Give children a handful of spare change and they can entertain themselves for a few minutes or part of an afternoon. The coins can be used in all of the activities and then returned to a piggy bank at the end of the games. Children can make a coin mosaic picture or try to balance pennies on or between their toes for some interesting challenges.
Penny Lineup
Give children a jar of pennies. Have the children sort the pennies by year, stacking pennies from the same year. Set the pennies in a straight line with the oldest penny to the left and the newest penny to the right. If there are years with missing pennies, then the children have a new challenge – to try and find a penny minted in those years.
Can the children find a penny from the year they were born? How about their siblings and parents? Older children can research an event that occurred in history during each year for which they have a penny. Have the children guess why some stacks hold more pennies than other years.
Penny Toss
Children gather six containers of different sizes, such as plastic fruit cups, empty spice containers, clean peanut butter jars, etc. Set a sheet of paper on the floor. Arrange the containers on top of the paper in rows or a circle. Take two giant steps back from the containers. Next, the children toss pennies toward the containers, discovering how many they can get into the different sized jars.
After a few rounds, children will discover which containers are easier than others to toss coins into. They can designate different points for each jar, giving more points to the bottles they rarely hit and fewer points to the containers that catch the most pennies. They can also make the game more difficult by taking another step away from the containers.
Coin Characters
Each child needs a couple of handfuls of pennies or other coins. Instead of drawing a picture, children use the coins like mosaic tiles, creating a picture on a flat surface. Place the coins close together to simulate solid shapes. Use different coins to create accents in the picture.
Coin Spin
Hold a coin between thumb and first two fingers of one hand. Children stand the coin on its edge on a table and then twist their hand and wrist to make the penny or quarter spin. Children can time how long it keeps moving. Spin different coins to determine which spins the longest.
Penny Balancing Walks
Children take off their shoes and socks and set a penny on each big toenail. Children then try walking, keeping the coins from slipping off their toes. If that becomes easy, they can try setting pennies between each of their toes and walk around the room while squeezing their toes together.
With a couple handfuls of pennies and other coins, children can play a toss game, make a picture, try a sorting game, and attempt a balancing challenge. With a little more effort, the can create a game called Fox and Geese. Children can occupy themselves for a few minutes or an hour with these activities.
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