If you’ve followed me for long, you know I love classroom escape rooms. Escape rooms are the perfect student activities because they get students up and moving while incorporating critical thinking skills. Students typically have so much fun with classroom escape rooms that they do not even realize they are learning.
So, it is no shock that this Halloween Escape Room classroom activity is my favorite resource to use in October. It incorporates a fun theme and standards-based skills to help students learn about the history and traditions associated with Halloween.
Fun Classroom Escape Room Theme
An important aspect of any classroom escape room is having a fun theme!
This Halloween Escape Room classroom activity incorporates a silly, spooky theme to catch students’ attention. At the beginning of the escape room activity, students are introduced to the theme—they are walking through a forest when they stumble upon a haunted house. After entering the haunted house, the door locks.
The only way to escape the haunted house is by completing six challenges that incorporate critical thinking, math, and ELA skills.
Halloween-Themed Math and ELA Challenges
I enjoy celebrating holidays in the classroom. But, I am a big believer that holidays should be a fun way to cover the standards. As an upper elementary teacher, there is a lot to teach in a short amount of time. By incorporating the holidays into my standards-based instruction, I ensure that I can still cover all of the required information and make learning more fun for students.
My Halloween Escape Room classroom activity is no exception to this rule. Each of the challenges incorporates math or ELA skills.
Some of the math skills covered include solving word problems about the haunted house. Another challenge has students use a bar graph to unlock a code.
Some of the ELA-related escape room challenges include reading a passage about the history of Halloween and decoding missing information. Another challenge has students read clues about candy and use context clues to determine what candy is being described.
Digital Halloween Escape Room
My Halloween Escape Room comes with two versions: a PDF version and a digital version.
The PDF version is meant to be set up at centers or stations around the classroom. Then, students can rotate through the stations in any order to complete the Halloween Escape Room classroom activity.
The digital version is completed through a self-checking Google Form. It can be completed in person and remotely. I especially love this option for hybrid and distance learning.
Conclusion
I use a wide variety of Halloween-themed activities throughout October including lots of fall read alouds, science experiments, and games. But, of all my October lessons, my Halloween Escape Room classroom activity is my absolute favorite!
You can take an even closer look at each of the activities included and get ideas for creating your own Halloween escape room for kids by checking out this video.
With this Halloween Escape Room classroom activity students will have fun practicing math and ELA skills as they learn about the history of Halloween and solve Halloween-themed riddles.
