For a recent Discovery Friday program we did a Breakout Box, which I also re-used on a school visit and a trip to the youth shelter. The Breakout Box is a way to do an escape room-style program without having to be tied to one location. It’s also helpful for Discovery Friday which can have anywhere from twenty to sixty kids attending.
I have a file box with a slot for a combination lock which I put a hasp inside that has holes for six combination locks. That way I can divide the kids into six teams so that everyone can be involved in the puzzle-solving regardless of the group size. Inside the box are books for the kids to keep – the prize once the puzzles are solved. I use all different kinds of locks. One had a jumble of letters and numbers and the group had to put together a puzzle of C-3PO to find the combination. Another lock was a directional lock and the group had to figure out which direction six postcards traveled in order to get the combination (i.e. the Berlin postcard addressed to London traveled West, the Australia postcard addressed to Japan traveled North). I thought that one would be super-hard but the kids were able to figure it out. Another group unlocked a box of UV flashlights and put together a combination written on playing cards with a special marker.
Something new we tried this time was having the kids assemble a cryptex. The cryptex was made up of seven styrofoam cups with numbers, letters, and symbols written around the rim of each. Each cup was filled with beans and at the same table were bowls with the words “fill me up” at the bottom. When the kids dumped out the beans into the bowls they would find that one cup had a paper inside instructing them on how to stack the seven cups (each one had a single black number on it). When stacked in order the cups became a cryptex which looked like a jumble of letters and numbers, but if lined up the right way revealed clues for the Breakout Box. I was able to fit three clues on the cups that directed the kids to where to find their missing key. The paper cup cryptex was super-easy to make and incredibly inexpensive but was a great addition to the different puzzles in the Breakout Box.
