Secret Spin Cipher Wheel

What you need

• Paper, 2 sheets of card stock or 2 paper plates
• Kid scissors, 1 pair
• Crayons or markers, 2 or 3 markers
• Pencil, 2, or 1 pencil and a paper fastener
• Plate or tray, 1 dinner plate, for tracing
• Bowl, 1 small, for tracing

How to do it

Grown-up prep: Gather everything, and decide if you will cut the circles yourself for a younger spy.

1. Trace one big circle and one smaller circle on your card stock.
2. Cut out both circles carefully.
3. Mark the big circle into 26 equal slices around its edge.
4. Write the alphabet around the big circle, A to Z.
5. Mark the small circle into 26 slices the same way.
6. Write the alphabet around the small circle too, A to Z.
7. Stack the small circle on the big one and push a pencil through both middles. Ask for help if you need it
8. Set your secret key by turning the small wheel.
   Ask: If A goes with D, what do you think your name will turn into?
9. Write a coded message for someone in your family.
10. Give your agent the note and the key, and let them decode it.
    Ask: Did the message come out the way you expected? How did it feel to crack it?
11. Now send more secrets, or make a wheel for a friend! Who will you trick next?
    Ask: Who will you send the next message to, and what will it say?

Play it again

• Treasure trail: hide 3 coded clues around the house, each leading to the next.
• Spy swap: everyone writes a message and trades, with no key given, so you must try every rotation.
• Number key: use the key as a clue, like the day of the month, to set the wheel.