library escape room

I spent my afternoon planning an escape room in the library.

Admin has decided to offer reward days to students who have zero tardies and zero unexcused absences within a marking period. Students can choose whether to watch a movie in the auditorium, head to open gym, or come to the library escape room.

Clearly I'm not going to beat out "open gym" for some of these kids, but I can beat a Disney movie, c'mon.

I decided not to have them actually escape from the library, since I'm pretty sure the fire marshal would frown on me chaining the doors. So instead the final key leads to a locked file cabinet drawer full of mini Play-Doh and Jolly Ranchers.

The trick to this, I have learned, is to plan it backwards:

• the key opens the file cabinet
• a lock box with a combination lock holds the key
• the combination is broken down into its three 2-digit parts
• each part of the combination has a series of clues that lead to it

Today I made a puzzle out of cardstock and dictionary pages, printed some clues disguised as handouts, and plotted ways to use the furniture and board games. I also researched diy invisible inks. (Vaseline glows under blacklight, it turns out.) Total cost to me so far: $0.

I have a week and a half to make sure everything works. I'm having so much fun. I'll know this is a success if the kids have at least as much fun as I'm having.