Teaching the telegraph Morse Code for children

Telegraph Morse Code workstation as a children's activity.

Aug 2020 - Due to changes in Googlesites, I can no longer attach copies of the worksheets, but I can email you copies. deweyhassig@gmail.com

This is International Morse Code at the top of the page. At the bottom of the webpage is American Morse Code, as created by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail, and used by the American railroads.

A telegraph a child can't touch or use will interest them for less than five seconds, but a telegraph they can use may interest them for several minutes.

To do a hands on telegraph station for children, I found it works best to divide the task into two parts. You may need two people to staff the workstation in most cases. The railroad clattering type telegraph might be more familiar to most people, it is easier to explain Morse Code dots and dashes on a military buzzing type telegraph, such as the WWII TG-5 telegraph, or the WWI Model 1914 Service Buzzer telegraph. The railroad type telegraph clicks once when you depress the telegraph key, and again when you release it, where the military telegraphs buzz as long as you hold the key down. One veteran I met, who learned Morse Code in the military, said it was a solid six week course to be proficient in Morse Code.

First, have them sit down at a table with a Morse Code worksheet, where they write down their first name on the line below the Morse Code, and then convert their name to Morse Code dots and dashes on the two lines below their name.

Second, have them go to the telegraph and send their name in Morse Code.

By dividing up the task into these two parts, it eliminates a potential bottleneck at the telegraphs, and keeps the children focused on the task. If they are accustomed to school work, this works out very well. They can take the worksheet home to put on the refrigerator, too. These are items you will need, with the quantities determined by expected attendance. These quantities are suggested if you might get a group of six children at a time:

Worksheet station:

Two or Three tables

Six to 9 chairs

A stack of worksheets with two sample worksheets filled out.

One dozen pencils with erasers. A few pencils may disappear.

Pencil sharpener

Telegraph Station:

One or two tables

Two or three telegraphs

Extension cords or spare batteries, depending on power source for the telegraphs.

The Morse code worksheet. Click on it to open it as a .jpg picture.

You can try opening this .jpg file and doing a screen capture, too. A .jpg file of just the letters attached at the bottom, too.

Note: This is international Morse Code. There is American Morse Code, which is different, and probably predates international code. I believe the US railroads and Western Union used American code.

You will find with most people, their dots are no different than their dashes. Some people think that you can just sit down and send or receive Morse Code, but that doesn't work. One military veteran who learned Morse Code in the Army, said it was a six week course. On a busy telegraph display event, I might get one or two people who can do Morse Code - usually veterans or ham radio people. You can tell which ones actually know it, instead of faking it, by the way they hold the key. If they take their fingers off the key more than a quarter inch, I doubt if they were telegraphers. I spoke with one Navy veteran, who did Morse code signal lamps, signal flags and telegraph. He said he visualized the letters when receiving Morse by signal light. He demonstrated signal flag code and telegraphy for me. What a phenomenal experience it was to meet him.

The setup at the Dakota City Heritage Village library during the Harvest Moon event in October 2015. They are the ones that came up with they original worksheet. Click on the picture to enlarge it.

"What you do for yourself dies with you; what you do for others lives forever".

Some information on telegraphs:

Messages Handled by the Telegraph Network: 1870-1970

Telegraph and Telephone Rates from New York City to Chicago: 1850-1970

Source: Historical Statistics.

Notes: * Beginning 1960, for 15 word message. Prior to 1960 for 10 word message. ** Rates for station-to station, daytime, 3-minute call

Note: A good wage in 1900 was about 25 cents an hour, and by the year 2000, about $25 an hour was a good wage. Relative to prevailing wages, communication was very expensive compared to today.

Morse code flowchart below. This is helpful if you are receiving code sent by someone. Attached at bottom of page as an Excel file. Click on the down arrow on the right, not the file name. This was created in Excel2016. Other versions may not format the same. It is a tedious process to make the dots and dashes. Go to INSERT - ILLUSTRATIONS - SHAPES, select the shape, paste to a cell, adjust the size and color, and position the shape within the cell. Even after getting the flow chart and Morse code entered, it took several hours to get the dots and dashes. Changing cell sizes, formats or margins might screw up the works? You can try opening this .jpg file and doing a screen capture, too.

A better version by someone else, as a .jpg :

American Morse code:

Some of the American Morse code letters are different than International Morse Code, and there are also some long spaces and a long dash. Excel spreadsheet attached at bottom of page.

deweyhassig@gmail.com 11/6/2015