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I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, “See a penny, pick it up. All day long, you’ll have good luck”. Did you know there’s an entire day set aside to celebrate the luck of the penny?
I know your residents will enjoy these fun activities, so be sure to add Lucky Penny Day to your calendar for May 23.
Reminisce
Ask your residents if they remember what they could buy for a penny when they were children. These are a few ideas our residents came up with:
- penny candy
- newspaper
- baseball card
- apple/orange
- arcade games at the county fair
- gum from a gumball machine
- postcard
Share Penny Trivia
Did you know that there have been 11 unique designs printed on pennies over the years? Or that the U.S. produces 30 million pennies every year? Check out these other fascinating penny facts.
Support A Charity
Help your residents pick out a charity they would like to support. Then ask all volunteers and employees to bring in any pennies they find at home, in their cars, or in their pockets. After a week or two, you’ll be surprised how much money you’ve collected!
You can also fill a jar with pennies and invite everyone to guess how many it contains. Charge $1 for each guess and provide a fun prize for the winner. (You’ll probably want to allow residents to guess for free.)
Play Penny Ante
This is a super fun game to play with your residents. Begin with a big bowl of pennies in the center of a table. Pass out several pennies to each person around the table. Each player takes a card and follows its instructions. (You can either purchase cards or make your own.)
Examples of instructions could be:
“Take a penny from the bowl if you’re a grandma.”
“Give a penny to each person with green eyes.”
“Take a penny if you’ve been to Hawaii.”
After a specified amount of time, the resident with the most pennies is the winner.
Bake Penny Cookies
Your residents are sure to enjoy making these old-fashioned penny cookies. They’re delicious when served with a tall glass of milk.
Penny Cookies
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 cup brown sugar, (firmly packed)
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, (softened)
- 1/4 cup molasses
- granulated sugar to coat cookies
- Stir together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and ginger.
- Cream the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Stir in the molasses and egg. Mix thoroughly. Stir in the flour mixture.
- Cover the dough and refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm enough to roll into balls.
- Scoop the dough with a small spoon and roll into 1/2 inch balls, then roll in the granulated sugar.
- Place cookie balls on an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving 2 inches between cookies.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Do you have other ideas for celebrating Lucky Penny Day? Please share in the comment section!
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