Family Tips – Coin Collecting For Children
The article below is from a series of articles, videos and tips about coin collecting …
Since coins are so prevalent in our society, it is easy to get just about any family member, young or old interested in coin collecting. Children will enjoy coin collecting because they can discover coins everywhere, whether it is in their parents’ pockets, or discovering a lost dime on the ground. Kids relish the idea of adding a new coin to their collection. They enjoy the interesting appearances of the varied coins and love organizing and storing them. Getting kids interested in coin collecting might be easier than you imagine, so the following are some great tips to help you get a child started.
Give the hobby of coin collecting as a birthday or reward for an accomplishment. A coin collecting startup set can make a terrific gift in general, and the cost of gathering together a few essential coin collecting supplies is relatively inexpensive. Remember also, your gift can look rather impressive and important to a young child. It’s money, after all!
Start 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 choose 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 pursuit, 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 beginning, convey the importance of not washing coins to prevent damage. 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 is a great way to provide extra information about numismatics 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 pretty technical books out there, and find a coin collecting guide 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 disappointed. This type of behavior is normal for children. If you have put together an attractive coin collection for your kids, save it for them until they can appreciate it. When they get older, they will likely be more interested in the hobby, and they might even become a professional collector in the future.
For more information on numismatics, go here: Buying Coins
