📦 How to create an Open the Box activity

The Open the Box template is one of Wordwall’s most versatile open-ended tools. It creates an interactive grid of closed chests, boxes, or vault icons that students can tap to reveal hidden prompts. Because it is an open-ended framework, it does not track scores or grade "right" vs. "wrong" selections, making it an ideal choice for classroom icebreakers, spontaneous discussion topics, or discovery-based instruction.

IN THIS ARTICLE:

• How is the Open the Box activity played?
• How and what do you type into Edit content for Open the Box?
• Where can I find some more examples?

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How the activity is played

The interface presents an arranged matrix of closed graphic packages or containers.

• The interaction: Students or presenters click or tap on any individual closed container on the board to trigger a cinematic opening animation.

• The reveal: The selected container flips or unlocks, revealing a hidden vocabulary term, visual problem set, discussion prompt, or mathematical challenge buried inside.

• Open-ended flow: Without the pressure of scoring clocks or public leader boards, the group can thoroughly discuss the revealed topic, answer the hidden question live, or perform a revealed physical classroom task.

• Completion: Presenters can continue picking and uncovering items one by one until the entire board has been revealed. At the conclusion, the session time can be reviewed on the wrap-up screen.

  

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Creating your Open the Box activity

1. Click Create Activity on your dashboard and select Open the Box.

   

   
    

2. Choose your structure type:

   • Simple boxes: Displays a single surface item layer (e.g., just a text term, target question, or reference image) the instant the container is popped open.

   • Boxes with questions: Best for multi-layered quiz formats where opening a box reveals a structured multiple-choice question accompanied by clickable answer options.

3. Add your content:

   • Hidden elements: Input your text prompt or select the image icon to link a graphic element that will be locked inside that specific container.

4. Click Add an item or press Enter to place additional locked boxes onto your activity grid layout.

5. Click Done. Wordwall will distribute your entries evenly into a uniform, clean grid arrangement.

   
    

6. Scroll down to Visuals style to add a creative style to your activity, or tailor the difficulty in the Options panel below the activity:

   

   • Random
     • Shuffle item order: When checked, the hidden content items are scrambled and randomly redistributed into different box locations every time the game is loaded, preventing students from memorising static position coordinates.
   • Grid configuration (Columns & Rows)
     • Columns: Drag the slider to manually lock the number of vertical columns across the grid layout, or keep it on Auto so the system cleanly balances them to match your active screen size.
     • Rows: Drag the slider to establish a manual horizontal row count, or leave it on Auto to let the interface mathematically organise the grid based on your total item count.
   • End of game
     • Show answers: When enabled, this allows students to see a full overview of all hidden content pairs or items on a summary review screen at the conclusion of the session.
   • Boxes
     • Leave open: The box contents remain visible and uncovered on the board once clicked, which is ideal for a progressive classroom reveal or open discussion.
     • Automatically close: The box panel closes back up shortly after being selected, which is perfect for adding a memory-testing challenge to your classroom activity.
   • Advanced settings
     • OPTIONS_INPUT_ZOOM: Adjusts the display zoom level multiplier when a chosen box is clicked and opened (set to 0 in the screenshot).
   • Saving options
     • Apply to this activity: Saves these specific matrix rules and layout configurations only for the single active file you are currently editing.
     • More: Click this drop-down to find:
       • Set as default for template: Remembers these options as your standard configuration layout for all future games you build using the Open the box template.
       • Revert to default: Clears your recent changes and restores the options panel back to your previously saved personal defaults.
       • Revert to author's setting: Restores the box parameters back to the original layout configured by the initial community creator.

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Creating Open the Box with AI

You don't need to be a prompt expert to use our AI. It is designed to be intuitive and accessible directly from the activity creator.

1. Click Create Activity and select Open the Box.

   

   
    

2. Look for the ✨ Generate with AI button at the top right of the content table.

   
    

3. Enter your content:

   • Topic: Type a thematic focus like "Warm-Up Icebreakers for Middle School" or "Mental Math Prompts."

   • Text / Notes: Paste a plain text list of terms, reading comprehension questions, or facts. The AI will parse them cleanly into individual hidden box fields.

   • File: Upload a PDF or Word doc. Wordwall AI will scan the document's structure, pull out foundational facts or core discussion statements, and instantly generate a balanced array of hidden box elements.

4. Click Generate. Review the items hidden in the row targets, adjust or rephrase any individual box entries if necessary, and hit Done.

   

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Need Inspiration?

Some examples of Open the Box activities have been created by our users and shared with the Wordwall resource community.