When the summer starts to wind down, and your kids start to get restless, looking for new activities is always a great idea. With the new school year around the corner, it’s essential to begin helping your kids build their critical thinking skills.

One of the best ways to do this is through escape rooms. Escape rooms engage your kid’s senses – both their mind and body are put to work. In these fun-filled experiences, participants must choose a room and use clues to solve puzzles to break out from locked areas before the time runs out. Escape rooms offer an exciting way for kids to work on planning and to make quick decisions while having fun.

Benefits of Escape Rooms for Kids

Who said escape rooms are just for adults? Students can learn a lot from these fun escape room activities. 

Teamwork

Collaborative learning and teamwork can help with deeper critical understanding and thinking. Escape rooms allow children to work as a team to solve problems and reach an objective, putting collaborative learning into practice. As a result, kids learn to listen, communicate, and cooperate with others while also taking risks and making decisions.

Research has shown that teamwork improves school performance, which is why it’s so valuable for your child to take part in teamwork experiences. Teamwork skills will help your kid develop into a more engaged, confident student who will be successful throughout their studies. 

Observation

Knowledge is power, and the more information students have about the world around them, the better equipped they will be to solve problems and reach their goals. Escape rooms offer an opportunity for children to practice critical thinking skills through observation and making sense of clues and puzzles.

Participants must observe their surroundings to decode hidden messages. It’s also essential for kids to decipher codes and interpret symbols to solve puzzles at these fun events. Observation plays a crucial role in problem-solving because it helps children make sense of the world around them.

Whether they are working at school, at home, or in their community, your child will have to use their observation skills daily. Therefore, escaping from these rooms requires kids to observe things like clues carefully and make decisions based on this information.

Attention

Focusing on the task at hand is a significant part of critical thinking. If you’ve ever played an escape room game before, then you know just how difficult it can be to solve puzzles while also listening for clues from your teammates. For students to work together successfully, they must use their listening skills.

They’ll need to listen closely to instructions given while also actively engaging with friends and classmates during the process of solving the escape room. Therefore, listening is a vital skill that will help students learn how to use their time wisely and get along with others at school.

Since most kids are required to do a combination of group projects and research papers, they need to understand how important it is to listen carefully. 

Learning Outside of the Classroom

It’s crucial to take a break from the classroom now and then to engage in critical thinking and learning in a different setting. With escape rooms, students can learn to solve puzzles and handle challenges that are unique and different from their normal schoolwork. It’s a great opportunity for children to put their observation, math, logic skills, and more to test in a simulated real-life setting. There’s no better way to spark off critical thinking exercises outside of the classroom than escape room challenges.

Conclusion

At this time of year, most people are extremely busy. However, everyone can spare an hour or two to spend doing something fun with the family. If you have a child in elementary school who hasn’t tried out an escape room, then there’s no better time than now! This is a great way to kickstart your kid’s critical thinking for the school year and help them get excited about learning again.