How to DIY a Fun Easter Escape Room for Kids (Free Printable!)

Easter is awesome, filled the magic of spring…blah, blah, blah. But let’s face it, the traditional egg hunt has been done to death, and if you’re anything like me, you’re probably looking for a way to add a dash of excitement to this year’s Easter festivities.

Enter the Easter escape room for kids: an awesome adventure that combines thesolving puzzles with Easter surprises. If I can turn my two left feet around and lead slew of eager young detectives on an Easter escapade, so can you.

So, if you’re ready to ditch the predictable in favor of something that’ll have the kids talking for weeks (in a good way!), then hop on board. This article is your golden ticket to hosting an Easter escape room for kids that’s as fun to set up as it is for them to solve.

Why an Easter Escape Room?

Why settle for a plain old Easter egg hunt when you can give the kids an adventure they’ll talk about for weeks? An Easter escape room combines the thrill of escape rooms and treasure hunts with the festive fun of Easter.

It’s a brilliant way to keep the kids engaged, thinking, and working together. Plus, it gives you a fantastic excuse to eat any of the Easter treats they might “accidentally” leave behind.

1. Choose an Easter Theme for Your Escape Room

Going for a theme isn’t just about making things look pretty; it’s about creating an adventure that’ll keep the kids engaged from start to finish.

Transform your backyard or living room into a pirate’s cove where plastic eggs are the hidden treasure, or a magical garden where every clue inside an egg leads them closer to the Easter Bunny’s secret den.

Plus, you use the theme to write the secret mission briefing that’s read to the players (your kids) before they start the escape room.  It really sets the stage for the escape room and gets everyone excited.

Here’s an example of a SHORT, secret mission briefing for a Easter escape room called “The Great Bunny Escape”:

Hey there, super sleuths! ?️‍♂️?️‍♀️ Are you ready for a top-secret mission that’s going to need all your puzzle-solving skills? The Easter Bunny has hopped off somewhere, and without him, Easter is in big trouble! We can’t let that happen, can we? So, grab your detective hats because it’s time for “The Great Bunny Escape”!

Here’s a few Easter-themed puzzles, you might want to use:

• The Great Bunny Escape: The Easter Bunny’s gone missing! Kids need to find him before Easter is canceled.
• Eggtopia’s Missing Treasure: The golden egg of Eggtopia has vanished. Time to solve the mystery and save Easter.
• Mad Hatter’s Easter Tea Party: A whimsical, Alice in Wonderland-themed Easter quest. Find the invite to the craziest tea party in town.
• Pirate Bunnies’ Treasure Hunt: Ahoy, mateys! Follow the map, decode the clues, and find the pirate bunny’s hidden treasure.
• Secret Garden Adventure: Unlock the secrets of a magical garden to find the ultimate Easter surprise.
• Easter Egg Factory Meltdown: The Easter egg production line has stopped! Solve the puzzles to get it running before the big day.
• Zombie Bunny Apocalypse: For those who like a bit of thrill, help cure the zombie bunny outbreak and save Easter from a hop-ocalypse.

2. Choose Age Appropriate Puzzles

Now, onto the brainy part of the operation: the puzzles. As much as I’d love to set up a Da Vinci Code-level challenge (or not), my audience is more the 13 and under crowd than seasoned cryptographers.

So, it’s important to choose age-appropriate puzzles that won’t have the kids (or, let’s be honest, you) in tears.

For the tiny tots (think ages 7 and under), simple riddle cards hidden in plastic eggs work a treat.

These can be anything from picture puzzles that lead to the next egg, to color-coded clues that form a rainbow leading to the treasure.

For the older kids, you can decode more complex puzzles like maps or cipher codes that lead to the grand prize. 

The trick is to keep everyone engaged without making it feel like a homework assignment.  And hey, if all else fails, bribing them with chocolate usually keeps the peace.

Below I’m going to explain some escape room puzzles that I like to use for the escape rooms that I create for the 8 and over crowd.

I like them because they’re easy to make…well, easy to answer, but there’s also plenty of room to skyrocket them to “I solved that puzzle, but I think I short-circuited my brain when I did it” mode.

Plus, you can easily write these puzzles out on paper and you don’t have to worry about a whole bunch of props and stuff.

They have their place, don’t get me wrong. But, sometimes quick, easy, and simple is in order. That’s why these puzzles are my go-tos. Check ’em out.

ATBASH PUZZLE

The Atbash cipher is like a fun game where you flip the alphabet backward and swap letters to make secret messages. So, A becomes Z, B turns into Y, and so on, all the way to Z, which flips to A.

Take a look at the table below to see the difference:

If you’re viewing this on a mobile device, put your finger on the table below and swipe to the left (or right) to see the full table.

NORMAL	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
ATBASH	Z	Y	X	W	V	U	T	S	R	Q	P	O	N	M	L	K	J	I	H	G	F	E	D	C	B	A

For “Look in the freezer”, we swap each letter with its opposite:

• L turns to O, o becomes l (twice, because there are two o’s), and k changes to p.
• “in” changes to “rm”, with i to r and n to m.
• “the” becomes “gsv”, swapping t for g, h for s, and e for v.
• Finally, “freezer” flips to “uvviv”, with f to u, r to i, e to v (twice for the e’s), z to a, and the last r back to i.

So, our secret code “Look in the freezer” transforms into “Ollp rm gsv uvviv”.

Want to crack the code? Just reverse the process.

The secret to solving or creating these puzzles is the same: flip the letters back using the backward alphabet. It’s a neat trick because everything except letters (like spaces) stays the same, making it easy once you know how.

And that’s Atbash for you – a simple, cool way to send and solve secret messages with just a little alphabet flip.  And an easy way to make a puzzle for your easy Easter escape room!

PIG PEN CIPHER

The pig pen cipher substitutes symbols for letters of the alphabet.

Here’s a pig pen cipher decoder.  Each letter of the alphabet is matched up with a wonky-looking symbol like you see below:

 Here’s a message written it Pig Pen code:

If you use the Pig Pen Decoder, you’ll see that the message says “Check inside your rainboot”.  Of course you can pick whatever location you want for your escape room.

And here’s another one:

It says, “Look under the couch”

POLYBIUS SQUARE

A polybius square is alike a huge checkerboard.  It’s good for sending secret messages by turning letters into numbers.  And absolutely perfect for an escape room puzzle for kids.

Here’s an example of a polybius square below. There’s actually a few different types. But, here’s how it works:

	1	2	3	4	5
1	A	B	C	D	E
2	F	G	H	I/J	K
3	L	M	N	O	P
4	Q	R	S	T	U
5	V	W	X	Y	Z

• You make a big 5 X 5 square and fill it with the alphabet from A to Z. But, since the square has only 5 rows and 5 columns, we need to squeeze one extra letter in with another. So, we put “I” and “J” together in the same box.
• Each row and column of the square is given numbers from 1 to 5. So, if you want to find a letter, you use two numbers: the first number for the row and the second number for the column.

Example 1: Secret Code “CAT”

• Let’s find “C”, “A”, and “T” in the square.
• If “C” is in the 1st row and 3rd column, it becomes “13”.
• “A” is super easy; it’s usually at the very start, so if it’s in the 1st row and 1st column, it’s “11”.
• “T” might be further down, so if it’s in the 5th row and 4th column, it’s “54”.
• “CAT” turns into “13 11 54”.

Example 2: Mystery Word “DOG”

• For “DOG”, you do the same secret spy work.
• “D” might be in the 1st row and 4th column, so it’s “14”.
• “O” is a bit round like a donut, so let’s say it’s in the 3rd row and 4th column, making it “34”.
• “G” could be giggling in the 2nd row and 3rd column, so it’s “23”.
• So, “DOG” is “14 34 23”.

See? Easy peasy lemon squeezy. You can make 2 or 3 puzzles like this to lead your kids to clues in other parts of your house.

MORSE CODE PUZZLES

Morse code is like a secret language made of dots (.) and dashes (-) that we can use to spell out words without even using letters. It’s like drawing tiny pictures to tell a story or send a message. Let’s see how we can do that with some fun examples:

How Morse Code Works:

• Each letter of the alphabet has its own special combination of dots and dashes. For example, the letter “A” is a dot and a dash (.-), and “B” is a dash followed by three dots (-…).
• You can use these dots and dashes to spell out whole words, one letter at a time.

Example 1: “HELLO”

• H is four dots (….), imagine tapping your desk quietly four times.
• E is just one dot (.), a single quiet tap.
• L is dot dash dot dot (.-..), which is like tap-pause-tap-tap-tap.
• O is three dashes (—), think of it as three long taps on your desk.
• So, “HELLO” in Morse code is …. . .-.. .-.. —

Choco-Code Crackers: n. A group of young, aspiring detectives who can decode any puzzle, cipher, or riddle as long as the promise of chocolate eggs is involved. Experts at distinguishing between a real clue and a foil-wrapped decoy.

Example 2: “CHECK THE CLOSET”

Breaking it down into Morse code with a focus on each letter:

• C is dash dot dash dot (-.-.), kind of like a pattern: long-short-long-short.
• H is four dots (….), just like four quick taps.
• E is one dot (.), a single tap.
• K is dash dot dash (-.-), or long-short-long.
• T is a dash (-), one long tap.
• H (again) is four dots (….), four quick taps.
• E (again) is one dot (.), another single tap.
• C (again) is dash dot dash dot (-.-.).
• L is dot dash dot dot (.-..), a mix of taps and a pause.
• O is three dashes (—), three long taps.
• S is three dots (…), three quick taps.
• E (again) is one dot (.), and finally,
• T (again) is a dash (-).

When we put it all together for “CHECK THE CLOSET”, separating words with spaces for clarity in Morse:

• “CHECK” = -.-. …. . -.-.
• “THE” = – …. .
• “CLOSET” = -.-. .-.. — … . –

This is how you’d write “CHECK THE CLOSET” using Morse code.

It’s a bit like creating a puzzle out of sounds or taps, where each pattern represents a different letter or part of a word.

Morse code is an awesome way (one that I use a lot in my printable escape rooms – easter AND OTHERS) to create a puzzle that’ll get the kids working.

HERE’S A FEW OTHER ESCAPE ROOM PUZZLE IDEAS YOU MIGHT WANT TO EXPLORE:

• Mix and match puzzle types to keep things interesting. Use jigsaw pieces that form a picture of where the next clue is or word searches that reveal a secret message.
• Hide clues in plain sight by slipping them into egg decorations or tucking them under fake grass. Your players will love the thrill of discovering hints in unexpected places.
• Use colors as code breakers. Maybe each color egg corresponds to a different letter or number!
• Make use of lockboxes but hide the key really well! Perhaps it’s frozen inside an ice cube or buried in a jar full of slime – yuck!
• Set up tasks that require teamwork, like building something together to find hidden pieces of a clue.
• Incorporate touch technology by placing QR codes around the room leading to online riddles or Easter-themed music hints.
• Get crafty with DIY puzzles such as mazes drawn on cardboard, which lead to another part of your escape room adventure.

3. Set Up the Puzzle and Clues in Order

Let’s be real, setting up puzzles and clues that lead to the final treasure without making it look like you’ve just scattered random pieces of paper around your living room requires a bit of finesse (and maybe a few glasses of wine).

The goal here is to make sure the kids are having fun but also to ensure you don’t end up with a mini-mutiny on your hands because the clues are too hard or too easy. It’s like Goldilocks, but with Easter eggs and brain teasers.

Lay out your escape room game in a way that makes sense, leads them on a merry journey, and most importantly, keeps them away from getting too overwhelmed.

4. Decide on the Final Prize for the Easter Escape Room

Choosing the final prize for your Easter escape game is crucial.

You want something that screams, “You’ve just spent the last hour decoding clues like a junior Sherlock Holmes, and this is your well-deserved reward!”

It could be anything from a giant chocolate bunny (because let’s face it, chocolate solves everything) to a toy or a gift card for a store they’ve been eyeing for weeks.

5. Do a Test Run to Make Sure Everything Works as It Should

This is where you realize that what made perfect sense in your head at midnight might not be as foolproof in the harsh light of day.

The test run is your chance to walk in the tiny shoes of your pint-sized adventurers.

Grab a willing participant (a partner, friend, or anyone who owes you a favor) and have them go through the Easter egg escape as if they were part of the hunt.

This is where you’ll find out that the clue you thought was brilliantly cryptic is actually just confusing, or the puzzle that was supposed to take 5 minutes to solve is cracked in 30 seconds by someone who still counts on their fingers.

It’s a humbling experience but necessary to ensure your Easter escape room for kids doesn’t flop harder than a bunny’s ears in a windstorm.

Step	Tip	Why It Matters
End Goal	Make it enticing	It’s the carrot on the stick that keeps them motivated.
Theme	Keep it cohesive	A good theme is like a thread that ties the whole experience together.
Puzzles	Age-appropriate challenges	Keeps frustration low and engagement high.
Clues Order	Logical progression	Prevents chaos and ensures a smooth flow towards the end goal.
Test Run	Iron out the kinks	Because discovering a puzzle doesn’t work mid-hunt is about as fun as stepping on a LEGO.

Let Me Do the Work for You: Your Shortcut to Easter Escape Room Glory!

Now, if the thought of setting this up makes you break out in hives because let’s face it, planning an escape room sounds as easy as herding cats, I’ve got you covered. Introducing my life-saving, sanity-preserving, FREE printable Easter escape room kit.

This isn’t just any Easter game; it’s your ticket to being the coolest parent, aunt, uncle, or grandparent on the block (or at least in your living room).

It’s as easy to set up as making instant noodles (and infinitely more rewarding). No internet needed.  Just print, cut, and play.

What’s in the Kit? This fun printable kit is your golden goose (or should I say, bunny?). It’s packed with everything you need to set up a mini Easter escape game for kids (best for ages 8 to 12):

• A storyline about “The Great Golden Egg Robbery Caper” where the Easter Bunny’s prize solid gold egg has been stolden, threatening the magic of Easter across the kingdom.
  
• the step-by-step instructions to set up the game without turning your hair gray.
  
• 4 Puzzles that strike the perfect balance between challenging and doable, so you don’t have to deal with the meltdown of the century.
  
• Answer keys (cuz no one’s got time to solve these puzzles themselves, am I right?)
  
• A hint guide on how to subtly nudge the little detectives in the right direction without giving away the game.

So, what are you waiting for?

Download the FREE MINI printable Easter escape room kit, and get ready to host the most epic Easter egg hunt slash escape room game your family has ever seen.

It’s going to be so much fun, you might just find yourself looking forward to setting it up almost as much as the kids are about playing it.

And when it’s all over, and you’re basking in the glory of your success, remember to hide an extra chocolate egg for yourself.

You’ll have earned it, my friend.

Your Turn

If Easter escape rooms became a competitive sport, what unique skill or strategy would you bring to your team? Bonus points for creativity and hilariousness.