Activity Title: Birthday Binary Code for Kids
Age Group(s):
- School Age
DESCRIPTION:
Using computer binary code, create a customized piece of jewelry that displays your birthday!
What is binary code?
Binary code is how computers talk and represent information. Binary code is based on a base-two number system which means it uses only two numbers, “0” and “1”. Everything you see on computers - words, pictures, numbers etc, is made up of different combinations of 0’s and 1’s. Binary code is written in an 8-bit sequence but for the sake of simplicity we will use a modified 4-bit binary chart for this activity.
| Number | Binary Code | Number | Binary Code |
| 0 | 0 | 16 | 10000 |
| 1 | 01 | 17 | 10001 |
| 2 | 10 | 18 | 10010 |
| 3 | 11 | 19 | 10011 |
| 4 | 100 | 20 | 10100 |
| 5 | 101 | 21 | 10101 |
| 6 | 110 | 22 | 10110 |
| 7 | 111 | 23 | 10111 |
| 8 | 1000 | 24 | 11000 |
| 9 | 1001 | 25 | 11001 |
| 10 | 1010 | 26 | 11010 |
| 11 | 1011 | 27 | 11011 |
| 12 | 1100 | 28 | 11100 |
| 13 | 1101 | 29 | 11101 |
| 14 | 1110 | 30 | 11110 |
| 15 | 1111 | 31 | 11111 |
What do we need?
For this activity, you will need the following items:
1. 3 different colors of beads
2. String or a pipe cleaner
How do we do it?
1. Write out your birthday in the following format: M/DD/YY. For example, if your birthday is on June 11, 2013, it would be written as 6/11/13.
2. Convert the birthday date to binary format. Using our same example from above, 6/11/13 translated into binary code would be: 110/1011/1101.
3. Select one color of bead to represent “0”, a second color to represent “1” and then the third color to represent a space (/) between the numbers.
4. Layout the beads to represent your birthdate in binary code. Don’t forget the third color for the spaces in between the numbers!
5. Once laid out, string all the beads on to the string or pipe cleaner.
6. Tie a knot around the ends and enjoy your one-of-a kind masterpiece as a piece of jewelry or a bag tag….the options are endless!