Gratitude Gridlock: A Thanksgiving Escape Room Adventure [Middle School]

Students struggling with festive distractions or end-of-term fatigue? The Thanksgiving Gratitude Escape Room is the perfect way to bring calm, connection, and purpose back into your classroom during the holiday season.

Designed as a low-prep, high-engagement SEL escape room, this activity helps students practise gratitude, teamwork, and reflection while transforming chaos into calm and grumbles into gratitude.

Thanksgiving was meant to be full of laughter, family, and a big slice of pie, until disaster strikes. Uncle Greg has burnt the pie, and gratitude has officially left the building. It’s up to your students to work together through a series of gratitude-fuelled puzzles to turn this turkey of a day around and rediscover the joy hiding in the chaos.

👉 What’s Included in This Gratitude Escape Room

• Four purposeful, puzzle-based challenges exploring gratitude and perspective
• A meaningful, student-led storyline that captures attention from the start
• Self-checking Google Form (no teacher marking required)
• Printable puzzles, student instructions, and a complete teacher setup guide
• Teacher answer key and a flexible tech-free version included
  

🧩 The Four Challenges Students Will Work Through

• Pigpen Cipher – Uncover a hidden message of gratitude
• Grumble to Gratitude Match-Up – Flip complaints into positives
• Unscramble the Gratitude List – Reveal the small things we often take for granted
• Final Puzzle Challenge – Piece together the closing message of perspective
  

💗 Why You and Your Students Will Love This Escape Room

• Builds collaboration, connection, and problem-solving through engaging puzzles
• Encourages gratitude, empathy, and emotional literacy in a fun, meaningful way
• Brings calm focus to the classroom during a high-energy time of year
• Requires no prep, simply print and go
• Blends SEL, wellbeing, and growth mindset learning with a seasonal twist
  

👌 Perfect For

• Thanksgiving week lessons and SEL activities
• End-of-day or end-of-week reflection
• Calm classroom resets or transitions
• Substitute plans or early finisher challenges
• Middle and upper primary classrooms

Grab this resource and ALL of the Thanksgiving goodies inside the Thanksgiving Mega Bundle — everything you need to keep the festive season calm, connected, and fun.

This resource also comes in an everyday gratitude escape room that you can use everyday. Same activities, but not Thanksgiving themed. You can find it here: Gratitude Escape Room