You may have heard that our latest Family Unit Study just dropped in the shop—Inventors and Inventions—and let me tell you, it is SO cool! The Inventors and Inventions unit is filled with fun and creative activities, all culminating in making your very own invention using the Design Thinking process. Today, I thought I would share one of the activities from it—a Morse Code activity using Lego!
Before we get into it, you’ll want to grab this Free International Morse Code Printable to reference throughout the activity. The printable will be emailed to you immediately, and you’ll be brought to the How Wee Learn shop, where you can also see a sample from the Inventors and Inventions Family Unit Study.
Morse Code Activity for Kids Using Lego!
Let’s get into the activity! To create your Morse Code messages, you’ll need:
- An assortment of Lego—either “dots” and small rectangular bricks, or square and rectangular bricks
- Lego base plates
- Morse Code reference page (grab one as a free printable above)
What is Morse Code?
You can start this activity by giving your children a brief history of Morse Code:
Morse Code was invented by Samuel Morse in the 1830s. It is a method of communication that uses “dots” and “dashes” to represent letters and numbers. The dots and dashes are sent as signals using wires, radios, sound, or even light. In our Morse Code activity, we’re going to represent the dots and dashes using Lego bricks.
Writing Morse Code with Lego
This activity is nice and simple! Using the Morse Code reference page, have your children practice creating different letters or numbers, spelling words, or even creating a simple sentence using the Lego bricks. You could try making:
- your name or initials
- your favorite number, color, food, sport, etc.
- a simple message
After you’ve assembled your letters or words, see if you can decode each other’s messages!
Can you figure out what word is spelled here? Hint: Someone’s favorite soft and whiskered animal…
Cat!
It won’t take long before you start to recognize some letters without having to look at the reference page—like the single dot for the letter E, or a single dash for the letter T.
Did you know that assigning a single dot for the letter E was a very intentional choice? The letter E is the most common letter in English, and since it would be used so frequently, it was given the shortest code! Giving shorter codes to letters that would be used frequently helped to make Morse Code more efficient.
Knowing that information, what other letters do you think are used frequently? Which letters are used less frequently?
Morse Code Spacing
If you want to be more accurate with this activity, you can explain to your children that one dash is equal to three dots. So, if you are using a 1×1 for the dots, then you would need to use a 1×3 for the dash.
There is also specific spacing between symbols, letters, and words in Morse Code:
- A dot is equal to 1 time unit
- A dash is equal to 3 time units
- The spacing between symbols of the same letter is equal to 1 time unit
- The spacing between letters of the same word is equal to 3 time units
- The spacing between words is equal to 7 time units
Laying out Lego pieces to write a word or message that follows these rules is a wonderful exercise in counting and attention to detail!
Morse Code Extension Activities
Once your little ones get the hang of it, you could practice tapping out your letters and words on the table. Or close the blinds, turn out the lights, and use a flashlight to communicate your Morse Code message!
As we hunkered in a dark room together, I flashed the code for S O S (three ‘dots’ three ‘dashes’ and three more ‘dots’). I was feeling quite proud of myself that I remembered the code and could surely save us all in any emergency with my trusty flashlight…
…and then I spent the next 10 minutes worrying that a kindly neighbour may have seen my distress signal and there would be a knock at the door any minute making sure we’re all okay in here.
Thankfully (I think?) no one responded to my inadvertent bat signal. Phew!
Inventors and Inventions Family Unit Study
I hope you and yours enjoyed this Morse Code activity. And if you did, you’re going to LOVE my latest unit study—Inventors and Inventions!
You’ll learn even more about code as you solve math equations with Morse Code and create your very own code and cipher. You’ll also learn about other great inventors and their inventions—like Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Shirley Ann Jackson—and create your very own invention!
Get the Complete Inventors and Inventions Family Unit Study:
https://shop.howweelearn.com/products/family-unit-study-inventors-and-inventions
Thank you so much for reading!
— • • — — — —
Sarah
