Coins And Kids

I sent about 20 x Australian platypus 20 cent coins to SanDiego, to be handed out to elementry school kids.

I guess that most if not all will be lost after a few months, but you never know, I may have left a latent numismatic image in one of those kid's minds.

Most time, I think this is the best you can hope for - develop some interest now and hope they come back to it later in life.

Yes, we know how to get kids interested in coins. CCF attends major coin shows and gives away thousands of coins to kids - next show is FUN in Orlando next month. You, the members, donate those coins. I don't think anyone is doing more than Coin Community to bring numismatics to the younger generations. One quarter of our membership is under 25, and it is our stated purpose as a community to dedicate our efforts towards developing new collectors.

We're not here for our expert members. Our expert members are here for the newbies, and they know that.

You can't force someone to enjoy an activity. All you can do is ensure they're exposed to it, under repeatable circumstances. Like forming an online community, on the computers these kids are glued to, so they can enjoy the hobby using the technology they're accustomed to.

As a parent of 3, and having been a collector that started as a child,
here are my observations. (Take them for what you will... everyone is different.)

1: Most kids won't take to coins and make them an obsession. They tend to take the
info you give them, and then only visit coins from time to time, and in a manner
that doesn't look too thrilled to an observer. However, they soak up more than
they appear to be, and when they get older, and the hormones stop driving their
actions, they come back in a big way. All you can do is influence them properly,
and then like comfort food, as adults they come back to recapture experiences from
their youth. Make sense?

2: Find a subject they are interested in. My daughter was interested in horses...
so I found coins and stamps with great images of horses on them, to stimulate her
interest. She sorted, collected, and displayed her coins/stamps like works of art.
She's my youngest, and is becoming a teen at this point, so it's not so cool to do
projects with Dad anymore, but I think she'll come back in a big way later. Especially
if I was to pass away when she is a young adult, and she is charged with dispersing
and/or liquidating my collection. (Which I might make happen in the form of a will,
haven't decided which kid will best serve this purpose.)

3: Be careful of giving them anything valuable, I made that mistake with my oldest.
He went through all the stages of interest/disinterest, and when he became a young
adult, and went out on his own, he started back in a big way, only to find that the
expenses of life at that young age are tough, and the end result was that he sold off
his entire collection to pay bills. Stuff that I had given him many years earlier, and
stuff that he worked hard to add to his collection over the years, and even recently...
all squandered away. He didn't want his parents to know he needed money, so I never
even got the opportunity to loan him money against his coins, and save them for him,
which I would have done in a heartbeat had he given me the option. Now it's all gone.

4: No matter what you do, some kids won't take to it. Out of three kids, I have one
that just never took to it, and now he's an adult, and I don't believe he ever will.
He's given me back everything I have ever tried to give him, and shown complete disinterest.
You won't reach them all.

5: Back to the idea of finding a subject they are interested in... Introduce coins to
kids that like history as a subject in school, or to a child working on a project for
school, working in social or historic facts about coins that are relevant. Use coins
to teach year dates by the dates on the coins. Use coins in different ways for math.
Use them in any interesting way possible as teaching tools. Get creative. Teach them
about the people that are on coins, and use them in projects involving individuals
that appear on coins. When you look at coins from all over the world, and the huge
number of commems, almost anyone, or any event in a history text book will have
themselves or event portrayed on a coin somewhere.

6: On the same teaching note, but slightly different, come at coins from the angle
that they are works of art. Use them in art projects, find coins with images they like,
not just subjects, but images as art. My grandmother used a glue gun and pocket change
to make art out of coins to give to kids. If the kid is REALLY into art, you could
even introduce them to the great artists that designed our coins, like Laura Frazier,
Barber, Brenner, etc... Legit artists in their own rights.

7: Start them EARLY... While they are little and still want to
get between you and what you are doing. By the time they are preteens,
it will be much harder, and your only recourse will be to sneak
coins into school projects and such, as described above, and
it won't be so much about using their natural curiosity.

This is so very true. My chief regret in life is thinking I didn't have time to stop what I was doing and include an inquisitive child in my activity. Now all I have is time, but we share nothing in common and they have no time for me. The cat's in the cradle, folks, and it is heartbreaking when you are old and lonely. There's no Undo Button in life.

My 2 are young (under 3) so I just give them half dollars and regular pocket change to play with. My daughter loves putting them in her little piggy bank then dumping them out and look for the big coins. My son is too young he'd eat them, so no go on that one yet. I also play a game with my daughter when she comes in my office it's "don't tell mama about daddy's special coin ( Baseball HOF)".. She loves taking it out of drawer giggle and then go upstairs and tell mama about it. I also ask her if she wants me to give the coin to her or her brother and she always says her. I don't expect this to inspire her one day, but I at least hope she's open minded to it and not look at it as a " nerd" hobby, which I think is a factor on impressionable kids to choose video games

I gave my kids some birth year mint sets. One of them really loved it, one thought it was kind of neat and the other thought it was stupid and wanted to spend the money. The one that really liked it, I bought her one of those 60 coin Whitman vinyl coin wallets and I let he use my 2x2's to store coins she likes. I let her have some of my lower value coins when she shows interest in them. She's got about 35 coins now in that album.

Truth is, kids have different personalities and will be drawn to different hobbies. And their interests will change over time, too. Just plant the seed and if it grows, water it. If not, try to find another hobby or pastime you can share with them. My dad tried to force fishing on me, and I hated it! Still do.

T-bop, you will find a well of knowledge here and many friendly collectors. I hope you enjoy your time on CCF. Its truly a wonderful and in depth resource!!

It's important to plant as many seeds as possible when children are young!! They will return to some of it as they mature in their 30's and onward. I in my youth would set aside different banknote, just prior to a series change. I don't know why I did, as at the time I wasn't a collector by any stretch of the imagination.

Now when I turned fifty and I wasn't as mobile anymore, I picked up collecting notes and coins and I'm enjoying myself immensely.
Back in 2007 when my son was 7, and the 2010 Olympic quarters were released, we started coin roll hunting for them.

My fondest memory was when Jamie was 9, he snuck a hundred dollar bill from my wallet, went across the street to our bank, and brought back 10 rolls of quarters to sort. Of course at first I was mad, he had snuck the hundred dollar note, however, in the end we both had good fun sorting through those coins!!
He will still from time to time go and get rolls to search for interesting coins. I'm very confident he will become an active collector in his forties. I know I've started returning to things I was exposed or tried as a kid, now I have more spare time.

This is why I believe it's very important to expose kids under twenty to as many different experiences and activities while they're young!