How to start a child on card collecting

[terjung]

Interesting question. I would first get him interested in the game of baseball and help him understand it reasonably well. I would imagine that it is much easier for him to gain an appreciation for the game and its players if he sees the game and understands it. That will lead him to want to cheer for a team / individual players. That is your entre into baseball cards. As he gains an interest in having low-end Topps cards, you can show him some cards of players that you watched and cheered for growing up. I think he would naturally appreciate that - especially if you can share some stories about them to make the retired players more real to him. That can lead to stories that grandpa and/or other people saw (and their cards). Ultimately, it turns into great players that we didn't get a chance to see play, but we can learn about them / appreciate them anyway. This is not an overnight proposition. First comes the interest in the game. Otherwise, you may as well show him pictures of great cricket players from 100 years ago.

[milkit1]

I am going to start by buying him soem older packs and explain to him how certain cards are worth money. That way he'll get the "playing the lotto" feeling that i had when i was young.

[Abravefan11]

I have a big box of 1987 Topps wood grains that I have saved just for my sons. If either of them show any interest in collecting I plan to give them that box and let them organize those, place them in binders, and just generally learn how to handle cards.

I hope they share my love of collecting but it's not something I will try and get them to do. It will happen naturally if it does.

[Ronnie]

I have 3 young boys that are 9, 8 and 6. I collect a little bit of everything from the 1910's to the present, but it took a while to figure out what would interest the kids. They became Red Sox fans first, and they each developed favorite players: Pedroia and Varitek. So I got them each an album and started them off with a few of each player. I then explained to them how when I was younger I would try to collect every Carl Yastrzemski card I could find, and showed them my boyhood Yaz collection. They thought that was very cool and decided to try to get as many different cards of their favorite player as possible.

Now I take them to shows and give them a few bucks, and they go seeking out Pedroia's and Varitek's. Thanks to them, I am now trying to fill in missing pieces of my childhood Yaz collection! I'm hoping someday they will develop a taste for the older cards, and I can pass some of my goodies on to them. If not, then I still will cherish the time when we were all looking to add new cards of our favorite player to our collection.