Tag Archives: secret codes

Fun With Morse Code

Morse code has a very interesting history, in many ways this simple code led to modern day communications. In Morse code, the letters of the alphabet are represented by dots and dashes. It’s also one of the few codes that can be communicated by light or sound. It can even be done with flags (a flag to the left is a dash, to the right it represents a dot. It’s fun thing to know, but it’s also saved a lot of lives. Morse code was what telegraph operators used. It’s still used on ships and in other emergency situations where … Continue reading →

Pig Latin

Remember “Pig Latin”? It really doesn’t have anything to do with Latin, but it is a fun language game. You can either share these language skills with the kids or use it as a way to talk around them if they’ve already learned to spell. Some “Pig Latin” words have actually become regular scram words. Does “amscray” for “scram” sound familiar? To play at Pig Latin, take away the initial consonant sound of a word, and put it at the end of the word followed by the “ay” sound. So “boy” becomes “oy-bay”, “door” becomes “oor-day”, and so on. If … Continue reading →

Secret Codes and Spies

Kids love to play spy. My boys drool over all the fancy spy toys at the store. Those toys are fun, but you don’t need special toys to be a spy. Spies do need undercover disguises though. Dig through the dress-up box. They might also like some sunglasses, a flashlight, and one of Dad’s hats. And spies need secret codes for their messages. (Don’t tell them that they are reading and writing, and using logical thinking skills.) You should tell them that coding and decoding messages is a science called cryptology. One of the simplest codes is to write words … Continue reading →