Celebrate Black History Month by having your students play this fun Black History Month digital escape game. The local museum is hosting an exhibit but the prize item is locked up tight in a box! Without the codes to unlock it, the museum can’t put it on display. Help them out by finding the 5 codes that will unlock the box and save the day.

This Black History Month digital escape game will have students learning about 5 prominent African-Americans:

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Shirley Chisholm

Guion S. Bluford, Jr.

Ruby Bridges

Barack Obama

You will need internet access to do this Black History Month digital escape game – students can work in teams if you don’t have enough devices for an entire class. To find the codes students will be using video, primary sources and articles written about the subjects. Includes answer key with hints in case your students get stuck.

Note about digital breakouts, as they are new to the educational scene and can be confusing for those who have never done an ‘escape the room’ type game:

The first clue will always be the most difficult for them. Once they figure that out, the others will be easier because they will get the idea of how things work. They will mouse over the images, looking for the hand or arrow that lets them know that it’s a link.

Once they open the link, they’ll want to read the page, watch the video, etc. The clues are hidden in there.

The tricky part is that they don’t know which clue is on which page – they have to work together, think about what they’re looking for, and think about what they’ve learned on each page. They know that they need certain things to open the locks – but they can’t be sure if they’ve got it until they try it. If they try a word or a number and it doesn’t work, they can keep trying until they figure out what it’s supposed to be.

For sure it is a challenging activity – the first time I did one, my students were pretty confused. I guided them to opening the first clue but then told them they’d have to figure out what exactly they were looking for. Most of them did end up solving the puzzle, but a few groups were one clue short of solving it.

Since you have the answers, you can guide your students if they need it. I had some groups who would never get the clue if I didn’t nudge them in the right direction.

But I also had some who didn’t want any help and relished the challenge. It’s not really a question/answer sort of thing since that would be just a scavenger hunt or research project.

They have to discuss what they think might be the most important things on each page and go from there.