Where is My Money Made?

My son is lucky to have a grandmother who collects coins. She got him started young with a collection of all the state quarters. A week ago, my son pulled out his collector’s book and we began to read the introductory pages that discussed where the coins are made – at a mint (which I explained was NOT the same as candy) in either Philadelphia or Denver.

The book went on to explain that you can tell which mint the coins were made at by looking at the “heads” side of the coin. Either a small “P” or “D” will be stamped on the coin to indicate either Philadelphia or Denver.

A few days later, I printed a blank U.S. map from ColoringCastle.com and had him look for and color the states where these two mints were located. Then I gave him 10 of each type of coin (quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies). First he sorted the coins into four piles. Then, he looked at each to find the “P” or “D” and charted where each was made on a worksheet I’d created. The question we were trying to answer was where most of our money was made. (I have to admit, even I was intrigued.)

When it was all done, he counted the boxes on the chart and discovered that an overwhelming majority of our coins were made out west. To finish the activity, I had him circle Colorado on the U.S. map. This was a fun activity that we both enjoyed; it taught him a little about geography and a lot about money and counting.

If you want a copy of this worksheet, download it here.