THE CASE OF THE UNREADABLE RIDDLES
People have been disguising messages using codes and ciphers for mystery, amusement, or to protect information, since at least ancient Egypt, 4,000 years ago.
Symbols, numbers, or letters substitute for the letters in a message, making it unreadable. To decipher the message, the person receiving it must have – or figure out – the key that the sender used to create it.
Would you like to decipher some riddles using different kinds of ciphers and codes? Just print out the charts and cipher wheel below and start decoding. It’s fun! There is also a blank chart that you can use to create your own codes.
[Note: There are five different ciphers and codes below, so you may want to spread them out over the days of this WhaddaWeek.]
For more information:
Here is an article and video about codes and code breaking for ages 7+:
And here are three YouTube videos about code breaking and secret messages:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y9THLG94SU (7:03) Solving a Cryptogram
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ef22f48LJU (4:15) How to Decode a Secret Message– for younger kids
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yFZGF8FHSg (8:20) SciShow on Cryptography – for older kids
Older children, with some understanding of World War II, might enjoy learning about the Enigma Code and how the British scientists finally cracked it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYX691q2J2c (2:26) How the Enigma machine worked
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb44bGY2KdU (9:41) How the Enigma Code was broken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwFWMM9APLs (8:08) Scene from the movie “The Imitation Game,” when Alan Turing figures out how to crack the Enigma Code
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Riddles come from Biggest Riddle Book in the World by Joseph Rosenbloom
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(Click on the images to reach printable PDFs)
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