The Savvy Parent’s guide to solving the mystery of “Family time”

How is “escaping” educational? It’s as easy as 123

Commonly iN rooms, Puzzles are actually just simple math word-prOblems disguised aS something mundane, like a newspaper or letterhead.
The players must act as a team because some puzzles aRe split iNto multiple smaller puzzLes. Communication is the key tO success.
In-game deductIve reasOning will heLp narrow down choices for the more cryptic puzzles.
See creatiVe thinking used throughout the eNtire adventure as they realize there are no wrong idEas.
Engaging Escape Rooms Are not linear, as to keep all players Busy In groups of 2 to 3.
UNlike other activities, brain teasers heLp typically bashful children get excited, brEak out of their shells, and work with others.
And finally, neveR a dull moment when solving mysteries, so they won’t even realize they’re practicing reading coMprehension. More fun than playing a video Game!

See what I mean? Non-linear problem solving. Break out from behind the four corners of a desk, question the “correct” way to solve a mystery, and Carpe Diem!

Without the use of cellphones, Escape Room puzzles commonly mix math problems, riddles, pattern recognition, critical thinking, reading comprehension, AND require interpersonal skills such as delegation of tasks and project management with a harsh deadline! In the heat of the moment, it’s amazing at how a group of people of all ages can come together, totally engaged in the mystery, using all their skills to accomplish the simple task of winning a game.

It’s pretty cool.

STILL don’t believe us? That’s A-Okay! Allow us to pass the baton to Kim Loeffler Alvarado, a 7th and 8th grade teacher and Seattle local!

“A major theme in current education is called the Four C’s:
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving; Communication; Collaboration; Creativity and Innovation.
An Escape Room encapsulates all four of these skills into one activity that will engage even the most reluctant learners... The amount of collaboration that occurs while solving an escape room surmounts any other educational activity I’ve ever used because students want to succeed and are excited to talk to each other and work together to do so.”

Thanks, Teach!

The artistry and design of each escape room is carefully crafted to ignite the senses, inspire the imagination, and to tell the story, with everyone involved! In doing so, as teacher and student mentor, Brien Gorham, would say, “Escape Rooms have the potential to play to our specific goals as educators. What about the possibility of an Escape Room where all the clues were in Spanish? How about an Escape Room where all the solutions involved mathematical equations, or were based on chemical formulae? I would love to see an Escape Room set in the world of The Great Gatsby, where only a deep knowledge of the novel will help you reach the Green Light!”

A too rigid educational curriculum sometimes has the unwelcome side effect of dulling the curiosity and imagination of our students. We teach them to be so obsessed with perfection and “getting it right”, that they forget the way we learn most naturally is when we play. Escape Rooms remind us that it’s okay to be a little silly, to put on a pirate hat and search for sunken treasure!

Discover your strengths, work in a team, tear out some pages, stand on a desk, and declare your own, “Oh Captain, My Captain!”

The Savvy Parent’s guide to solving the mystery of “Family time”

How is “escaping” educational? It’s as easy as 123

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