Over the past couple of years I have done several escape rooms and they have always be a fun learning experience and great way to gamify my classroom. I decided that I wanted to try to create my own circus/carnival themed escape room, and I decided to call it Escape to the Circus because once students finished all the challenges in the game, which was circus themed, they would earn tickets to play carnival games for added fun. Here's how I set it all up.
Circus Classroom Transformation
Many years ago, I would create a new elaborate theme each year for my classroom. One of those years, I created a circus theme because we were learning about the five regions of the US, and since the circus travels the US, this was a perfect theme. I created a circus reading tent and banners and found some cute circus seating at IKEA and that year, Target also had some circus pieces I could add as decor. After creating it all and using it for that year, I packed it all away to use in the future for classroom transformations. I have used it a time or two since, but not for several years. I knew I wanted to pull this out to use with my escape room. That was the main reason I created a circus/carnival theme. The only decor item I purchased this time was the red and white backdrop, which is really a set of three table cloths that I found on Amazon for pretty cheap. I put some circus music on in the background, and the circus vibe was coming together.
Aligning the Curriculum
Aligning the curriculum was super easy. The hard part for me was that I had to create three versions of each game because I teach in a multi-grade classroom with grades 3-5. Because I had all those grades, I needed a different level of math for each grade level, but I wanted all the grades in my classroom to be able to play the game.
Since we were just finishing up our units on multiplication, I knew that my topic for this escape room would be multiplication. I would just level up each challenge for an easy, medium, and hard. So for third grade, I kept the challenges easy with basic multiplication facts using two and even three factors. For the fourth grade challenges, I took it up a notch. The fourth grade level included skills like multiplying with powers of ten, multiplying double digits with estimation, and multiplying double digits. For the fifth grade, the skills I focused on were multiplication of decimals using powers of ten, multiplying decimals with estimation, and multiplying decimals. These skills covered most of what we learned during the multiplication units in our actual curriculum.
Building the Challenges
I decided to do four challenges for my escape room. Each challenge would reveal a secret code word or phrase that was related to the circus.
In challenge one, students were give an envelope with a puzzle that was precut. The puzzle was easy to prep because I created the puzzle with rectangular shapes only. The goal was to match all the equations to the products. Once all products were in place, letters lined up to create a mystery phrase. I created a foldable where students could write the secret code. Because there were no spaces between the letters in the puzzles, students did not understand the secret code until they started writing it in the blanks in their foldables. This made it even more fun.
For challenge two, students were given a sheet of 12 math equations that were already answered. The trick was that they had to decide which were true and which were false. Once they found all the ture equations, they used rubber ducks (I also made paper ones as an option) to reveal the code. I wrote a number on the back of each duck, and underneath I wrote letter. The students would use the numbered ducks that matched the true problems. Once they put those in order, they looked on the duck and found a letter. When the ducks were lined up in numerical order, it revealed a secret word.
In challenge three, students received a set of circus train cards. Each card had an equation that had to be solved. Once they were solved, the products were put in order from least to greatest to form the circus train. Each train car had a letter on top and when placed in the correct order, the code was revealed.
For the final challenge, number four, students were able to play a short game of memory match. Once the cards were matched, the letters were written in the order of the card numbers. As an alternative, Students did not have to play memory match (if time was short) instead, they simply matched the card with the equation to the product to find the code.
Launching the Escape Room
To launch the Escape room, students entered the room to see the circus decor and heard the circus music playing. They each received the foldable, and inside was a letter that I read to them. It welcomed them to the challenge and asked them to complete four challenges to escape to the circus. The students were so excited. Right afterwards, they received their first challenge. We did the challenges with partners, but this could definitely be done individually or even in small groups. I personally preferred the partnerships because it allowed the students to work with someone else to get through the challenges. I think it could work in small groups, but sometimes there is a teammate who sits back while others do the work. In partnerships, that seems less likely to happen.
Playing the Game
As challenges were completed, students each received a game ticket. These were saved to be used after all the challenges were completed. An extra game ticket was given to the team who finished first. It took about two to two and a half hours to complete the challenges. Our math block is about two hours, so it was pretty good, we just finished and let it run into one of the other classes. We adjusted everything else to finish. This could be used over the course of 1 day, two days, or even four days if you did just one challenge a day. The first challenge seemed to take the longest for all of my teams.
Escape to the Circus
Once the teams completed all the challenges, they escaped to the circus. This meant that they could use their game tickets to play carnival-style games. I set up easy games using what I had and what I could borrow from other teachers in my building. Here are the games I used.
1. Basketball: A teacher friend of mine had a basketball game that clips onto the whiteboard. There were four basketballs that came with this, so the students could each get four tries. If they made one basket, it was a win and they received a prize.
2. Balloon Nerf Game: I blew up several balloons and taped them on a whiteboard. Students had to shoot one balloon with the Nerf gun. There were two foam bullets, so the students each got two tries to win. If they won, they collected a prize.
3. Bowling: A couple of years ago, I purchased a plastic bowling game from Hobby Lobby after the season for 1/2 off. I think I spent ten dollars. We used this for one of the games. It came with two balls, so each student got two tries. To win they had to knock down at least 3 pins.
4. Ring Toss: My school has a ring toss game, so I used that for another game. In this version, the rings were each numbered with a certain amount of points. Students had many tries (maybe 8-10) to earn 60 points total.
5. Pong Ball: In this game, I set up Dixie cups and each student had three ping pong balls. They had to toss the balls and land at least one in a cup to win.
Prizes
For each game the students won, they received a prize. I purchased different prizes from Dollar Tree. I had popcorn...which was very popular, candies, and cookies, and some drinks too. You could also use other non-food prizes such as stickers, toys, games, pencils, erasers, etc.
This game was so much fun and I cannot wait to create another escape room for my next unit on division. I am already planning an under-the-sea version.
If you are interested in trying this Escape to the Circus escape room in your classroom, be sure to check out my resource on TPT. The work is already done for you. Your class will have so much fun! Click on the picture below to find out more and purchase.
