Teacher note
Enter the teacher password to see the answers and testing tools.
How it runs
- Teams of 2 to 4 share one Chromebook. Each student types a first name and picks a character, so the story is about them. The game names the "driver" for each lock and tells the team to pass the mouse after every lock they open.
- Plan on 45 to 60 minutes (it can be split over two class periods with progress codes). This is a classic point and click escape room: students look around three parts of the classroom (front, maker corner, garden corner), lift rugs, squish bean bags and check things closely. Every clue points to the next lock.
- Built for grades 3 to 5: a third grade team can finish with some hints and a little help, and a fifth grade team should be able to do it on their own. The side button "Stuck? Get a Hint" always gives a hint for the next thing to do (3 hints per lock, one every 45 seconds).
- Skills: careful observation and counting, place value, finding a growth pattern in a table and predicting the next day, ordering numbers, following a maze and turning it into directions, a number to letter code (A=1 to Z=26), counting cubes in 3D shapes including hidden ones, and logic with four clues that all have to be true.
- Wrong answers lock that puzzle for a short wait (15 seconds, then 30, 45, 60). Opening the wrong rocket waits 20, 40, then 60 seconds and names the clue it breaks, so checking beats guessing.
- Bonus: 7 golden ducks are hidden around the room. The count prints on the award.
- Progress codes: after every lock the team gets a 10 letter code (like
KDHTM-7XQMP), also shown on the side. Have one student write the newest code on paper. If a browser resets or the team switches Chromebooks, they type the code on the start screen. It brings back their characters, every lock they opened, hints and time, and then each player types their first name again. Made up codes do not work, and codes from the other escape rooms do not work here. - Names: only letters and spaces, up to 12 characters. A short filter turns away a few silly words. The names are saved only on that computer.
- The "Left this page" counter on the side goes up every time someone switches to another tab or window. It does not stop the game. A high number can mean someone went looking for answers, so it is worth a quick check in.
- Mr. Lehmkuhl never appears as a drawing. He shows up through his sticky notes, signed Mr. L.
Timer
Minutes until the bell rings: (teams can keep playing in overtime; the award says "Solved in overtime")
Answers, in order
- Whiteboard and desk drawer: 6 rockets on the rocket shelf (the poster rocket does not count), 3 3D printers, 4 bean bags (one is by the door) = 634. Inside: a UV flashlight and a note.
- Garden lock box: each plant grows the same amount every day (basil 2, lettuce 3, mint 4, strawberry 1). On Friday: mint 22, lettuce 19, strawberry 18, basil 16. Press mint, lettuce, strawberry, basil. Thursday's order is different, so teams have to predict Friday. Inside: a maze card.
- Hidden message: lift the reading rug in the garden corner (the welcome mat and round rug have only an eraser and a LEGO brick). Click the paper and shine the UV flashlight. The numbers 20 8 5 / 16 18 9 14 20 / 3 15 4 5 / 9 19 / 2 15 12 20 spell THE PRINT CODE IS BOLT.
- Green bean bag pocket: follow the maze card and write an arrow only when the path turns: right, down, left, down, right, up, right. Inside: a USB stick.
- Middle 3D printer: plug in the USB stick and type BOLT. It prints a gear.
- Toy safe: put the gear on the handle. Cubes: A = 6 (a staircase), B = 8 (a 2 by 2 by 2 cube with one hidden), C = 5 (a 2 by 2 base with one cube on top, hiding the one under it). Code 685. Inside: the rocket clue card.
- Rocket shelf: not on an end (rules out blue and teal), 4 fins (rules out red), shorter than the rocket to its left (rules out orange), odd number (rules out purple, number 6). The key is in the green rocket, number 7, the third from the left. Each clue rules out at least one rocket.
- Door: use the key from the backpack or click the door.