{"id":164,"date":"2022-02-21T00:09:07","date_gmt":"2022-02-21T00:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dadstuffsite.com\/?p=164"},"modified":"2023-03-14T13:49:47","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T13:49:47","slug":"how-to-make-your-own-caesar-cipher-treasure-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dadstuffsite.com\/how-to-make-your-own-caesar-cipher-treasure-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"Caesar Cipher Treasure Hunt Activity to Do with Your Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"
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I was watching National Treasure with the family last Fourth of July and couldn\u2019t help but ask myself, how can I make a treasure hunt like that for my kids? I mean, who wouldn\u2019t want to live out their own personal National Treasure (minus the bad guys and the FBI hunting me down)? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I went on an epic deep dive into secret codes and ciphers. I had to figure out what would be the easiest way to teach my kids how to encode and decode secret messages. My kids are 6 and 8, so it needs to be simple enough for them to pick up easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I could always go the worksheet route, but that seems a little too much like homework for my taste. Besides, my mission is to find activities to do with my kids that are super fun, take a decent amount of time, and are engaging for both them and me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other question I needed to answer was, how do I teach my kids to decode a cipher without them realizing I\u2019m the secret mastermind behind their treasure hunt? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The whole purpose of doing a treasure hunt is getting lost in the story. I want my kids to suspend reality for a bit and believe there might be real treasure. This needs to be a game that is as much for the imagination as it is about solving puzzles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The solution: a Caesar cipher (also known as a Caesar Shift, Caesar Substitution, Shift Cipher, ROT-n cipher). Not only is the code super easy to learn, but by using a cipher disk, anyone should be able to decode a Caesar cipher with little to no explanation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n