNDER THE CHAIR”.

Measurement

Underneath one of the chairs I have in the room, is a note stuck to the bottom which reads:

“MEASURE EXACTLY 450 GRAMS FOR YOUR NEXT CLUE”.

(Again, you can do anything here, I went with measurement because that’s what I was focusing on in class.)

This leads the students to the measuring station where they must exactly show 450 grams on the scales. When they are happy with their measurement, they tell me, and I check. If I am happy, they get handed their next clue which reads:

4, 0, 2

I tell them that these are the numbers to unlock their final jar, but they are NOT in that order.

The Final Jar & Pyramid

When they find their final jar, the students work together to try different combinations of the three given numbers. When unlocked they find folded pieces of paper. There is only 1 that reads the clue. All the others say: “KEEP LOOKING”.

When they finally find the clue, it reads:

“Find the cups, stack them up,

This is it, your final challenge.

Your time stops when your last cup is placed on top of the pyramid. Go, Go, Go!!”

The students race to find the cups (which I hid amongst the teddies, so they saw them at the very beginning, but most forget that!). They race to create a pyramid and when the last cup is placed on top, I stop their time! This is when it gets super exciting because they manage to escape the ‘escape room” as it gets ‘unlocked”.

Afterwards, I take a team photo and display it with the words “we escaped” on the door with all the others. I also display all the times but not with the photos. This way no one knows what team got what time. This keeps the excitement going until everyone is finished. The times then get revealed at parade, the winners are crowned and that’s that! Time to plan a whole new one for next time! 😉

I hope your students enjoy it as much as ours have!

Good luck!! If you have any questions don’t hesitate to yell out. Also, let me know how it goes!

Miss Kelda 😊

If you’d like to get in contact with Miss Kelda directly, drop us an email via the contact page and I’ll get you in direct contact 🙂