SCIENCE ESCAPE ROOM BUNDLE: Animals - Habitats, Classification and Inheritance, Life Cycles

Using an Escape Room to develop curriculum knowledge is an exciting activity that will inspire learners from 2nd Grade to 5th Grade.

We have put together three of our best selling Escape Room products linked to the study of animals:

• Habitats: Hi Honey I'm Home (Habitats)
• What makes a ... a... ? (Classification)
• When I grow up (Life Cycles)

The aim of the Escape Room is to provide jeopardy for the children to work under pressure to solve 10 challenges in each room to help raise their knowledge of Life cycles, habitats and classification.

Each of the Escape Rooms includes:

• Student Workbook which includes all challenges for the Escape Room
• Teacher Answer Booklet
• Starting Script for the teacher to set the scene of each Escape Room
• Completion Script which celebrates the achievements of the students upon completion
• Table Name Labels in the theme of the Escape Room
• Full instructions to set up and run a successful and exciting Escape Room

Before beginning, you will need to prepare the following:

• A copy of the Pupil Workbook for each group
• A set of table team names for every group – prepared beforehand and given to each group to set up their own working space
• IT sources and research materials (if students are new to this topic area)
• Initial Starting Script sharing the problem to the children
• Completion Script celebrating the completion of the challenge

Children do not need prior knowledge of the study units to complete these Escape Rooms so are suitable for a starter challenge to a new topic. The ability to have access to research resources will support the answers. This Escape Room is ideal as a review of learning to identify what the children have learnt and retained as a result of completing the study units.

The activity begins by the teacher reader the Initial Message received. It clearly tells the children that they are required to help raise their understanding of either life cycles, habitats or classification in order to solve the challenges in order to escape the room. The accurate completion of each of the challenges enables the students to move from one challenge to another. They must complete each challenge correctly before moving onto the next challenge, continuing the Escape Room completing them all!

After the final activity – the teacher can read the final script which reviews the learning the children have undertaken as they have completed each of the challenges. This script, together with team labels and the opening challenge script are contained within the Resource Pack.

The Escape Rooms clearly focus on their own study areas, and therefore the three rooms together give a complete overview of animals, their habitats, classification and lifecycles.

What makes a... a...? : Classification of Animals

The 10 activities are based on the following outcomes:

• Know the 7 main features of all living things
• Understand that animals can be grouped into taxonomic groups (arachnid, bird, amphibian, insect, mammal, crustacean, fish and reptiles). The activity can be extended to included other animal groups should the teacher wish to develop it further to add other animal groups)
• What makes an insect an insect?
• What makes an arachnid an arachnid?
• What makes a fish a fish?
• What makes an amphibian an amphibian?
• What makes a bird a bird?
• What makes a reptile a reptile?
• What makes a crustacean a crustacean?
• What makes a mammal a mammal?

Hi Honey! I'm Home! (Habitats)

The 10 activities are based on the following outcomes:

• Word search to introduce 25 key words related to habitats and food chains
• Word search which assesses the children’s knowledge of key words within the topic
• Linking the 8 habitats with their geographical features
• Linking the 8 habitats to the living things which co-exist within each one
• Match the 8 habitats with the living things and features of each
• True and false statements relating to habitats, with the children having to justify why a statement is false by giving the correct response from their completion of previous challenges.
• Food chain features – language of position in the food chain, role of living thing, and key vocabulary related to feeding habits
• Sorting food chains from 4 different habitats using plants and animals from that habitat
• Independent completion of a food web
• Review of learning - Quiz

When I Grow Up: Life Cycles

The 10 activities are based on the following outcomes:

• Word Search to introduce 40 key words related to Lifecycles ensuring that children develop a wide vocabulary. There is also an extra hidden word which the children must find in order to solve the Code Key and move to the next challenge.
• Linking vocabulary which animals share in common with one another or are specific to their own taxonomic group.
• Lifecycles of fish
• Lifecycles of arachnids
• Lifecycles of amphibians
• Lifecycles of reptiles
• Lifecycles of crustaceans
• Lifecycles of birds
• Lifecycles of mammals
• Lifecycles of insects

Setting up the Escape Rooms

1. Children should be split into groups of no more than four and be placed in their own work space.

2. Access to IT and research materials should be provided to allow children to research answers to questions and review their own knowledge, as well as checking answers.

3. Each group should have a Code Key Booklet and decide on a team name

4. Read the Initial Message to the children to set the challenge in context. Discuss what this means, and what the activity entails.

5. Turn to Code Key 1. Agree with the children a set time to complete the problem in – this ensures that the children stay on task and maintains the Escape Room element of working under pressure.

6. At the end of the time, children should have filled in the Code Key in their booklet. The teacher can then check the accuracy of all the groups and talk through the responses the children should have.

7. Move on through the remaining challenges until all 10 have been completed.

8. For those groups who have been successful, they are then able to read the completed statement where they find out if they have escaped the Escape Room!

There are other ways of running Escape Room activities, for example, each activity could be set up on 10 tables and the children then move from table to table completing the activity. This would reduce the need for as many resources, and access to non-fiction sources and Internet Resources could then be targeted at specific Challenges.

Each Escape Room should last for 2 hours - providing at least 6 hours of learning.

We hope that your children enjoy these Escape Rooms and the study unit of animals.

Best wishes

INSPIReducation