Morse Code Mania

Tell students they will learn a secret language, and you have their attention! We recently studied the life story of Thomas Edison followed by the study of electricity. Edison was a telegraph operator in his younger years. So as a result of our study we learned Morse code. Students solved puzzles, created their own puzzles, and then solved each others. I told students if they made a puzzle for the class to solve that I would duplicate it on the copier.

One day I took a Morse code puzzle a student had created and placed it on our exit door. His puzzle said, “Hello, how are you?” in Morse code. Without thinking much, I told children to read the message. Some wanted to answer the other students, so I attached it with tape to the door and gave them sticky notes to answer the child. When they finished their work, they were eager to read the other messages and create responses to attach to the door. As you can see, this turned out to be a hit.

I have found a couple of free Morse code puzzles on the internet, but most of their practice came from writing and solving each others. I word of caution if you have children create their own puzzles. Make sure to have the children leave plenty of space between the words because it can get confusing if they don’t when words (dots and dashes) run into each other.

Bonus! Hobby Lobby is the best! Look at this great Morse Code decoration I found there, which also lent itself to discussion about the way military people communicate for clarification with ALPHA, BRAVO, CHARLIE, etc.