Dirty Money Coin Activity - Great for President's Day (or any day)

We did a fun little project this weekend in relation to President's day, but you could do this anytime!  My son loves collecting coins, and throughout my Pinterest travels (ah, Pinterest, how I love thee), I saw a cute, easy project for us to do.

Dirty Money Coin Activity - Good for President's Day or Any Day!

Supplies: 

• 10 - 15 coins from your wallet
• A plastic container
• Water
• Baking Soda
• Vinegar (any kind)
• Towel

How-To:

• Fill the tupperware container with water
• Put in the coins
• Add in a few shakes of baking soda
• Pour in a few teaspoons of vinegar
• An old toothbrush (if you have one!)
• Go to work!

The great thing about this experiment is that it covers a lot good bases.  You can:

• Observe the fizzing reaction when the vinegar meets the baking soda (kids love it!)
• Sort the coins by oldest to newest, or type, or dirtiest to cleanest. 
• Discuss how many people may have handled the coins, and what was going on in the year they were made.  My son loved seeing pennies older than I am!
• Talk about the various presidents on the coins.

I'm not sure if our coins were substantially cleaner when we were done, but it was a really fun exercise.  We didn't use any specific measurements - mainly a bit of this and a bit of that for the vinegar and the baking soda, but it all worked out!