A History of a Charity in Twenty Objects - #14
#14. Coins & Paper Currency
This Guy Fox money is just one example of the resources we design for our workshops. To bring a topic to life, we believe in making it real for the children.
Who’re we kidding? Making these resources is fun, too!
When we get the nod for a new project, we put on our thinking caps and our scarves of imagination. We consider the project topic from all angles, and we ask ourselves, what do we need to do to bring this to life for a 10-year old? Props, activities, costumes, resources… what does this topic demand?
For example, to explore the history of Lloyd’s of London, we turned a classroom in Brick Lane into a 17th century coffee shoppe. Our volunteers dressed as ship owners who needed to insure their cargos; the children became underwriters, deciding which risks to underwrite and then negotiating the premiums.
Our facilitator, in costume as Edward Lloyd, sold coffee and rang a bell when it was time to announce the shipping news.
When the news was good, the young underwriters breathed a sigh of relief, but when their ships were lost, they paid out, reluctantly, to the ship owners. In the week between workshops, the ship captains sent letters as they traveled around the world, which turned our history and financial literacy project into a geography lesson as well.
For our Magna Carta project, we transformed a classroom in Peckham into a medieval castle, complete with stone walls, tapestries, suits of armour and minstrel music. We made quill pencils for the children and we paid them for their work – with Guy Fox money, obviously.
The best – and worst! – part was King John. A regally-robed actor who was fond of stroking his goatee interrupted our workshops to bully the children and demand tax money and tributes.
Having worked hard for that money, the children weren’t keen to hand it over. Far from it.
Their grumblings about ‘fairness’ led to heated discussions about what we could do stop King John. Ultimately, they decided to write down their demands and confront him.
Where better to confront King John than Runnymede?
This Guy Fox money is just one example of the resources we design for our workshops. To bring a topic to life, we believe in making it real for the children.
Who’re we kidding? Making these resources is fun, too!
When we get the nod for a new project, we put on our thinking caps and our scarves of imagination. We consider the project topic from all angles, and we ask ourselves, what do we need to do to bring this to life for a 10-year old? Props, activities, costumes, resources… what does this topic demand?
For example, to explore the history of Lloyd’s of London, we turned a classroom in Brick Lane into a 17th century coffee shoppe. Our volunteers dressed as ship owners who needed to insure their cargos; the children became underwriters, deciding which risks to underwrite and then negotiating the premiums.
Our facilitator, in costume as Edward Lloyd, sold coffee and rang a bell when it was time to announce the shipping news.
When the news was good, the young underwriters breathed a sigh of relief, but when their ships were lost, they paid out, reluctantly, to the ship owners. In the week between workshops, the ship captains sent letters as they traveled around the world, which turned our history and financial literacy project into a geography lesson as well.
For our Magna Carta project, we transformed a classroom in Peckham into a medieval castle, complete with stone walls, tapestries, suits of armour and minstrel music. We made quill pencils for the children and we paid them for their work – with Guy Fox money, obviously.
The best – and worst! – part was King John. A regally-robed actor who was fond of stroking his goatee interrupted our workshops to bully the children and demand tax money and tributes.
Having worked hard for that money, the children weren’t keen to hand it over. Far from it.
Their grumblings about ‘fairness’ led to heated discussions about what we could do stop King John. Ultimately, they decided to write down their demands and confront him.
Where better to confront King John than Runnymede?
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We took the children to Runnymede.
When they saw King John, riding his papier-mâché horse across the meadow, their anger bubbled over. They chased him down. They cornered him at the pavilion and forced him to put his seal on their list of demands.
When they saw King John, riding his papier-mâché horse across the meadow, their anger bubbled over. They chased him down. They cornered him at the pavilion and forced him to put his seal on their list of demands.
King John later admitted, he hadn’t needed to act like he was scared. His fear was genuine.
We’ve turned a classroom into the Houses of Parliaments to learn how laws are passed. We’ve delivered Guy Fox Financial News daily so that children could track the value of their shares. We’ve dressed as airline pilots. We’ve scripted a criminal trial for a Roald Dahl character and have created all the evidence to support the case. We’ve designed investment portfolios, bank statements, and equity trading and underwriting games.
The money is the most interesting resource, though. Sure, it’s cute and it’s well-produced. The coins are real coins – with a nice weight and ‘In Guy Fox We Trust’ embossed on the obverse. But Guy Fox money has no value; you can’t buy anything with it!
We know this; and the children know this, intellectually. And yet, somehow, there’s something about it.
Kourtney keeps a Guy Fox £10 note in her wallet. It was a ‘tip’ from a child in our Asset Management project. He’d invested his money well, had understood risk and reward, and had diversified his investments. As a result, he had just become a millionaire.
A Guy Fox millionaire, but a millionaire nonetheless.
After the workshop, he gave Kourtney that £10 note, saying, “Here, buy yourself lunch. You did a great job today and you deserve it,” and then he winked.
That wink said it all.
It tells us, without a doubt, that the children are doing their part to make it real, too.
We’ve turned a classroom into the Houses of Parliaments to learn how laws are passed. We’ve delivered Guy Fox Financial News daily so that children could track the value of their shares. We’ve dressed as airline pilots. We’ve scripted a criminal trial for a Roald Dahl character and have created all the evidence to support the case. We’ve designed investment portfolios, bank statements, and equity trading and underwriting games.
The money is the most interesting resource, though. Sure, it’s cute and it’s well-produced. The coins are real coins – with a nice weight and ‘In Guy Fox We Trust’ embossed on the obverse. But Guy Fox money has no value; you can’t buy anything with it!
We know this; and the children know this, intellectually. And yet, somehow, there’s something about it.
Kourtney keeps a Guy Fox £10 note in her wallet. It was a ‘tip’ from a child in our Asset Management project. He’d invested his money well, had understood risk and reward, and had diversified his investments. As a result, he had just become a millionaire.
A Guy Fox millionaire, but a millionaire nonetheless.
After the workshop, he gave Kourtney that £10 note, saying, “Here, buy yourself lunch. You did a great job today and you deserve it,” and then he winked.
That wink said it all.
It tells us, without a doubt, that the children are doing their part to make it real, too.