Crack the Code

There’s nothing quite as intriguing as cracking secret codes so this freebie is a must-grab!

As students use their cipher wheel to decode the words, they’ll be having so much fun that they won’t even realize that they’re working on beginning coding skills they can use to write computer codes later on.

Grab your freebie below and then hop over to grab our Editable Math Fact Games in our shop!

Getting Ready

To prep, I simply printed the wheels on Astrobright cardstock to give them extra durability and a fun pop of color.

Next, I used my scissors to cut out the wheels and secured the smaller wheel onto the larger one with a quick bend of a brad fastener.

Finally, I ran off a “Crack the Code” record sheet for each student.

Crack the Code

I knew as soon as I said “code”, my kids would jump on board with the activity.

After passing out a wheel and worksheet to each child, we talked about how a code is a symbol that stands for something else.

In this case, each letter of the alphabet on the outer wheel had a symbol on the inner wheel that stood for that letter.

I told them that in order to crack the code, they needed the key. And the key that solved this cipher wheel was turning the smaller wheel until the butterfly was under the A.

Then they were off to decoding!

Starting with the first word, each student looked for the puddle symbol on their wheel, and when the symbols and letters were lined up correctly, discovered that the puddle was under the F.

Each child wrote down F and then worked their way through the rest of the symbols in the set to reveal the word FISH.

It was so fun to see the kids so engaged! They didn’t even realize they were practicing spelling AND beginning coding they can use for building computer code later.

Pretty sneaky, right?!

Grab Your Download

Ready to crack the code?

Click the blue download button below and then hop over and snag our Editable Math Fact Games in our shop!