Escape from Breakout EDU

Maybe your library budget is better than mine, but I certainly don’t have $60 just to be able to access Breakout EDU for the year.  It would be one thing if that amount was credited to your purchases, but each kit is an additional $90.  $150 to purchase supplies for just one escape room?  I don’t know about your class sizes – but we are usually running 2-3 simultaneously just to accommodate one teacher.  Our solution was to start building them ourselves.

Pinterest to the Rescue!

My motto as an educator has always been “Beg, Borrow, Steal.”  There are thousands of ideas on Pinterest on how to build elements for an escape room – from different puzzles and locks, to full bundles available through Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT).  See what’s been done – then adapt for your own needs.  We recently took inspiration from TPT to create a Crucible themed escape room from a bundle titled “Escape the Noose”.  The bundle included facts about each character, themed timed challenges, and different trivia from the book.  This allowed us to have a starting point to expand upon – and with a little “Pinspiration” we created lots of great clues.  From puzzle overlays to games of Hangman (get it?) our escape room was a blast. 

Thank you, Amazon Prime

Webster recently added Prime to its list of words; that’s how much it has saved my bacon since I’ve been in the library.  Once you know what type of clues you want, it’s easy to order all the supplies you need.  We’ve purchased a set of four directional locks, three-number and four-number locks, three-letter locks, UV pens and flashlights, hasps (the thing you attach all the locks to), and USB drives for our basic kit.  For additional supplies we often borrow the bank bags and keys from our school bookkeeper and the cash boxes from athletics.  Many of the cyphers we build with supplies available in our Maker Space, and sometimes we find we bring in things from home.  Since the supplies are so generic they can be used repeatedly – keeping our budget intact.

Custom Creations

Escape the branches of the government?  Want to do SOL review?  Need to introduce Shakespeare? Not a problem.  With a little bit of leg work and maybe a case of the giggles, creating your own escape room is a piece of cake.  Talk with your teachers to see what their ultimate goals are and click here to check out some more tips.  You don’t have to break the bank when all it might take is an e-mail to an escape room in Budapest for inspiration (true story).  Just be sure to do a trial run on some willing teachers to make sure all your ends are tied up – and have fun!

Jennifer H. (February 2018)

Mayer, B. and Toates, L. (2016) All about Escape Rooms. School Library Journal.

http://www.slj.com/2016/09/technology/all-about-escape-rooms/