National Coin Week 2012
Happy National Coin Week 2012! National Coin Week was started to help people get to know about numismatics...the hobby and study of coins and paper money.
In 1983, President Reagan set aside the third week in April as a time for people to think about coins. Why? Because collecting coins can help you learn about science, history, and important people, places, and events. Besides, lots of people find that collecting coins is just plain fun!
This year's theme is "Change in Money: Cowries to Credit Cards." What history can you learn from coins? National Coin Week is a good time to find out...and H.I.P. Pocket Change is the perfect place!
Fitting Festivities
In 2012, National Coin Week will run from April 15 to 21. Here are some ideas on how you and your class(es) can celebrate!
Related Lesson Plans and Coins
Take a look at these lesson plans, Teacher Features, and coins relating to changes in money:
- Credit as Currency? (Ancient World History) 50 state Quarters® Program, Grades 9 through 12
- Changes in Change Teacher Feature
- Coin Trading Cards Lesson Plan
- The New England Shilling, December 2006 Coin of the Month
- The 1792 Half Dime and the 1793 Flowing Hair Cent, March 2003 Coin of the Month
More Lesson Plans
The Educators area offers hundreds of lesson plans covering all major subject areas. All are written by teachers and adhere to national standards, so you're sure to find plans you can use, from kindergarten through high school.
We have short lessons called Teacher Features, full-fledged plans listed by grade and subject, and a collection that relates to each circulating coin called the Coin Curricula Center.
You'll also find plans that use as a starting point coin programs, such as:
- The America the Beautiful Quarters® Program
- The 50 State Quarters® Program
- The Westward Journey Nickel Series™
- The 2009 Lincoln Cents
- The Native American $1 Coins
- The Presidential $1 Coins
…and more! Come and browse!
Educational Games
The Games page in the Kids area has dozens of games that both entertain and educate.
Which ones will help you teach the skills and topics in your curriculum? Peruse the educators' Games Center to find out.
In the Games Center, you'll see lists of games divided into grade-appropriate groups. On the lists are each game's description, the skills it addresses, and its subject area connections.
A Course on Collecting
As you incorporate coins into your curriculum, some students may have or develop an interest in coin collecting.
You can help them get started in their new hobby with Inspector Collector's Coin Course.
This course is divided into 5 lessons with online activities that reinforce the information given in each lesson. The information includes how the students can best obtain coins, store and display them, and organize their collection.
Just for Kids
In our Kids area, called the United States Mint H.I.P. Pocket Change™ Web site, we have a whole page set up to help kids fill their National Coin Week with timely activities.
The H.I.P. Pocket Change Pals have picked an activity for each day of the week. Kids can join the fun by coming back every day to do the day's pick!
Click on each image to see the activity.
Nero starts off this week's festivities with a game from the Games page: the Coin Memory Game. This game has been around H.I.P. Pocket Change for awhile, but it just recently was enlarged and redecorated.
You now get to choose whether to match 8 pairs (easier game) or 12 pairs of coins, and choose from six different groups of coins…plus, some of the groups have subgroups (such as the 50 State Quarters® Program coins). And even if you play the same group, the placement changes, so it's always a new game.
Your brain needs exercise as much as your body does, so click on over to the Coin Memory Game today!
Today, Plinky would like you to try her greeting card maker. If you can print the card you make with “Plinky’s Create-a-Card,” then you can color it and give it to someone for their birthday or other special occasion. If not, you can make a card just for fun.
In this game, you'll get to use some mathematics skills to spend your virtual money. As you buy words and pictures to put on your card, you'll need to figure out the cost and how to make change, then drag your coin icons into the workspace. Before long, you'll have a card that anyone would love to get!
Flip would like to turn your attention to Birth of a Coin, a cartoon romp through the coin-making process. Birth of a Coin takes you from a coin's start in the halls of Congress to its world debut in circulation.
The newest part of the story is the part played by computers. Since the United States Mint has begun using computers more and more in the design process, computers have been added to the cartoon saga as well. So even if you clicked your way through Birth of a Coin a while ago, there's something new there for you!
As the theme of "Change in Money" indicates, money has changed over the years…and that's part of the reason why people love to collect it. Collecting is fun, exciting, and Inspector Collector's specialty!
The Inspector loves to share his coin knowledge with everyone, so he created “Inspector Collector’s Coin Course.” In his course, he gives some notes on the history of coins and collecting along with tips on types of collections and how to store and label your collections.
His coin mysteries make the lessons even more fun. So if you don't yet have your Coin Course diploma, let that be your goal today!
Today, while we're talking about the history of money, let's talk about the history of the United States Mint! For 220 years, the United States Mint has been making the coinage that people use every day as well as medals and coins for collectors and investors. Bill invites you to trace this long history with an interactive timeline called Historic Highlights.
With this timeline, you can pick years to investigate by clicking on a boxed date range or by simply moving the marker with your mouse. Once in that range, just mouse over an event to see details. You'll learn a lot about how the United States Mint became the world-class organization it is today!
Bingo, anyone? Yes, says Peter, you can play Bingo online with one or more other players, if you can print the game cards. One thing this version of Bingo lets you do is choose whether to play with the usual number-letter combinations or play with words. One of the word lists uses numismatic terms…words that have to do with coins and collecting!
Now you can find Bingo on the Games page, or by clicking this Bingo link. After Bingo, you and another player can play "Hoop and Darts," a dart-throwing game for two. Both games have their icons under the heading "Multiplayer Games" on the Games page.
Like to color? We thought so. That's why Goldie points the way to coloring pages for you! All 50 quarters from the 50 State Quarters® Program are there for you to download, print, and color as well as the six quarters from the District of Columbia and U.S. Territories Quarters Program, the four pennies from the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial One Cent Coin Program, the quarters to date from the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program, and the dollars from the Native American $1 Coin Program and the Presidential $1 Coin Program. That's a ton of coloring fun!
Of course, the other free pages are still there as well: the H.I.P. Pocket Change Pals, circulating coins, Westward Journey Series nickels, and more. With all these pages to color, you can color until you run out of crayons! But don't worry; then you can go to Cents of Color or Painters' Studio and color quarters online!
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