Coin Collecting For Kids
Teach History and Math with Pennies, Nickels, Quarters, and Dollars
Feb 19, 2009
There is a certain lure about shiny, jingling currency that draws the attention of children. Amateur coin collectors (numismatists) can become savvy about presidential history and even arithmetic, but coins are fascinating in themselves. To spark an interest, show kids different types of coins such as nickels, pennies, and quarters and discuss the following concepts with them. They will surely get hooked.
What is on a Coin?
The main design on a U.S. coin is on the front, also called the obverse. On the reverse of a coin, there is another design and usually this is where one can find the value of the coin. Here are the other parts of a coin to look for with the kids:
Obverse:
- Motto – currently “In God We Trust”
- Rim – the edge of the coin, sometimes smooth and sometimes ridged (reeded)
- Date – when the coin was issued
- Portrait – usually an image of a U.S. President
- Field – blank space
- Mint Mark – single letter indicating where the coin was made
Reverse:
- Motto – currently “E Pluribus Unum” meaning “Out of Many, One”
- Image –historic or meaningful picture
- Value – a coin’s worth
- Legend – name of country
How are Coins Made?
This step-by-step coin construction process will be a great lesson for children. Teachers can create an educational bulletin board about coin making with the following procedure:
- Making round blanks or disks out of metal with a press machine
- Heating and cleaning the disks
- Sorting out the rejects, called riddling
- Raising the rims in an upsetting mill
- Creating the coin with stamping dies, called striking
- Removing misshapen or dented coins
- Bagging the coins
- Shipping the coins to banks
Evaluating Coins
Every coin collector will want to know how much his/her coins are worth beyond face value. Some old and rare coins can be worth a lot of money! This is one of the most exciting parts of coin collecting. The value of a coin is partly based on its condition, and each coin can be given a grade.
Grading systems for coins are similar to school grades! Here are some simple grades that numismatists might give to coins: Uncirculated, Extra Fine, Very Fine, Fine, Very Good, Good, Fair, and Poor. A more serious coin collector may want to understand these professional grades.
Ideas to Get the Coin Collection Started
Try any of these ten creative ideas to get children interested in collecting coins:
- Find coins of all types with the child’s birth year.
- Find the oldest coins in the household coin jar.
- Find statehood quarter of the child’s home state.
- Visit the local bank and try to collect Presidential dollar coins.
- Start up a statehood quarter collection.
- Have child find nickels with different pictures on the reverse side or different profiles of Thomas Jefferson.
- Ask older relatives to search their coin collections for wheat pennies, Indian pennies, bicentennial quarters, Kennedy half-dollars, etc.
- Find pennies for every year since the child was born.
- Purchase a coin-collecting book (see below in the source section for a great one).
- Collect both foreign and domestic (statehood) coins from places that the family has traveled.
Coin collecting will be a lot of fun for children of all ages. It teaches responsibility and strengthens knowledge about the country’s past and present. It is also enjoyable for parents and grandparents to look back at old coins they may have collected. Coin collecting is a true family bonding activity. Additionally, learning about coins can be a unique history or math lesson plan for the classroom.
Sources:
Otfinoski, Steve. Coin Collecting for Kids. Norwalk, CT: innovativeKids, 2007.
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