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 Replies: 18 / Views: 2,416 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1151 Posts |
My wife is the childrens program director for our local library and she asked me if I would like to do something to teach the kids about coin collecting.
I do not yet know the age range of kids that would come to this program, so it could be 5-6 yr olds up to teenagers. I thought something along the lines of showing coins from my 7070 and other albumns along with talking about mintmarks and the different materials that coins are made from.
I have a few ideas and I believe the US Mint has some materials that teachers can use, but has anyone here done any type of childrens program before? Could you pass along some other ideas or materials that they would like to loan me?
Thanks
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Pillar of the Community
United States
668 Posts |
Like you said, I would talk about the material of the coins, where they are made ie the mintmark, as well as show them coins of the compositions you told them about and show examples of the mint marks.
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Valued Member
United States
473 Posts |
If they're under-10, maybe even give each of them a couple wheaties. Maybe give each kid 2 50s, 2 40s, and a 30--nothing really rare, but for a 8 year old sorta-kinda-maybe interested in coins, that might be enough to spark his interest (and imagination) and who knows...maybe we'll be chatting with him 10 years from now on this very website
--Gary
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Pillar of the Community
United States
549 Posts |
I agree with giving the kids a couple of wheaties, but you don't even need to give out as many as the last poster said. I think even just one or two would be fun for the kids. And I wouldn't limit it to "under 10." My kids are 10 and 11 and get very excited by old money. I'd think about giving out wheaties to teens too. If it's a very small group, you might want to also give each kid one cull Indian Head cent (with readable date) or a no-date Buffalo nickel. Cull indians and no-date buffalos are really cheap, so it wouldn't be too much financial burden if the group is small. If it's a larger group, stick to just the wheaties. Kids like to see coins from the 1800s, so you might want to bring a few to show them. If you have some nicely toned coins, that's something that REALLY excites the kids...especially the girls. You can show them the toned coins and explain some of the reasons why it happens. If you end up with a group of 5-6 year olds, you'll need to change the topics a bit. They won't really understand or be interested in compositions or mint marks. You'd have to keep things a lot more basic for that age group. You might want to bring a sample penny folder with you (cheap one, like Harris). Show the kids how easy it is to pull pennies out of their pocket change and save them in the album. Explain how if they set nice coins aside now they'll be worth a lot of money once they are adults. You might even want to raffle off the sample album for a lucky kids to start filling. Edited by mahgobbi
01/28/2008 11:45 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
764 Posts |
kids are amazed by obsolete coins. Half Cents, large cents, Two Cents, threes, etc. history is another good thing to go over. war cents/nickels, bicentennial coins, the change from silver to clad in the 60's. |
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Valued Member
United States
259 Posts |
My daughter is 6 and is facinated with coins. She got a book with holes in it, and I am helping her find coins and fill all the holes in her book. She often will get it out, when I am working on my coins!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1934 Posts |
One of the most effective teaching methods is "demonstration/practice" -- include buying them cotton gloves and teach them, as a standard precaution (as we do in health care), wearing gloves, protecting coins are an intrinsic part of handling and collecting coins.
Jim
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1179 Posts |
Lots of ideas for you so far. Maybe bring in a $2 bill, those are always fun to see. Also, if its a smaller class size, you could always bring some penny rolls in and hand out some $3 penny books to fill up while they have class. Meanwhile explaining which ones go where and why. There eyes would light up with a roll of pennies in front of them. They could trade with others and duplicates etc...
I wouldnt get too in depth with it until later on. If they get confused, they'll lose interest. Just my 2 cents.
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Valued Member
United States
155 Posts |
If I were going to be doing something like that I would say to start with a basic overview of the stuff they know and then use older pieces to really suprise them. I know when I first got interested in coins it was basically just filling in a penny book from an old stash my mother had that she made me a deal to roll up for her. While wrapping them I found a steel cent and had never seen one before, she told me what it was and I was facinated by the idea I had never considered before, that coins had not always been what I was used to seeing every day. When she took me on my first trip to the coin shop and I saw Buffalo nickels and Indian Head cents I was thrilled. Maybe bring in a penny book or two and a pile of pennies (that you know will fill most of the holes)and actually have them go through them and "help" you fill them in. Maybe use a givaway like a cull buffalo or IHC as sort of a prize for answering questions on what you've been talkin about. Also showing examples of old types they're likely to not have seen before and especially denominations they've never heard of and if they're not hooked they may never be hehe. Added: You may want to try to bring with you some blown up pictures to show while you're talking so everyone can see, and have real examples for closer examination later on. And they're kids so I would say gadgets are always a plus for the "cool factor" - magnifying glasses, storage books, 2x2's with flat staplers, grading books, RedBook, etc, you don't have to go overly in depth about what they're all for, but I would say it would make the whole hobby look more appealing. Edited by Myst
01/29/2008 09:43 am
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1151 Posts |
I had thought about bringing in some empty whitman folders, but even adults here complain about how hard it is sometimes to get coins to fit into the holes. That just may frustrate them or me !
I may do the prize giveaway to the one that can answer the most questions at the end of the lesson.
Thanks everyone for the ideas.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1231 Posts |
You can also bring some world coins or banknotes to show them (if you have any). Bulk world coins are inexpensive to buy and easy to hand out.
While over in Wales last September, I met a girl interested in coin collecting. She had just started and only had some different euro coins. So I told her when I got back to the states I would send her a few coins. I ended up sending her almost 200 different coins and about 35 banknotes. She was amazed at all the different things I had sent. She can't wait to get her parents to help her get some more now.
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Valued Member
United States
264 Posts |
I did what onejinx mentioned. I buy 5lbs or 10lbs of world coins alot. My oldest daughter helps; now my youngest has expressed interest in, sorting, searching, cataloging the world coins. I use world coins mostly in geography type classes. I put 2-3 coins from as many countries as I have in a bag and let each child pull out two. We then determine the year of the coin, what country it's from, and where on the map is the country. I then let the kids take the coins home. For US coins I've done little demos / history lessons on the various coins. Most of the 5-10 year olds like the wheat cents and Buffalo nickles. I've even done a little teaching at work to my co-workers. Many of them don't know the difference between a pre-82 penny and the new pennies, much less seen a Wheat cent. Good luck - it should be a fun and rewarding expierence for you. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2177 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
535 Posts |
The mint website has a lot of info for teachers. Some is okay, some is not so good but most of it is more of a lesson in history, or geography or something. Keep it pretty simple and keep it relevant to the kids-something they can relate to. Since they see US coins everyday, you'd probably get the most response out of talking about US coins. What ever you do, make sure that they are using their hands. MAgnifying glasses are a great idea. Show them they can do it at home. Take a roll of pennies for each kid. Tell them that they can keep the oldest one they find, but they have to give the other 49 back to you. Salt each roll with a Wheat penny (or maybe a murcury dime!). Give an obsolete coin as a prize for the kid that finds the oldest penny. Make sure that you're not just telling them. Instead of telling them that D is for Denver, P is for PHilly, and S is for San Francisco - have them guess where they are from. get a map so they can see where they are. That would be cool (but expensve) to give each kid a folder and a roll of pennies. Crayons are a great way to pass time. If you have younger kids you could have them draw a design of what they'd have on the front and bakc of their own coin. Edited by karrlot
01/30/2008 9:30 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
549 Posts |
If it's a free class, then it would be very expensive to give each child a folder, so I'd suggest just sticking to a couple of wheat pennies and a no-date Buffalo nickel for each kid. If you could charge $5 per kid, however, you could make it a pretty exciting class. For $5 per kid, you'd have enough to give each kid a beginning collectors kit...a penny folder (1975-current), a roll of pennies, a dollar-store magnifying glass, and a few wheats and no-date buffalos. If you go this route though, make sure there are a few adults on hand to help the kids press in the pennies (and explain to the kids why it's so hard to get them in so they don't just become frustrated with it). Edited by mahgobbi
01/31/2008 08:50 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6326 Posts |
Although some may have come to the hobby later in life, a lot of us had that facination with coins as a youngster often due to an elder (grandpa's, uncle's, parents, etc.) So, quite likely whatever you decide to do, you're going to start a lifetime hobby with some of these kids and 30 years from now they'll look back at the guy who brought in his coin collection and handed out some Wheaties to him/her. What a great idea !
I didn't become a much more serious/determined collector until the last few years really, and I was "in & out" of it for a couple of decades. But the influence of someone when you're young can stick with you a lifetime (as I'm sure you know too) Kids and teenagers (and young adults) will likely "drift" in and out of hobbies.......but many will land back down on good ones later on.
You know.....what you're doing is kind of inspirational to me too...... Making me think on how to do something similar.............
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Replies: 18 / Views: 2,416 |
Posted 01/28/2008 11:31 pm
