Hobbies And Interests
Who Are My Neighbors
Lay one quarter out on the table by itself, where your child can see it. Then say, for example, "I am Pennsylvania. I am in the East and I am known for steel. Who are my neighbors?" Have your child look through the quarters to find all the states that touch the state depicted on the initial quarter. Try a different statement for each quarter. This helps your child learn several things related to geography, history and the state names.
State Quarter Memory
This challenging memory game will increase your child's memory and sorting skills. This game requires you to have two of each state quarter --- for example, two Texas quarters, two Maine quarters, etc. Depending on the age of the children, you will use more or fewer quarters. For older children, you may have 30 sets of quarters (60 quarters total), but for a younger child, you may use only five sets (10 quarters total).
Lay two of each quarter "tails" on a table and mix them up. Have your child begin flipping over the coins two at a time and finding matches. When your child makes a match, remove those two quarters from the game and continue until all have been matched. Include multiple children, and the one with the most matched quarters once all are turned over, wins. This is also a challenge for adults, so join in the fun and challenge your child to a timed round of state quarter memory.
State Trivia
Because the state quarters have information on them such as the year the state was made a state, the state flower, the capitol of the state and even the state bird, help your child build her knowledge with a game of state trivia. Give your child five quarters and allow her to study them for several minutes. Then take the quarters and hold them where she can't see them. Name one piece of information about one of the states and see whether your child can identify the state. If she can't select the correct state based on that piece of information, continue with another fact about that state. Once your child gets the correct answer, select another quarter. Continue until she's identified all five states. The goal, of course, is to identify the state based on just one piece of information.
State Mottoes
Use the state quarters to help kids learn the motto of different states. Have them pull a quarter from a bag and then try to name the motto of that state. Add to the game by learning state birds, state flowers and other state facts. Not all the state quarters have mottoes on them, so for this game to be successful, it helps to print out a master sheet of state mottoes to refer to and for your child to study before the game (see Resources).