Classroom Escape Room: How to Set Up a Fun Winter Escape Room

Winter classroom escape room activity for elementary students with key and lock image.

Are you looking for a way to boost engagement, teamwork, and critical thinking in your classroom this winter? A winter-themed classroom escape room is the perfect way to get students thinking critically, solving puzzles, and having fun—all while reinforcing important skills. In this post, I’ll walk you through how to set up a classroom escape room, from easy-to-create puzzles to simple prep tips that make the whole experience stress-free.

What’s the Student Objectives?

Complete winter reading escape room display with color-by-code pages, task cards, and congratulatory signs.

The Winter Reading Challenge Escape Room that I created in particular is reading comprehension focused! Each activity practices a reading skill.

Problem: Two kids want to play in the snow, but the Yeti is blocking their way.
Goal: Find a way to block the yeti so the kids can play.
How to Achieve: Solve reading challenges and riddles to earn Picture Pieces to build the way to block the yeti.

Stocking Your Classroom Materials

Classroom supplies for a winter escape room including laminator, file folders, zipper bags, and tape rollers.

Once you’re ready to set up your Winter Escape Room, make sure to check your classroom for common supplies you may already have. You’ll want to grab 6 folders or zipper pouches to store each activity in. You’ll also need scissors, tape, stapler, and heavy duty glue tape!

Laminating is only a suggestion, but if you’d like to use this in the future, I do suggest laminating the reusable pages. Here are a few may-need items that are affiliate links to Amazon:

Classroom Escape Room Folder Prep

Teacher setting up winter escape room folders with printed task cards and winter cutouts.

Before your students can start their escape room, there is a little prep work needed first. You’ll want to get everything printed out first. Then, you’ll grab the six folders or zipper pouches. Within each folder or pouch, you’ll have each individual reading activity PLUS the puzzle piece AND the riddle answer. Make sure you label each folder with the “detective task #” so that students can follow along easily.

Teacher assembling winter escape room tasks with laminated clues and printed riddles.

The puzzle piece and the riddle answer are necessary so students know they’re on the right track if this is going to be an independent activity.

A Peak at Each Activity

The six activities will include some sort of reading activity (except the final clue simply being a cryptogram). Check out the images below to see what games your students will get!

Winter escape room reading activity for elementary students featuring color by code passage and comprehension questions.

Color by Code: Making Connections (nonfiction)- Your students will read the passage, answer the multiple choice questions, then use the answers of the multiple choice to color a picture using the Letter answers from the questions.

Winter classroom escape room game board activity with comprehension question cards for students.

Game Board: Context Clues (sentence level)- Students will draw a card, read the sentence aloud, and use context clues to determine the meaning of the vocabulary word. Then, they will move their pieces on the game board!

Winter escape room puzzle activity for reading comprehension with snowy picture strips.

Puzzle: Point of View (first person, second person, third person)- Students will read a sentence, then determine if it is first, second, or third person point of view. Then, they will match the icon of the question to the puzzle piece and line the mystery puzzle up in order.

Winter reading escape room with fill-in comprehension activity and character dialogue task cards.

Answer & Fill-In: Dialogue- Students will read a passage and draw a comprehension task card. They will read the question and write the answer in the worksheet. Then, they will take the circled letters to decipher the next clue.

Winter escape room task with story questions and illustrated comprehension cards for students.

What’s the Question: Asking Questions, Using Illustrations for Details- Students will study an illustration then look at answers about the illustration. Then, they will work in reverse to find the question that was most likely asked for each answer.