We had some fun polishing pennies on our Friday cleaning day. My daughters love to polish mirrors, wood, and silver and now we can add pennies to the list. They often take out their coins to look at them and play with them. We had no trouble finding pennies in need of polishing and the before and after difference is impressive.
I put a little vinegar into a small bowl and some salt and mixed it together. We used an old toothbrush to scrub the mixture onto the pennies (both sides).
Next, the penny was placed on a cloth and rubbed to dry.
They looked almost new, which makes me cringe to think how dirty money actually is. My daughters admired their work and put them back in their piggy banks for another day.
7 comments:
great idea! my daughter will love doing this.
Thank you for sharing! This is such a great activity. I need to try it!
We have soaked pennies in vinegar and salt to clean them, but I love the idea of doing each one by itself with a toothbrush, then drying it! I will definitely have to put this out as an activity for my son! BTW, coins are dirty, but it's the copper in pennies that oxidizes and makes them look that way. So - not really ALL dirt (thankfully!). :)
Do not do this copper and common vinegar create a chemical reaction that is both poisonous and absorbable throught the skin!
ps i do love your blog and all the great ideas!
I've checked around online about any unsafe reaction with vinegar and copper. I read nothing but positive information about cleaning pennies this way. I did read that if someone consumed vinegar (or a food with a lot of vinegar like ketchup) from a copper container they would become ill. There seems to be a reaction between vinegar and copper but it is more food related in which things would need to be ingested.
Fab idea, we've been doing some pretend shopping for about a month now with this song http://alljoinin.blogspot.com/2011/02/valentines-activities.html and I have been thinking must clean pennies they are disgusting but haven't got round to it. Job for little ones now I think, great idea
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