The Lost Temple: A Jungle Fraction Escape Room You Can Play Again and Again
Save to PinterestEscape rooms get every student talking about math. The trouble is, most of them only work once. Once the answers are out, the room is solved, and the codes spread around the class in minutes.
The Lost Temple is a digital fraction escape room for grades 4 to 6 that works differently. Grumblestone, a grumpy stone guardian, has trapped your students and the jungle monkeys inside his temple. The only way out is to beat his 9 fraction trials. Every time students play, the game makes 9 brand new trials with new fractions, so they can escape once, then escape again, and again.
Watch it in action
It runs in any web browser: computers, Chromebooks, tablets and interactive whiteboards. There's nothing to print, nothing to install and no student logins.
How the escape works
Students press Escape the Temple and choose which trial to start with. Then they work their way round the temple until all 9 trials are beaten.
After each trial, a card shows their stars and a stepping-stone path: beaten trials glow gold, and the next one pulses. Every answer is checked as students play. A wrong answer brings Grumblestone, who gloats but also gives a hint about what went wrong, while a thinking monkey scratches its chin.
Beat all 9 trials and the reward is big: "You beat Grumblestone!", a gold medal with the escape number, a rain of gems, jungle drums and a troop of dancing monkeys.
A new game every time
This is what makes The Lost Temple different from a printed escape room. Press Play Again and all 9 trials are made fresh, with new fractions. That means:
- No answer sharing. The student next to you has different numbers.
- Real practice. Students can't memorise their way out. Every escape means working out the fractions again.
- A reason to keep going. An escape counter shows how many times each student has escaped.
- All year long. Use it during a fraction unit, then come back to it for review and test prep.
The 9 trials
Each trial is its own jungle mini game, and each one practises a fraction skill.
1. The Torch Bridge: improper fractions and mixed numbers
A dark gorge blocks the way. Students turn each improper fraction into a mixed number, a whole number card and a fraction card, to light the torches and raise the bridge.
2. The Snake Baskets: equivalent fractions
Golden fruit hides in the baskets whose two fractions are equal. Open the wrong basket and a snake pops out. Two snakes and the trial is lost!
3. The Letter Stones: equivalent fractions
Students drag each carved letter stone onto the slot with an equal fraction. The letters spell a secret password.
4. The Monkey Seesaws: a fraction times a whole number
On each branch, monkeys of one colour balance a basket of fruit. How much does one monkey weigh?
5. The Sun Disks: making one whole
Students fill each sun disk with fraction pieces that make exactly one whole. A full disk becomes a glowing golden sun.
6. The Totem Poles: least common denominator
Five carved totem poles, a monkey, snake, toucan, jaguar and frog, each hold three fractions. Students give each totem the gem with its least common denominator.
7. The Water Jars: ordering fractions
Six clay jars, each a fraction full. Students put them on the stone steps from the most water to the least, then pour to check.
8. The Glyph Wall: equivalent fractions
Students light up every tile on the wall equal to the gold stone, then pick the glyph the lit tiles make to open the wall.
9. The Jungle Map: comparing fractions
Students compare ten pairs of fractions. Each sign is a step on the map: greater than goes right, less than goes left, equal goes down. The right signs lead the explorer out of the jungle.
Self-checking, with a hint
Every answer is checked straight away. When students get one wrong, Grumblestone pops up with a hint, so they know what to look at again. The instructions in each trial are short on purpose, so students do the thinking.
Tips for the classroom
- Let students choose where to start. Students who need a warm-up can start with the Snake Baskets. Confident students can jump in at the Totem Poles.
- Use it in centers. Students play one escape after another, and the escape counter keeps them going.
- Race teams on the board. Play a whole-class escape on the interactive whiteboard, or race teams: who escapes with the fewest mistakes?
- Talk about the hints. When Grumblestone pops up, ask students to explain their thinking out loud.
- Come back for review. Because every escape is new, it works just as well months later.
Ready for level 2? Skull Island
The Lost Temple is level 1 of our fraction escape rooms. When your students are ready for more, Skull Island is level 2: Captain Crossbones sets 9 pirate trials that move on to adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, multiplying and dividing fractions, and finding the whole from a part. It is replayable in the same way, with brand new puzzles every escape.
Read about Skull Island or get Skull Island on Teachers Pay Teachers.
Get The Lost Temple: the fraction escape room
9 jungle fraction trials, a big escape reward, and a brand new game every time your students play.
