Send secret words with the wig-wag code
Thirty minutes and a dish towel. Learn a three-motion code from 1911, spell a secret word across the room, and learn what to do today if you really need help.
- Time
- 30 min
- Cost
- $0
- Ages
- 7 and up
- Where
- A big room or hallway
Since 1911: Wig-wag flag signaling is a game today, not a rescue method. If you are lost or hurt outdoors, stay put, call 911 if you can, and signal with a whistle (three blasts, pause, repeat) or a flashlight (three quick, three slow, three quick flashes).
What you need
- A dish towel, bandana or flag on a short stick
- Paper and pencil for the code chart and message
- A flashlight for the dark-room round (optional)
Before you start
- Clear the swing space. The sender swings an arm to each side, so keep furniture and other people out of reach.
- No hard sticks. Use a towel in the hand, or a flag on a short cardboard tube or a wooden spoon, not a broom handle.
- Never shine a flashlight into anyone's eyes.
Steps
- Learn the three motions. Hold the flag up. 1 is a sweep right, 2 a sweep left, 3 a dip down.
- Read the code chart. Copy the chart: E=12, T=2, I=1, A=22, N=11, O=21, S=212, and 3 ends a word.
- Send your first letters. Send T, E, N with a pause between letters, then 3. Dad reads them back.
- Spell SOS. Send S-O-S as 212, 21, 212.
- Swap and send a secret word. Take turns sending short secret words with the chart letters.
- Dark-room round. Dim the room and send the same motions with a flashlight beam.
If it stalls
- If the receiver can't tell 1 from 2, make the swings bigger and slower.
- Pauses matter more than speed. A fast sender with no pauses is unreadable.
Words read correctly
Signed off: can do this.Signed by Date