What Age Should I Introduce My Child To Stamp Collecting?

What age should I introduce my child to stamp collecting?

I have been hearing that often lately. The common consensus is at kindergarten class-attending age-which is 5 years old. But this isn't the ten commandments!. The majority of parents who ask and receive free stamp starter-kits from KNS tend to start their kids at an average of 7 years old.

I started my son much younger at 3.5 years old. He was first introduced to a nickel-plated pairs on tongs and we proceeded to dunk a handful of stamps on paper and separate them, pull them out of the water, dry them and then place them in drying books to flatten them out.

As he approachd 4 years old he was basically familiar with stamps in general and started to learn how to sort through them and ask questions of their different shapes, sizes, colours, people, animals, countries, etc.

I happen to think as a parent of two boys there are too many distractions (video games, sfx movies, cell phones) out in the world now than ever before. The earlier the better. They might not grow up to be stamp collectors for the rest of the lives but they will always treasure the time as father you put into making sure their education and entertainment is well-meaning and well-rounded.

Please keep those request coming. Free stamp starter-kits always available.

kidsneedstamps@yahoo.com

The Next Step: Stockbooks and Tongs

The next step once you have received your starter-kit of stamps is to obtain a stockbook, which is basically a black stamp album. Depending on the maker, the pre-made types are manufactured through KA-BE, Lighthouse, PARAT, Stanley Gibbons, Supersafe, Prinz Scott, G & K, each might have a white backing on the pages or black blackground. Each page will have slots, 8, 7, 6, 5, accomodating a vast number of sizes of the stamps. Obtaining of the these stockbooks is easy through the websites of various dealers or through Ebay. The average cost is about $20.

The second type of stockbook is the one you can create with vario pages. These pages set up with various sizes of stamps, blocks, sheets, etc. can be purchased for as little as $6 and have multiple holes for 3 or 4 ring binders that can be purchased in the office section of any large store. For less than half the cost of a pre-made you can put together your own stockbook. Vario pages are best purchased at Ebay. The page quality is all the same just the shipping price will be different and that is what you should factor when ordering. The Vario chart is too big to be pictured here but there is only a few the starting collector can actually use anyhow. The Vario page 6S, 7S & 8S are best for the starting collector. The number is how many horizonal rungs each page contains, the more rungs the smaller the space between. For larger stamps 8S is good and for much smaller thumbnail stamps, 6S is sufficient. The full Chart is available as an informational segment attachment upon request. Ebay stores and dealers usually have the chart available on their sites as well.

The next item necessary is called "tongs." A picture above shows what they look like--almost like a flat headed tweezer. The purpose is to keep the oil from your hands and fingers from tranferring upon the stamp; thus reducing its lifespan. The nickle-plated ones work perfectly fine. Shouldn't cost you any more than $4 for a pair. They now sell gold-plated ones but honestly you don't need them. I am still using the same tongs my father gave me 35 years ago.

The new collector must keep in mind that everything he/she needs for their collecting purposes are not available in any regular stores out there. If you are lucky to have a stamp store nearby, you might find their prices are far higher than the combine price and shipping of most anything on Ebay.

The most important lesson here is to get what you basically need to protect, store and enjoy the stamps. Folks out there easily get carried away with expensive and unnecessary supplies that in my opinion are not only a waste of money but also reduces a person's budget which should be spent on getting more stamps.