The Game Gal

Family-friendly games for you and yours

DIY Escape Room Kit – Color Crisis

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Everything’s turning black and white! A mysterious meteor has drained all the color from the earth. The only color left is locked in an underground vault. Can your team escape from the vault and release color back into the world before it’s too late? Humanity is counting on you to solve the Color Crisis!

Color Crisis DIY Escape Room Kit

Check out all my escape rooms and find the perfect one for you!

What is a DIY escape room?

An escape room, or breakout room, is a unique challenge where players are “locked” in a room and have to find clues and crack codes to escape. Most commercial escape rooms aren’t for kids, but this download has printables and instructions to make your own kids DIY escape room at home, and it’s especially for kids!

Grab the downloadable package

Will this escape room kit work for me?

This escape room is designed for:

  • 3 to 6 children per group (you can run multiple groups simultaneously or take turns)
  • Ages 8 to 12
  • An hour or less to complete

It would make a great:

  • Birthday party
  • Activity night
  • Family reunion activity
  • Youth group activity
  • Class or group team-building activity

Everything is pre-planned. You just need to print and gather supplies. The theme is color and there are lots of hands-on activities with things like play dough, paints, balloons, and more! Tons of fun for kids.

It’s a great room if you want a game with a good plot and lots of hands-on activities (and if you don’t mind doing some reading and setup). If you’re looking for something quick that only involves printed clues, it’s not the room for you.

How does it work?

The download has 15 pages you will print, cut, and use as clues in the room. The download also has a list of supplies you will collect, which are:

  • Six balloons (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple)
  • Small assorted colored objects that are red, yellow, green, and blue (beads, pom poms, anything) and a jar to hold them
  • Coloring supplies like crayons, markers, or colored pencils
  • Watercolor paints
  • A white crayon
  • Three bottles of water
  • Three small cups
  • Three colors of play dough: orange, green, and purple
  • Red, yellow, and blue beads
  • Pencils or pens

There’s also one website to visit as part of the game, but if you don’t want to use the Internet there are printable files to use instead.

Also included are very clear instructions on everything you need to do to plan, set up, and host your room.

What does it look like?

Here’s a quick video showing some of the setup and game play of the room:

“My family LOVED the color crisis escape room! We have 4 daughters age 6, 9, 12 and 14. They were each able to do something to help solve it. It was the perfect escape from the day to day events happening right now. It was well worth the set up and was so organized so it was easy to follow the step by step instructions.” – Katie F.

“The kids LOVED the color theme! Some of their comments: ‘really interesting’, ‘so much fun,’ and my favorite ‘we saved the world!!'” – Kara E.

“Our escape room escapes were a success! My daughter celebrated her birthday today with 8 friends. We had a team of 5 and a team of 4. Your plans were very detailed and very well written. Thank you for planning it all so well. The kids really enjoyed themselves, they said they had a lot of fun and they said they would do it again. I consider that a win!!” – Jennifer M.

“Your kit is GREAT!  The girls loved the hands-on nature of the tasks, instead of just solving riddles/puzzles. Directions were very clear. Paperwork was very organized. Thank you for creating a great product. Well worth the money spent.” – Melissa A.

“We did the escape room today and the kids loved it. They are already asking to do another so I hope you’re planning more!” – Sarah R.

“The kids had a BLAST! Your target age was perfect, most of our kids were around 10-11 but we had a couple teens who wanted to play so we made two teams of three 10-11 year olds, then 2 two-person teams, each with one teenager and one of the youngest kids. Our groups finished around 35-45 minutes, some within SECONDS of each other so it was very exciting. We also gave clues as needed but it costs the teams 5 minutes per clue. We had candy as prizes but we didn’t even need to use it because the kids had SO much fun!” – Ann B.

“I ran the escape room with a group of 12 year old girls and their high school mentors. It went really well! The experiments were the right difficulty level for them and it was a lot of fun to watch the girls feel proud and accomplished when they solved puzzles. I work for a small resource centre and we will run this again with another group of kids in a few months.” – Steph K.

“We did the escape room on Friday night. It was a huge hit. So fun and easy to follow. Thank you!” – Leslie A.

“I set this up for the kids at our family reunion and they loved it! They are still talking about it days later and how they saved the world’s colors. This was the one activity we did this week that the kids really talked and worked together. It was so fun to have a DIY escape room geared towards children. Thanks!!” – Lindsey B.

“My kids had a great time playing this with their cousins. We loved the whimsical theme, and the puzzles were right on for age level (9, 8, 8, 6, 5 yrs). As you noted in the directions, most of my job was reminding the kids to read the clues carefully again, since the stumbling blocks they hit were of their own making. Thanks for a fun afternoon!” – Michelle Nephew, Atlas Games Co-Owner

Also find a detailed review from Andy on his DIY Escape Room Blog

DIY Escape Room Kit

Color Crisis

This escape room kit lets you host your own kids DIY escape room at home. All of the planning has been done, you just need to print and prepare! This escape room is especially for kids. There’s a good plot with a color theme and an emphasis on math. It will be a lot of fun for your guests!

What’s included:

  • Digital download, which includes:
    • 15 pages of high-quality clues
    • Thorough, detailed instructions
    • Printable invitations

What you will need to do at home:

  • Print and cut the materials
  • Choose and prepare a room
  • Hide clues in the room
  • Supply common craft supplies (see above for list)

Purchase your Escape Room Package

Downloadable Package

$25

Includes a digital download with over 20 pages of clues and detailed instructions, all of the planning and files you need to host your own escape room.

Buy Now – $25

I guarantee 100 percent satisfaction! If you’re unhappy with your purchase, email me within 30 days and I will offer you a full refund.

If you have any questions, comments, or reviews, be sure to respond below!

Also be sure to check out my Printables page for more great games to play!

Want more than one Game Gal escape room? Buy all 5 rooms at once and save 25 percent!

Anything else I should know?

The escape room download has a no-commercial-use copyright attached. You are free to download and use for your own noncommercial purposes, but please do not share the digital files, post the digital files, or use any contents of the download to host an escape room you charge money for.

Comments

  1. Hi there! I was wondering if you get the same password every time you use the website. I want to use a programmable combo lock and would like to use the web page color machine. But if they get a different 4 numbers than what I’ve programmed in the lock that won’t work. So I was just wondering if its always 5837, which is what i got from the host cheat sheet. thanks so much

    1. If you didn’t hide anything, but left all the clues out open on the table, and if the children are older, and if you were ready to provide hints, it would probably take closer to 30 minutes.

  4. Is it possible to purchase a separate paper keypad that hangs on the door to exit so that I can have multiple groups going at the same time?

  5. I just used this kit for my daughter’s 7th birthday party and it was a huge hit! We had a lot of kids so we broke them into teams and had them race each other to see who could finish the fastest. It was very easy to replicate each clue/puzzle for each room. Thank you for putting together such an easy to use and fun escape room concept!

  6. My daughter wants to do an escape room for her birthday in December.(just changed her mind from a Nailed It baking party) She wants winter somehow integrated into it. When I came across the color dispersing I had an idea of having winter fries stealing the color and they have to return it to the world. My question for you is; if I purchased this kit (saving me some time) could the questions be altered for a winter fairy to be the bad guy?

      1. Just a thought. I did the escape room in Danish. I was able to copy the text, put it into google translate, make some small corrections, and copy it into a new word document, so it IS do-able to make the changes. It is primarily the lead-in letter read by the narrator and the letter that is found at the beginning that provides the story line, so you could do it!

        1. Good point, Jennifer! I’ve heard from others who have translated the game, too, and I’ve realized that you’re right, it is doable! I don’t want to advertise the escape room as easy to translate because I don’t know if that’s the case for every person/language, but great point!

  7. Does the escape game have to be in one room? I wanted to do something like this with the kids on thanksgiving, but the area is much more open.

  9. Hi, I am hosting a 7th birthday party. Would all aspects of this game be too tricky or would it be possible to adapt for use with this age group? Thanks

    1. I think they could handle it just fine. The required skills are adding, subtracting, and counting, so as long as they can do those, they should be fine. One of the puzzles is a little tricky, but you can always guide them along.

      1. Thank you for coming back to me……They’ve been working on their maths skills so it might be challenging (in a good way) for them. We are going to give it a go!

  10. I’m thinking of doing an escape room for my 11 year old daughters bday party – is the color one too easy – do you have another one that would be more suitable?

    1. Hi Marian! The game is best played with groups of 4 to 6 students. If you have a large room, you could put small groups of students at individual tables. Try to make sure there is enough space so the tables won’t overhear each other or peek at their neighbors too much. You could also set up one (or several) rooms and take turns, pausing to re-set-up the room between teams. Does that help?

  13. What is better for 11year old girls birthday party, this or the science one on easy mode? Want a bit of a challenge for them. I read conflicting info in both sections for age so please let me know your thoughts. Thanks

    1. Hi, Tara. Sorry about the conflicting age info. I’ve found that it really varies by group, which is why there’s so many different opinions. But if you want a challenge, and if your kids are not any younger than the 10-11 year range, then I would definitely go with the easy mode of Science Lab. They should be able to handle it, and while I’m sure they would have fun with Color Crisis, the Science Lab one feels more like a traditional escape room and has less handholding. The kids will have to figure out a lot on their own, which is where the fun is!

    1. Yes Natalie, I think you would be OK. One thing another customer did was make multiple copies of some of the clues so more than one kid could work on it at one time. Everyone will still be in one room together working together, but it will just give everyone more of a chance to participate. You can email me at [email protected] if you want to talk specifics.

    1. Thanks for checking in about that, Danielle! So I would say it depends on how you’re using the escape room. If it’s a normal summer camp and the escape room is one of many activities in a week, that would be OK. But if the escape room is the main activity, I would say no. Thanks again for checking in!

  17. This one good for a 9 year old girl’s birthday party? About 7-10 kids (not confirmed). Also do you have a multiple game package?

    1. Yes, this would be great for a 9-year-old’s party! With 7-10 kids, I would split them into two groups. Unfortunately I don’t have a multiple game package; the purchasing service I use doesn’t support it. Sorry!

  18. Hi, I’m interested in purchasing but I saw in the video the kids using a computer. Is it necessary for the game? We will be up north without access to internet and a computer…

  19. Hi. I was wondering if this game can be adapted and used in another language, if I translate all the text-cards?(seperately, I know the printables aren’t editable). Are there any of the challenges or practical tasks that can’t be translated, like word puzzles, word riddles or word search etc., that wouldn’t work in another language? Same question for the lab escape room you have.

    1. Hi Berit, there is one English word in Color Crisis that can’t be changed, but otherwise there are no word puzzles. As for the Science Lab room, that would probably not work for translation. There are websites with English usernames and passwords that can’t be changed, and one puzzle that relies on specifically English words. Also, the Science Lab room has a lot of custom design work that would be hard to replicate. (If you do translate the Color Crisis room, please don’t distribute it as that would be a violation of copyright.) Hope this helps!

    2. Hi! I was looking into this game and wondering about translating it too. Did you do it and did it work? I think it would be a great activity for our Spanish group but don’t want to waste the $25 if it culturally wouldn’t translate to another language. Thanks

      1. So I have not heard of it translated into Spanish yet. There is one English word that can’t be changed, but otherwise no word puzzles. You are welcome to buy the game and if, after looking at it, you decide it won’t work, I will be happy to refund you 100 percent.

          1. Oh, wow! That’s wonderful! If you want to share your experiences or tips with other customers, I’m setting up a Facebook group for customers to do just that. I’d love it if you joined and became part of the community! Just click the link.

  20. Have you ever tried using this as a team building activity for preschool teachers? How much time would you allow if adults were trying to solve the puzzle?

    1. I think that’s a great idea! I’ve never run it with preschool teachers, but I have done it several times with adults, and, even though it’s not super difficult, it’s still always fun. I would plan on about 30 minutes (or 20 to 40 minutes, depending on how well you hide the clues).

  21. I successfully hosted a Color Crisis party for my son’s 9th birthday and it was a huge hit with all the kids (and just the right amount of clues and challenges to keep them busy for an hour)! I loved that you could adapt it to whatever space you had available, and add personal twists on the complexity of the clue locations. Thanks so much for creating such a great escape room – I will definitely look at your other rooms for future events!

  22. This was a FANTASTIC experience! Unlike the PRINTABLE escape rooms that require only printing paper clues and hiding them around the room, this has tangible, hands-on experiments that make it come alive. I added some extra challenges to the game by providing extra code sheets to suitcase padlocks, so that players would also have to unlock some of the important clue sheets. That extra bit of code searching made it fun. The group of three were able to solve it with help in one hour.

  23. Hi my son will be 8 soon and really loved it when he joined us for an escape room so lived the idea of having one in the house at his sleep over.
    I saw this and thought it would be perfect if I could tweek the back story as he is a massive Mario fan, so the story would go… the evil Bowser has stolen the colour from the world and locked it in a vault in his castle, help Mario and friends solve clues and puzzles to escape and restore colour back to the world!
    Would this work?

    1. Hi Eileen. You know, in this case, I think that modification might work. The only issue is the clues in the escape room all come from helpful scientists, or people on the players’ side. If you could work someone helpful into your plot, perhaps Mario himself, who left clues for your players, it could work. It would work best if you have some design skills and could rework the printables a little. Also, there is a website that can’t be changed. It mentions restoring color to the world and a fictional company (Bantone, Inc.). If you purchase the game and decide that it won’t work for your purposes, I will be happy to give you a full refund.

  24. 1) Will this work if we don’t hide clues in the room? We plan to play this in a classroom and don’t want kids to turn the place upside down.

    2) How long will the game take for a group of 10 year olds without hiding the clues?

    3) Can the kids rotate the clues? In the video, I saw kids looking at bottled water, paint water color, and count colored pom poms. We plan to have 3 groups of 4 kids. If I purposely setup one group at each station, will this work? Or do I need to have a complete set of supplies for each group?

    4) How much painting is involved? We don’t want kids to make too big a mess. =)

    1. Hi Kari, let me answer your questions!
      1) Yes, it will work even if you lay all the materials nice and organized out on a table.
      2) I would say 30 to 40 minutes?
      3) Yes, you can rotate the clues. There are three things you will have to replace for each group (the watercolor paper, a color-by-number paper, and colored balloons). You can set up the rest of the clues to be reusable. (Also, there are 6 stations total.) The potential difficulties I see with rotating like that are each station will probably not take the same amount of time to complete, and some stations (like the play-doh station and the balloons) require setup after the kids are done.
      4) They only need to paint part of an 8.5×11 paper. 🙂

  25. Thank you so much for making this free! We did this for my daughter’s 11th birthday with just mom & dad, her brother, and grandma & grandpa. It really made her day since we couldn’t go anywhere. Thank you!! Great planning, directions, and clues!!

    1. That’s so great, Shannon! It’s definitely a hard time to have a birthday party. My daughter has her birthday in a week and a half and is sad that we can’t do the things we normally do 🙁 But I’m glad your daughter had a good birthday!

  26. I am in the same boat Mommas! My sons birthday is Saturday and I know this would make it really special for him!!!
    I tried to check out yesterday but was unable to locate the free code. Can you help me?

  27. Hi, My son’s 9th birthday is Sunday, do you have a promo code for a free game to lift his spirits? As all birthday plans, friends, etc are out so it is me, him and his 12 year old sis. Do you recommend Space Pirate Attack or another that is currently discounted? Thank you so much, I just found you and these reviews are great! We are new to escape rooms and I’m sure we’ll be back here often for new ones! Hop you are doing well during this time. Best, Jennifer.

      1. Hi Paige, Thanks for the wonderful email! I just bought the Color Crisis game and that’s how we’ll celebrate a 9th birthday Sunday. So excited, many thanks! And happy birthday to your daughter – I hope it’s fun!

  28. I’d like to order the color crisis for my grandchildren who are 8, 10 and 12. Are they the right age and how long does it take to receive it. Thank you

    1. Yes, that is a great age for this game. You purchase a download and get the game immediately. You then need to print the files and set the game up, but you get the download immediately after purchase.

  30. Is the Color Crisis still available?? When I click to buy it, it just takes me to a picture with no options! Help! Birthday party is on Saturday and I’m not happy with another game I bought from a different company. Thanks!!

  31. Hello! I want to use one of these rooms with a group of high school special needs youth! Which one do you recommend? They are on the lower end of reading/math skills but I will be there to assist!

    1. Hi Andrea, I think that’s a great idea! The math skills required are designed to be suitable for those as young as early grade school, so hopefully that helps you to make a good call there. With you there to assist I bet it will go great. 🙂

    1. Hmm, good question Shari! I think you could probably adapt it, fairly easily. The content is fun but isn’t necessarily aimed only at kids. I’d say definitely give it a go, see if you feel it is adaptable, and there’s always the 100% satisfaction guarantee. I hope it works really well though! Let me know!

  33. I’m searching for an escape room for my 4th-5th grade small group students for a church event. Is your color crisis a good fit?

  34. I am a 2nd grade teacher and my class loves to solve mysteries. I thought we could do this as a celebration, but I have 21 kids and wasn’t sure if doing this in a classroom would be too small of an area?
    Also, are there any promo codes currently? I’m so nervous to spend the money on an activity that may be too much for both me and my students. Please let me know.

    1. Hi Jamie! So I would definitely split into 4 or 5 groups. If each group could kind of take a corner of the classroom, I think it could work. I don’t know exactly how big your classroom is or how much the kids would be able to overhear each other, but I think it’s possible. If you purchase the kit and decide it’s not for you, just let me know and I’ll give you a full refund.

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