As a parent you would wish your child to be involved in other pastime activities – more fruitful, wholesome, and still enjoyable at that.

Coin collecting for kids

Coin collecting for kids is not only fun, it is also a very educational hobby. Here are some good reasons why becoming a coin collector is benefitial for your kids.

- Through counting and determining the worth of the coins, he is studying math.

- By identifying the people, places, or events engraved on the coins, he is exploring history, geography, and culture.

- By examining coin designs he may also develop appreciation for the arts.  After all, during the olden times, coins were considered transportable pieces of art.

- Maintaining a coin collection teaches your child to be responsible.

- The coin collecting hobby is not difficult and expensive to start.

In this article, you will learn why the coin collecting hobby is ideal for your children.  You will also learn some steps in helping your child start his own collection of coins.

How to start coin collecting for children

1. Introduce interesting coins to your child

Ignite the interest of your child by showing him an interesting coin. For example, you have an ancient coin that was minted in 5th century BC.  Show this to your child and tell him a story about it. He could be amazed at how you own a coin that old.

Error coins may also be appealing to him.  A fascinating error coin is a type of Mule error coin which bears the same design on its two sides.  For instance a Lincoln cent that has Abraham Lincoln’s bust on both the obverse and reverse sides (in layman’s term, the head and tail side of the coin respectively). The reverse side of the Lincoln cent is supposed to have the Lincoln Memorial (1959-2008 design).

2. Buy him a nice and comprehensible book on coin collecting for kids.

When he already knows about collectable coins, keep the interest up by getting him a book about coins and currencies.  Here, he will learn about the brief history of coin collecting – how were coins minted in ancient times, who were the first coin collectors, and other important information.

Since children are generally visual learners, get a book suitable for kids – those that contain illustrations, pictures, or colorful images.  Some books can be interactive featuring puzzles, coin quizzes, and games.

There are also coin collecting magazines available for subscription or for individual buys from newsstands.  Magazines can be more dynamic and updated for a read.

Try being with him in his first few days of reading the book, especially if your child is not very fond of reading. Short conversations between reads make it lighter for the child and this will keep him from getting bored.

3. Let him learn about coin making.

Aside from knowing coin history and stories, it is also important to let the child understand how the coins – ancient or modern – are minted.