Adventures In Coins: Easy Coin Activities For Wolf Scouts

Adventures In Coins is a Wolf elective adventure where kids look closely at coins—what’s on them, where they were made, and the stories those little details tell.

Families can do this at home with a handful of spare change, or dens can use it as a hands-on activity.

What Wolves Will Do

Complete all 4 requirements:

Identify different parts of a coin
Find the mint mark, and name the mint and the year
Play a coin game
Make a coin rubbing and list the pictures, year, and mint

Supplies You’ll Need

A few coins (pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters work great)
Our FREE Coin Rubbing Printable
Crayon or pencil (crayon works best for rubbings)
Magnifying glass (optional, but kids love it)

Step-By-Step Activities

1. Identify The Parts Of A Coin

Look at both sides of a coin together and name what you see.

Common parts to point out:

Heads (obverse): the face or main portrait
Tails (reverse): the other side’s main design
Date: the year it was made
Mint mark: a tiny letter that tells where it was made
Edge: smooth or reeded (ridged)
Denomination: how much it’s worth (1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢)

Quick fun challenge: Have your Wolf design a made-up coin on paper—what would go on heads, tails, and the edge?

2. Find The Mint Mark And Year

Help your Wolf find:

The year on the coin
The mint mark (a tiny letter near the date or elsewhere on the design)

Common U.S. mint marks:

P — Philadelphia
D — Denver
S — San Francisco
W — West Point
No mint mark — Many Philadelphia coins have no mint mark, including most pennies.

Try a penny pile: dump out a handful of pennies and sort them by mint letter, then by year.

3. Play A Coin Game

Pick one simple game:

Coin Basketball

Set a small cup or bowl on the floor
Flick or gently toss coins toward it
Keep score by how many land inside

Coin Wars

Flip coins into a pile
Add up the values
First to a set amount (like $1.00) wins

Egg Hunt Coins

Hide plastic eggs with coins inside
Kids find the eggs and count what’s inside

4. Make A Coin Rubbing

Place a coin under a sheet of paper like our free printable.
Rub lightly with the side of a crayon
Next to the rubbing, write: what pictures are on the coin, the year, and the mint (from the mint mark)

Tip: darker crayons show detail better than markers.