Escape Room: Staying Safe Online – 45-Minute Classroom Game, Grades 5–9

The hacker "Cyberbug" has locked the class account and will post the class photos in 40 minutes. Student teams have one chance: solve 6 stations, collect 6 digits and unlock the account. A classroom escape room for one 45-minute lesson that teaches students how to stay safe online – while they have fun.

6 stations:

• Strong password – which password can resist an attacker?
• Phishing – spot the scam messages
• Caesar cipher – crack the secret message
• Truth or hoax – the hoaxes spell a secret word
• Social media privacy – what does the profile give away?
• Cyberbullying – put the right steps in order

Every puzzle has been checked and has one clear solution, plus two hints (a gentle one and a stronger one). The game ends with the big unlock, a debrief and the class's own 10 Golden Rules of staying safe online.

What you get (ZIP):

• an illustrated teacher guide (PDF): story, setup, station layout, solutions and hints,
• the same text in Word for editing,
• printable student materials: all 6 station cards, a code sheet and an answer key,
• a 45-minute lesson plan,
• a 16-slide presentation: story intro, rules and the final "Account unlocked" screen,
• an interactive 10-question review quiz that can read aloud.

For grades 5–9, 4–6 teams of 4–5 students. Perfect for Safer Internet Day, digital citizenship units or an end-of-unit reward. Licensed for one teacher and their classes.

Text and illustrations were created with the help of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the author, a computer science teacher.