Kids and trading

[Cruise]

I've seen a few posts that mention that some kids really have fun trading at the parks. Can anyone give me an idea of what age kids this woud be good for? Like... the kids that really enjoy it.. what age range do they seem to be in?

I have a nephew who turns 6 today and they'll be heading down to Disneyworld in a couple of months. I thought I might give him a lanyard and about 10 traders to get started with if it seems like he would enjoy it. Or do you think he would be too young to have his attention held by it?

Any thoughts?

Thanks!
Julie

[cathy1140]

Julie


We have a grangson that was 3 plus in Dec when we went to WDW I put a lanyard on him.. and he traded... He didn't talk but pointed to the pin he wanted and it turned out great... The Cast member were so good with him.. He's really shy and they understood.. At the pin trading event he will get attached to a certian CM and she would take him to the boards and again he would point and trade his pins...

And if he didn't see anything he would tell me... It was great fun..

Of course my son isn't too happy because he's getting to be like his grandmother!!

Cathy

[Cruise]

Well, I decided that I'd go on and add the lanyard and 10 traders to his Harry Potter DVD and just explain it to him afterwards since I was sure he would have no idea what the deal was with the "heavy necklace."

But after all that, it was the one present that he seemed the most "wowed" by the whole night. Opened it and just went "wow.. how cool...." and looked at all the pins, showed it around, etc. Then, of course, I had to explain it to him and then all the adults wanted to know about pin trading... heh.

So, we'll see how it goes when the goes to the park. But, if nothing else, he liked getting the lanyard and pins tonight

Julie

[curtessey]

Julie, I would suggest going into your DS now and picking up some pins for him to trade. They're on sale for 50% off. That makes them anywhere from about $2.50 to $4.50 and most of the pins at the parks start at about $6 each. This way, at least he'll have some pins to start trading with.

I stand corrected, just went a little further down on the postings and noticed that the stores now have them for 75% off! (I haven't been in my store since last weekend and didn't realize they'd been marked down further - guess I'll be picking some more up tomorrow!)

[Parkhopper]

An added suggestion would be to pick up several of the SAME pin. Our son, Tony was 6 when he started trading, but every time I put a pin on his lanyard for him to trade, he would take it right off and say "but I don't have this one yet in my collection!" It took me a few days to realize that I needed to buy 10 of the same pin so that he could trade his "duplicates"

Suzi

[curtessey]

That's so true Suzy. Maybe you should let him pick a few at the store that he likes to start his collection. I have several of the same pins of ones that I think will be popular. I especially like to get the ones I think the kids will like, cause I love trading with kids! It's great to see them get so excited when they get a pin they really want!

Can hardly wait for our trip!

[Cruise]

Oh, that's a really good idea about getting duplicates of the same pin. Unfortunatly, I didn't think of it before I bought the ones for his birthday! But I did go in today and get some of the 75% off pins. I didn't feel bad about giving him 10 traders at that price since we'd already bought him a DVD too.

Me? Spoil my nephews? Never....

Julie

[dizfamily]

My oldest dd (now 8 1/2) started pin trading when she was about 5 1/2 (our WDW trip Feb 2000). We've been back twice since then. March 2002 trip dd #2 was almost 3 (about a week or so before her bday) and I got her a lanyard and a few pins so she wouldn't feel left out. She QUICKLY caught on and was a great little trader! "I want that one and she wants this one" is what she'd say. She knew exactly what she wanted. She got very little help from us. Went again Dec 2002 and they both did more trading. They even did the pin trading night at the Contemporary. The CM's were really impressed with the 3 YO and how well she knew what she was doing with the trading!