There are lots of ways to have fun with coins at home.  Below you will find some great activities including arts and crafts, tricks and games, and even ways to earn money!

Do these activities with a parent or another adult supervising you.

ACTIVITIES

COLLECT COINS

Collect all your change, then:

1. Check it out for interesting coins.  You might have the beginnings of a great collection right there in your pocket or coin jar.  For tons of terrific tips on starting and keeping a coin collection, check out the Coin Collector's Workshop.
2. Exchange the coins at a bank for dollar coins or other coins to examine for your collection.
3. Take the pennies to a coin machine that exchanges them for larger denominations.  You can find these in some grocery and drug stores.  Of course, you could always take the change to a bank, too!

GROW YOUR MONEY

Any time is the right time to open your own savings account.  You can deposit your allowance, the money you've earned, or whatever you've got.  If you add to your account every time you get a little extra cash, you'll see your savings grow.  Your money will earn interest, too.*

Just get your savings together, and then ask your parent or guardian to take you (with your Social Security card) to a local bank, where they'll set up an account for you.

*Interest is the money the bank pays you for keeping your money in their savings account.  Typical interest payments for a savings account might start at about 1%.  At that rate, you would earn about $1 a year for every $100 you keep in the bank.

ARTS & CRAFTS

'PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS' NOTECARDS

Make your own notepaper with a coin rubbing design.  It would make a nice gift!

Make the Cards

1. Place a sheet of tracing paper over a sheet of heavy white paper.  Hold them together with 4 paper clips, one near each corner.
2. Place the attached papers in front of you vertically; then, with a ruler and a pencil, draw a very fine line dividing the papers in half horizontally.  Cut them in half along this line.
3. You should now have two 8½ x 5½ sets of tracing and heavy paper.  Fold each set in half (with the tracing paper on the outside) to make 2¾ by 4¼ inch note cards.

Create the Design

1. Write Penny For Your Thoughts on the tracing paper front of your note cards, leaving space for your coin rubbing design.
2. Place a coin between the tracing paper and heavy white paper, then rub it with a brown or copper colored crayon or colored pencil to make a coin rubbing design around the words.

Put Them Together

1. Staple the two papers together in the crease formed when you fold them in half, or glue the two papers together with a very thin line of glue around the edges of the heavy paper.

These cards can be used without envelopes, but you can also use leftover envelopes from old note card collections or purchase note card envelopes in some party goods stores or card shops.

MONEY MOBILE

Here's a cool idea for decorating your room:  make a mobile out of a wire coat hanger and coins made of paper or plaster.

Paper Coins:  Look at the 50 State Quarters^® Program here on the H.I.P. Pocket Change site.

1. Print out the coins and color them in.
2. Cut the coins out, and attach them to the hanger with thread or strings of different lengths by taping one end of each string to the coin and tying the other to the hanger.

Plaster Coins:  To make five coins, you will need:

• Patch plaster or Plaster of Paris (from a hardware or crafts store)
• five paper clips
• five jar lids of any size

1. Sprinkle the plaster into water until it mounds slightly above the water level and stir.
2. For each coin, pour the plaster into a jar lid.  Wait for the plaster to thicken a little: about 2 minutes for the Plaster of Paris or about 6 minutes for the Patch plaster.
3. Draw your coin design into the plaster with a pencil or another instrument.  Don't forget your date, motto and initials.
4. Make a hook out of a paper clip and press it into the plaster, or just make a hole big enough to pass string through.
5. Let your coins harden for 20 minutes if they were made with Plaster of Paris, or 40 minutes if Patch plaster was used.
6. Then take them out of the lids and attach to the hanger with string or thread of different lengths.

Clay Coins:  You can also make your own clay.

1. Mix 1 cup of flour, ½ cup salt and ½ cup warm water.
2. Pour into jar lids and proceed.  (This clay does not need to thicken.)
3. After following directions for plaster coins, allow this clay to dry overnight.

CENTS-SATIONAL COOKIES

Use your favorite sugar cookie recipe to bake round, coin-shaped cookies.  With a small tube of icing, decorate the cookies and mark them with denominations of 5 cents, 10 cents, etc.  Make the coins different colors and designs.  For inspiration, check out the designs in Making Change.

MONEY-HUNGRY PIGGY BANK

Make this cute "piggy bank" out of papier-mâché, which you can make yourself or buy.

1. Blow up a balloon to about 4" to 6" in diameter.  Knot it, and cover with papier-mâché.
2. To make the papier-mâché, tear up 8 to 10 newspaper pages into 6 by 1 inch strips.  Then make a solution of water and white glue.  Briefly soak the strips in the solution and lay them carefully, one by one, on the balloon, three or four layers deep.
3. For the pig's head, make a small ball of bunched up newspaper, which you've covered in papier-mâché strips.  Add little triangles made out of newspaper for ears; attach them to the head with strips of papier-mâché.  Then attach the head to the pig's body with additional strips.
4. For legs, make short columns of balled up paper, then cover and attach the same way.  You could also cut off sections of paper towel or toilet paper tubes, then cover and attach to the body with papier-mâché.
5. For the tail, make a hole in the pig's bottom and insert a rolled up piece of paper or a curled pipe cleaner.
6. After the pig dries—about two days—pop the balloon inside its body by inserting a pin.
7. Gently sand the sculpture smooth, paint with poster paints and decorate.
8. Finally, get an adult to cut a hole in the top for inserting coins.

TRICKS & GAMES

COIN BASKETBALL

Sit down at a table with a large coin—a quarter or half dollar.  Place a cup about two or three feet in front of you.  Hold the coin upright on its rim with one finger, then flick it gently to spin it and let go.  With your thumbs only, grab the coin.  Then place your hands flat on the table, with the coin between your thumbs.  Lift the coin up and "throw" it into the "basket" with your thumbs.  Two points if you make it!  Play with a friend and keep score!

CAT AND MOUSE GAME

Place two coins of the same size, (quarters, nickels, whatever you have) on a flat surface, and put a third coin of any size in front of them, making sure they all touch.  This is the "cat." Place a fourth coin, the "mouse," about a foot away.  (You could even add a tail to this coin with a piece of dental floss and tape.)

Make your hand into a fist with the index and middle finger pointing out.  Then tap down quickly on the first two coins with these fingers.  The kinetic force will propel the "cat" toward the "mouse."  Play with a friend, and see who can get the cat to the mouse with the fewest hits.

COIN RIDDLES

Stump your friends with these riddles!

Question:  What 2 coins equal 55 cents?
Answer:  A half dollar and a nickel.

Question:  When does 2 plus 1 equal 4?
Answer:  When you add 2 nickels and 1 dime, it's equal to 4 nickels.

For Parents of Children 4 Years Old and Younger

PENNY PITCH

Put a wastepaper basket or another container a few feet away from a line of children.  One by one, have the kids toss their pennies in.  After everybody has had a turn, ask those who got their pennies into the basket to line up again, and move the container farther away.  Repeat this until there is only one child who can get the coin or coins into the basket.  He or she is the winner.  The prize is the pennies!