Do it Yourself: Design your own escape room for the children's room
Escape rooms, or so-called escape games, have been a huge hit for some time now – especially with children. This year, the Stadtbibliothek Bremen is offering four entertaining and fast-paced escape games as part of its 53° summer holiday program. With a little imagination and preparation, this puzzle fun can easily be recreated at home and is THE new party game for the whole family!
What's it all about, and what do you need to consider when planning?
An exciting story, tricky tasks, and secrets that require patience, skill, imagination, and logic to solve are the basic ingredients for creating an escape game. Karina Bothe, a library education specialist at the Stadtbibliothek , advises planners to first come up with a theme or backstory. This gives the game a central thread, and the shared goal unites the group. The better the teamwork, the greater the chance of escaping the room. In the planned game in Lesum, for example, the children are locked in the library due to a mishap and have to free themselves – but this can only succeed if they work together to solve challenging brain teasers.
The size of the room also plays a role. "The room shouldn't be too big, but also not too small," says Bothe. In a small room, the children would get in each other's way too much. In a large room, it can quickly become too chaotic. The room doesn't necessarily have to be lockable. Instead, the door could be secured with a chain or a padlock. And those who don't have a lockable room can simply abandon the search for treasure or something similar as their goal.
In a classic escape room, players typically have one to one and a half hours to escape. For children, it's recommended to shorten the game time to about 30 minutes, depending on their age. Karina Bothe provides the children with a timer so they can keep track of the remaining time.
And which puzzles are suitable?
There are no limits to the imagination. Karina Bothe generally recommends integrating the puzzles into the escape game's backstory. For example, finding a blacklight flashlight as part of the game could be exciting. The children could use it to decipher a secret code written with a special pen, explains the library's educational staff member. A skill-based or obstacle course also adds variety to the game. "Variety and exciting puzzles are important to keep the children engaged," says Bothe. Websites like Pinterest offer plenty of inspiration for brain teasers and guessing games. The Stadtbibliothek Bremen also has a number of books on the subject. Karina Bothe recommends "Escape Home – A Step-by-Step Guide" (authors: Jens Mekiska and Bastian Schenk) for creating your own escape room at home. However, she adds that complete printed materials and instructions are also available online, usually for a fee.
For those who want to solve digital puzzles together with their children, Karina Bothe recommends the apps "Can You Escape" and "100 Doors." The former is a classic escape room game where players have to free themselves from locked rooms. In "100 Doors," players have to open 100 different doors by solving puzzles. "This might involve shaking, rotating, or even holding your phone upside down," says Bothe. Both apps are available for iOS and Android devices.
Useful links
>> There are still a few places available for our escape games as part of our summer holiday program at the Central Library and in Vahr . >> You can find the recommended book "Escape Home" here in our media collection as an e-book or in print. >> On Pinterest you'll find lots of tips and ideas for creating an escape room in your child's room. >> You can download the recommended app "Can you Escape" here in the App Store and here in the Google Play Store