Collectible Idea for Toddler? About This Page:

[poohbr2015]

I have been thinking lately that I would love to start doing something special for ds on each of our trips, like find something in the parks to collect so that as he gets older he may continue to collect the item on each trip. If that makes sense. I was thinking of the pressed pennies. I think ds who will be 18 months when we are in Disney would love to help with the process of making the penny. I am just not sure if that is something you can really continue on other trips, like do the machines ever change, do they add new ones, do you make a plan to search for specific ones on each trip? I am not sure. Pins are great, but he is still a little young to actually pick out pins that he likes, he would want all of them since he loves all of the characters. I think I am going to do an autograph book this time, because I think he would definately get the hang of giving it to the characters once we initially showed him. He is very smart, sometimes too smart for his own good!! I am just trying to come up with some ideas even if they are things that get tucked away in a memory box, that he can look back at when he is older.

[Landons_Mommy]

Originally Posted by poohbr2015

I have been thinking lately that I would love to start doing something special for ds on each of our trips, like find something in the parks to collect so that as he gets older he may continue to collect the item on each trip. If that makes sense. I was thinking of the pressed pennies. I think ds who will be 18 months when we are in Disney would love to help with the process of making the penny. I am just not sure if that is something you can really continue on other trips, like do the machines ever change, do they add new ones, do you make a plan to search for specific ones on each trip? I am not sure. Pins are great, but he is still a little young to actually pick out pins that he likes, he would want all of them since he loves all of the characters. I think I am going to do an autograph book this time, because I think he would definately get the hang of giving it to the characters once we initially showed him. He is very smart, sometimes too smart for his own good!! I am just trying to come up with some ideas even if they are things that get tucked away in a memory box, that he can look back at when he is older.

I kinda started something like this for DS who turned 1 on his very 1st trip to wdw back in may, dh and I started pin trading for him, I know he is only 1 and doesn't understand but we got him pins of his fav characters, like mickey mouse club house, handy manny, cars, we also got him a chef mickey's pin since his bday dinner was there and also all star sports pin since we were staying there, so you could do tht. We also bought him a autograph book, & we also got him a sfari mickey figure to start collecting them & also I'm making him a scrapbook of our trip. so I hope maybe tht helps you or makes you feel better about wanting to start collecting for him, we are going back in dec ds will be 18 months & we are looking foward to getting him more pins and doing our own pin trading, and getting him more safari characters.

so good luck!!

[CinderAbby]

The pressed pennies do change over time. There were I'd say between 20 and 30 new ones this year from last year when we went - and that's not including the new Wall-E and Prince penny series. And since it's becoming such a big thing, there are pressed pennies all over so it's something as he gets older, he can get pennies from other places, not just Disney World. Here in MA, we have them at the zoos, the aquarium, the museums, a couple of historical parks and even our local Bass Pro shop.

PennyCollector.com - The official website for elongated pennies, penny books and penny machines This website will give you an idea of how many are out there

Presscoins.com - The Unofficial Walt Disney World Pressed Coin Guide This website is just for Disney World

[bitterchickey]

Both are great ideas. They both can take up very little space in the right storage vessels. I would especially get any pins that "commemorate" anything, like a bday, or a holiday that occurs while you're there, etc.

[hockeyguysmom]

My older son pressed his 1st penny waiting for the Country Bear Jamboree when he was about 2 years old. He now has about 40 pennies from WDW and many more from various zoos, childrens museums and amusement parks that we have been to. We don't go over board on our trips, maybe just 10-20 per trip. One of the reasons that we don't go looking too much is that alot of the penny machines are in stores and my boys can't be slowed down going into the stores.

We like to look for penny machines that will mean something special for that trip. One from the resort we stayed at, ones from rides that they really enjoyed or characters that they are into at that point in their lives. There are thousands of possible images to get so there will always be something left for "the next time".

[SARH7]

I think pressed pennies would be something he could help with...most of them have buttons you push..the crank ones are harder to do...sometimes I have trouble!!! LOL!

We didn't start an autograph book for dd until our last trip...she was 5. I never did it before because she didn't seem to notice the other kids doing it. I wanted to wait until she really understood what was going on and could get really excited about it. She had a ball last time and just had to get as many autographs as possible!!

We haven't done pin trading either...possibly this year (she's 6 now)....but maybe not till next year. We'll see what happens when we get there

[eff051102]

I'm going to start collecting Disney Figures for DD. I like the Lenox ones the best
so my hope is to buy one on each trip. I have a cabinet in DD's room that I have
some of my baby items in as well as some family treasures so the figures will
look great there.

My DM collected figures for me and I still have them (packed away until DD is
older).

[Kynna]

When My kids were toddlers we collected those wash cloths that expand when they go in water. Then they would have a little Disney at bath time. My kids still use them as beach towels for their dolls. Also we get a Disney edition matchbox car every trip. He couldn't play with them now but when he got older he would have a collection he could play with or have on display.

[Meganlovesthemouse]

I have started collecting postcards for my DS. Not only do I buy them in Disney World, but on all our trips. I figure no matter where we go, they will sale postcards and they are cheap. I bought a travel photo album with a world map on it at Joann's to put on the postcards in. On the back of the postcards I write the dates of travel and who traveled with us. I hope that he continues this tradition when he gets older.

[srsatkowiak]

I think the pressed pennies are a great idea, the only thing that I don't like about them is if they aren't taken care of or a "good" penny isn't used they will tarnish and oxidize over time...then you have to clean and etc...but overall it is a perfect thing for kids to collect and inexpensive. To add to the comment from a pp...we also see pressed pennies all over the place. We just recently went on vacation in northern MI and a lot of the tourist attractions had them.

I also think that Pins are a great collectors items as well. Even though he is young, you can pick out one from each park that you think represents him the best and then when he is old enough he can do it himself.

[MaryEL8775]

I just buy the photo album with the year on it. This way it works to store all of our memories and reminds me of what year we were there.

[poohbr2015]

I think I am going to do the pressed pennies, get a few special pins (we did buy the 1st Trip pin for ds on our last disney trip) and I love the matchbox car idea! I know ds is only 16 1/2 months but he actually has matchbox cars and plays with them. He is always supervised by the way. He just loves cars and trucks, tractors etc and like I said before he is definately smart for his age. He has about 19 matchbox cars and we just bought him the matchbox garage to play with. He loves to drive the cars around on the furniture or down the ramp in the little garage. I bought him 3 two weeks ago and he pretty much wouldn't put them down, so since then dh and I have bought him several more. He gets so excited when we pick new ones out at the store. We didn't buy the storage box for them becuase it has these little tiny spots for hte cars, instead we pulled out an old popcorn container from Disney (actually last christmas) and we put his cars in there when they are not being played with.

Thank you for the ideas!

[MinnieJen]

Just in case you sre still looking for ideas. I hope this is ok, as I do not know what holidays you might celebrate. It is meant with the best of intentions. My husbands family actually started this one and we now do it for our boys. Every year Santa brings a special ornament that he picked out just for the kiddos. Then mommy writes in very tiny print on the bottom or back the year and which boy it was for. My MIL did this for my husband and his two brothers their whole lives and when the boys got married she gave the ornaments to them. It was so neat to look through all the ornaments for my husband and we put them on a special small tree in the front office of our house every year. It is very special to us. I know DLR and WDW have a store year round that does sell very beautiful ornaments. Just a thought....

[poohbr2015]

You know, its funny that you mention the ornaments because last Dec on ds's first trip we bought an ornament and had them personalize it with ds's 1st trip and the date. We love the christmas shop and even before ds was born, we always come home from disney with some new special ornaments whether it is for the resort we stayed at or just a few that we pick out. I think I will continue to do that for ds, even let him sort of choose one and mark the year. Thanks!

[Jengi4]

One more idea that I've seen is to take a picture of him in a special spot, and every year take that same picture. What a great way to watch him grow! Have fun.