🚀 Escape room: The Stranded Space Station

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A space escape room for kids and classes: answer accurate questions about the Sun and the planets and restart the station’s navigation.

Kids and tweens
Easy–medium
15–20 minutes
3 story stations

The story

The space station has lost contact with Earth. The crew must restart the navigation system before the orbit drifts.

Run it at home or in class

What to prepare

A poster or drawing of the solar system
“Mission Control” message notes
A torch
An envelope with the navigation code

Tips for the facilitator

Darken the room and use a torch to read the messages.
Put up a drawing of the solar system; it helps with the counting stage.
Tell the kids Pluto was “demoted” in 2006; they love that fact.

Difficulty level

The story clues stay the same on every level; harder levels add more locks in between. You can ask for a hint at every stage.

0 of 6 stages solved · Easy · 15–25 minutes

Stage 1: The nearest star

1/6

The panel flashes: “The first key is the star nearest to Earth, the one that lights up our sky every day.”

Which star is it?

Run it in real life too

Print a facilitator kit for the easy level: a sheet with the opening story, the setup and every answer, plus a big card for each of the 6 stages.

🚀 The Stranded Space Station: facilitator kit

Kids and tweens · 15–25 minutes · Level: Easy · 6 stages

Opening story: The space station has lost contact with Earth. The crew must restart the navigation system before the orbit drifts.

Setup

A poster or drawing of the solar system
“Mission Control” message notes
A torch
An envelope with the navigation code
Print the 6 stage cards and put them in order, or hide each card around the room so every answer leads to the next one.
Read the opening story to the group and start a timer.
When the group gets stuck, give one hint from the table, one at a time.
Darken the room and use a torch to read the messages.
Put up a drawing of the solar system; it helps with the counting stage.
Tell the kids Pluto was “demoted” in 2006; they love that fact.

Answers and hints (facilitator only)

Stage	Answer / code	Hints
1. The nearest star	sun	It gives us light and warmth.
2. Counting the planets	8	Pluto is now called a dwarf planet.
3. Warm-up route · The symbols on the lock	4	Every symbol is a number. What is one symbol worth? · Add: 2 plus 2.
4. Warm-up route · The number board	10	Look at the last number in the sequence. · Add 2 to it.
5. Warm-up route · The key cabinet	8	Count the keys in all the drawers. · Count in twos: 2, 4, 6…
6. The navigation code	11	8 plus 3 letters.

Read at the end: Navigation is back. The station is in orbit, and the crew radios home: “Mission accomplished.”

🚀 The Stranded Space Station · Stage 1 of 6

The nearest star

The panel flashes: “The first key is the star nearest to Earth, the one that lights up our sky every day.”

Which star is it?

✍️ Our answer:

🚀 The Stranded Space Station · Stage 2 of 6

Counting the planets

The system asks for the number of planets that orbit the Sun, by today’s accepted definition.

How many planets are in the solar system?

✍️ Our answer:

🚀 The Stranded Space Station · Stage 3 of 6

Warm-up route · The symbols on the lock

On the way to the last clue of “The Stranded Space Station” you find another corridor of locks. Every 🚀 is worth 2. Add two symbols.

🚀 + 🚀 = ?

Which number opens the lock?

✍️ Our answer:

🚀 The Stranded Space Station · Stage 4 of 6

Warm-up route · The number board

Each step to the right adds 2.

2 → 4 → 6 → 8 → ?

What is the next number in the sequence?

✍️ Our answer:

🚀 The Stranded Space Station · Stage 5 of 6

Warm-up route · The key cabinet

The cabinet has 4 drawers. Each drawer holds 2 keys.

🔑🔑 | 🔑🔑 | 🔑🔑 | 🔑🔑

How many keys are in the cabinet?

✍️ Our answer:

🚀 The Stranded Space Station · Stage 6 of 6

The navigation code

A message from Mission Control: “The code is the number of planets plus the number of letters in the word SUN.”

What is the code?

✍️ Our answer:

Facilitator guide: 🚀 The Stranded Space Station

What the room practices

Solar-system facts, counting letters and adding.

The 3 stations (without the answers)

The nearest star: Which star is it?
Counting the planets: How many planets are in the solar system?
The navigation code: What is the code?

Age and group size

Best with teams of 3–5 children. In a class or a big party, print a kit per team and run the room in parallel.

Giving hints in this room

Online the hints open one at a time; in the printed kit they sit in the facilitator table next to each answer. Give the first hint after a couple of minutes of silence, not at the first wrong guess.

Questions and answers

What age is “The Stranded Space Station” for, and how long does it take?

It was written for kids and tweens, at easy–medium difficulty, and usually takes 15–20 minutes. It has 3 story stations, and online you can choose between three difficulty levels that add more locks.

What do I need to run “The Stranded Space Station”?

A printer and these props: A poster or drawing of the solar system; “Mission Control” message notes; A torch; An envelope with the navigation code. The printable kit includes a facilitator sheet with every answer and a card for each stage.

What if the players get stuck?

Every stage has graded hints. Online they open one at a time; in the printed kit they sit next to each answer on the facilitator sheet. The first hint never gives the answer away.

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