Secret Codes

Did you know the Ancient Greeks used secret codes to pass messages back and forth between military commanders? Of course you did. But do you know how they did that? Scytale (rhymes with Italy), was one of the first types of cryptography. A strip of paper was wrapped around a stick, the message was written on it and then it was unwound. Additional letters were added and the message was sent on. The recipient then wrapped the message around a stick of the same size to decode it. 

Simple enough right? Here's an easy way to make your own scytale. Kids can write secret messages to their friends or you can hide one in your child's lunch and give them a secret message for the day. 

 materials:

8.5 x 11 piece of paper

scissors

marker/pen

pencil

get to work:

1. Begin by cutting the paper into long strips. 

2. Wrap the paper strip around the pencil. 

3. On one side of the pencil, write a message, placing one letter in each section of the wrapped paper. 

4. Unravel the paper and lay out flat. 

5. Add extra letters in the blank spaces of the paper. 

6. Hand off your secret code and let the decoding begin. 

* In order for this to work the pencil used to decode the message must be the same size as the one used to create the code.