Beginning Stamp Class - Techniques & Materials

Hi, Tom.

I haven't had time to check the forum lately, so I am just now reading your posts about the stamp class you are starting. What wonderful news!

There are many, many resources online that you can use.

First of all, you might like to use the Boy Scout's stamp collecting merit badge program for some ideas one what to teach. A PowerPoint of all the topics they need to learn can be found here: http://www.wfscstamps.org/Youth/

Also on this page (from the Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs) are club leader resources, games, activities, etc. etc.

The American Topical Association's website has a youth page with a beginner's guide and a publication called "Topical Tidbits" that focuses on a different topic each issue. These pages can be printed for free. I use a lot of these as stand alone activities with my stamp club.

There are also a few youth pages on the American First Day Cover Society's website. (Not too many, though. I do all the work for the above mentioned sites and don't have much time for the AFDSC, unfortunately!)

One thing I have found that kids love are scavenger hunts. I have made many of these that I can email you if you PM me. There are ones for Australian stamps, stamp collecting terms, the color red, etc.

Please let me know if you need anything specific. I may have it and would be glad to share.

Good luck!
Aimee

Thanks for the encouragement. I will email you with my proposed syllabus and let you guide me through.

Hi, Tom.

Your syllabus looks good. I sent some suggestions along with lots of links for specific activities that you could print out. If making copies is an issue, you can always print out just a few and slide them into page protectors. The kids can use dry erase markers to do the activities and then wipe them clean for someone else to use.

Let me know if there's anything else you need.

Aimee

The history and geography of stamps is the reason I got into stamps 50 years ago when I was ten years old!

I spoke to APS yesterday and they have more material for me. I'm so blessed that people are being so helpful.

I think teaching them how to use a catalog would be a useful topic for your course. Many public libraries have the current Scott catalogs on reserve and at least one prior year's catalogs in their circulating collection (my library has the prior three years for circulation.) If you could bring into your classroom some circulating catalogs and a handful of stamps, you could then set the students, perhaps in small groups, to looking up the stamps in the catalogs.

jrae, great idea!

one thing beginners will have difficulty with is just identifying what country some stamps come from

One other thing you might be interesting for kids might be to tie in some form of family history. A photo of Grandma and a short story about her and her country's history with corresponding stamps. Might keep their interests a little more.

I like the family history idea.

Here's what I think would be a great activity for your class, tom:

https://www.nalc.org/news/the-posta...graceful.pdf

an excellent idea
Tom

I have spent the last few years volunteering with a kids club in NYC. Here are a few things I think meaningful:
One of the most important questions to ask each child is "what do you like, what interests you". Then find stamps to match those interests. Kids all start out as topical collectors. Feed that idea. Start with a short presentation showing the variety of ways stamps can be collected, show stamps from all eras and interesting uses. Try to show esoteric items like a stampless cover, a space cover, animals, nature, sports, etc, a penny black if you have one is an awesome thing to kids. Take it slow with the technical jargon, introduce it a little at a time over the weeks. Kids LOVE it when a big pile of stamps is put out on a table and they are all told, go find 20 stamps you like. Then you can ask them why they like them, and use that info in the future. Use current events, and use any historic events or people that fall near the date you are meeting.

Revcollector,
You are such a wonderful asset to this forum as your knowledge extends into so many facets of stamps. I'm sorry to say I don't have a penny black but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Thanks again for your solid suggestions.

One of the great stamps to give to kids after a few weeks of meetings is a used 2 cent Columbian. Kids get very impressed by getting something 120+ years old (at their age even a 30 year old is ancient)and it is a great way to teach that age does not equal valuable. With 1,464,588,750 issued they will never be scarce and it can help show what quantities can be (and it's not even the largest quantity ever issued which is Scott 1008 for postage and C39 for airmail).