Family Tips - Coin Collecting For Children
The article below is from a series of articles, videos and tips about coin collecting …
Coin collecting can be a great pastime for children. Not only do they get excited about finding new things to add to their new collection, they will also enjoy learning the differences between the many types of coins around the world. For kids, coin collecting can also be an educational experience, as you can use the different coins to teach them about other societies and cultures. Coin collecting can be both a fun experience that is educational and interesting at the same time.
Give the hobby of coin collecting as a birthday or holiday gift. A coin collecting startup set can make a terrific gift in general, and the cost of gathering together a few of the common coin collecting supplies is relatively inexpensive. Remember also, your startup kit can look quite impressive and important to a young person. It’s money, after all!
Begin with a fancy album to hold the common coins. There are some very nice binders for protecting and sorting coins available for purchase. Make sure that the album you select is either one for displaying modern coins easily found by a child or one where the child can indicate the types of coins on his or her own. Include a package of plastic coin holders in your gift set, as individual coin holders are cool things for kids to play with. There are plain types and more fancy ones, so if the additional cost is negligible, go for that little extra.
Provide the basic tools as well. Collecting coins is a serious business, and you should add a pair of latex gloves for handling, a soft cloth to place coins on, a good magnifying glass, and a plastic ruler to your coin collecting kit. From the start, convey the importance of not washing coins to prevent damaging them. Children are usually thrilled by dirt and knowing exactly why dirty coins are a good thing will have them swelling up with pride and telling everyone their new knowledge.
Add a coin collecting book. A book for beginner coin collectors is an excellent way to give extra information about coin collecting for the child to read in his or her own time. A book on -how to’s- is a good choice and so are books with plenty of in’s and out’s of coin collecting. Lists of coins aren’t fun, so stay away from those. Also stay away from the more technical books out there, and find a coin collecting book the child can understand.
Do toss in a coin collecting price guide in your package, though. We’re talking money, after all, and even money has a value and price. Kids will rave about that special valuable coin and a coin collecting price guide can be an extra motivator to encourage the hobby.
Last, but not least, start the collection for your child. A child’s eyes will bulge in their sockets to see that in the album you present are a few old rare coins or a couple of old Roman coins. You can find one of these on eBay or at an antique dealer. Some world coins are a good alternative, though, and having a handful of low-value coins from other countries (again, check out eBay or have friends worldwide mail you some) can be a fun way to encourage coin collecting.
If your child loses interest in coin collecting soon after you introduce it, don’t get discouraged. This type of behavior is normal for children. If you have put together an attractive coin collection for your kids, save it for later until they can appreciate it. When they get older, they will likely be more interested in the hobby, and they might even become a serious coin collector in the future.
For more resources on coins, go here: Buying Coins