Kick off the school year with this fun and interactive Back to School Escape Room designed for Elementary ESL, ELL, and EFL learners. This mystery game doubles as an icebreaker and a vocabulary review, helping students build classroom community while practicing English speaking, listening, and collaboration skills.
The Storyline
A box of brand-new school supplies has gone missing, and the class must solve the mystery! By completing engaging language and icebreaker tasks, students collect clues that eliminate suspects and hiding places until only one remains. At the end, they discover who took the supplies and where they were hidden.
What’s Included – 7 Escape Room Tasks
- Find Someone Who – icebreaker activity with classmate signatures
- Teacher Trivia – students guess fun facts about their teacher
- Name Three Things – prompts for conversation and sharing
- What Am I? Hobbies – riddle-style vocabulary task
- School Vocabulary Crossword Puzzle – spelling & word review
- Would You Rather – discussion and comparison activity
- Hidden Message Dominoes – solve puzzles to uncover a secret phrase
How to Play
- Students work individually or in small groups.
- Each group receives an answer sheet (the only student-printed material).
- At each station, students complete a task. When correct, the teacher signs their lock and provides a suspect card and a hiding place card to cross off.
- As tasks are completed, students eliminate suspects and locations.
- When all 7 tasks are finished, students reveal the thief and the hiding place—solving the back-to-school mystery!
Why Teachers Love It
- Encourages speaking, listening, and collaboration
- Breaks the ice while building classroom community
- Perfect for the first weeks of school
- Low-prep – only answer sheets require class copies; all other tasks are reusable
- Flexible: play as a timed escape or complete at a relaxed pace
This Back to School Icebreaker Escape is the perfect way to start the year, make connections, and get students excited about learning together.
Perfect For Teachers Searching For
- Back to School ESL activities
- Printable classroom escape rooms
- First day of school icebreaker games
- Elementary ESL vocabulary activities
- Interactive ELL grammar and speaking tasks
Pair It With
For even more first-week fun, pair this escape room with the WH Question Escape Activity from Hot Chocolate Teachables. Both activities combine problem-solving with essential ESL speaking and grammar practice.
Also Available on TpT
If you prefer shopping on Teachers Pay Teachers, you can also find this resource here: Back to School Vocabulary Escape Room | ESL ELL Classroom Mystery Game