Cleaning Coins

Today I did quick research on what to do with the kids and took an activity out of my The Preschoolers Busy Book (ages 3 to 6 version), by Trish Kuffner. You put dish soap and water in a bowl and give each child coins to scrub with a tooth brush. I put their bowl on a towel lessens spills that go onto the floor. I thought this would get old quickly so I figured we could name the coins and sort the coins into piles of each type. We did do this, but it was after about 20 minutes of scrubbing the coins and I am not even sure they were done when I had them dry their coins off. I am always amazed at what simple task can entertain kids.
M had the idea to use ketchup, which they apparently used in kindergarten. We tried it also. It seemed to clean the coins a bit better, but was messier. The kids really preferred the soapy water anyway, so I gave everyone clean bowls and they cleaned their coins again.