6th Grade Winter Math Activity Gingerbread Escape Room for Christmas Time Fun

Looking for a sixth grade math worksheet alternative before Christmas break? Try this engaging 6th grade winter math activity! Reviewing order of operations with exponents and operations with decimals has never been so much fun for your sixth graders! In "Revenge of the Gingerbread Man," your class races to solve five challenging puzzles to escape from the Gingerbread Bakery. The breakout process is fully automated by a Google Form™, making this a low-prep, easy to implement activity! Escape rooms encourage cooperative learning, student engagement and critical thinking skills.

Students must be able to access the internet to complete this online breakout activity. No e-mail addresses are required! The escape room form will only allow students to progress through the puzzles if the correct answers are written. The final page instructs students to show the page to their teacher to prove that they have escaped. This is a great worksheet alternative and can be used for homeschool, distance learning, or by math tutors in addition to in class learning.

In order to complete the puzzles in this activity, students need to be able to:

• Evaluate expressions including exponents using the order of operations. Example: (The expression is written with exponents in the version students will see. TpT doesn't have a way to make superscript text here) 4[(12÷2^2)+2^2] 6.EE.A.1
• Evaluate exponents of decimals such as .5 squared = .25
• Solve multi-step word problems involving decimals (example of division with decimals that will be required: 1.40 ÷ 1.8) 6.NS.B.3
• Solve logic problems which include the types of math skills noted above.

Working in small groups of 2-4 is recommended for this activity. Several of the problems are more complicated than what students would normally see on a worksheet addressing these content standards. Escape rooms are meant to be challenging though!

Included in the pdf:

• A printable invitation for students to visit the Gingerbread Bakery including a QR code that links to the Google Form (color or black and white-this can also be projected)
• URL for accessing Google Form
• A helper page to print for students to assist them with the logic puzzles (optional, but recommended)
• Success signs for students to snap a picture with after they complete the escape room
• Quick start guide and detailed instructions
• Detailed solutions
• An option for teachers to save a copy of the Google Form™ to their own Google Drive™ (only for experienced Forms users)
• Distance Learning directions to make remote instruction or use in a virtual academy easier.

FAQ

• Do students need to have Gmail™ accounts? NO! Anyone with internet access and a tablet, computer, or even phone can complete the breakout.
• How long will this take? That is the hardest question as the answer varies depending on each classroom, student, or group. Most students will be able to complete this activity in under 45 minutes. You can allow 60 minutes to be safe. The form will not save student data, so if you are worried about your students not finishing on time, simply have them write their answers on scratch paper. They can then come back and quickly re-enter their answers and pick up where they left off. Some students with a firm grasp on the concepts covered in this escape room will be able to complete the puzzles very quickly (20-30 minutes), others will take longer.
• Will students have to search the web to figure out the puzzles? NO! All of the information needed will be provided in the Google Form™. The math in this activity is all standards-based.

Please note that this gingerbread themed resource does not mention any specific winter holidays.

Check out all of Great Classroom Escape's Digital Breakout Games based on 6th grade math standards!