Kids Collectables Keyrings

All shapes and sizes

Keyrings do come in all shapes, sizes and materials. The globe to the right seems to be surprisingly accurate and could even be a help remembering your geography, just don't tell the child it's educational, let them discover that for themselves.

Of course, a keyring collection need not only be for a child, some of them are definitely intended for adults but I know I would have enjoyed having the World on a keyring when I was very young. It isn't necessary to have any keys to go with keyrings, although keys (especially old ones) can also be collectable and is another area where children can enjoy a collection. If you're lucky, you can pick up old, interestingly shaped keys at junk shops or yard sales.

If you're a collector of anything yourself, there's no better way to occupy a child while you browse than suggesting they rummage through a bargain box for what they are collecting.

Useful keyrings

The leather purse keyring in the bottom left corner of the lens photo is a really useful item, it can hold up to six £1 coins. An emergency stash of change, just in case.

There are many useful types of keyrings. Elsewhere on this lens you'll see a bottle opener, definitely a guy thing going on there, and in my long gone collection, I had one that was a very small notebook and pencil.

You may have seen that the fastenings on these keyrings vary enormously, some are stronger than others. It's only important if you intend to use the keyrings but you should be aware that many fastenings are easily broken and you may want to consider this if the collection is for a very young child. Most children go through a 'clumsy' stage, this is purely because at certain times their body and strength grows faster than their mind can keep up with and so they are prone to holding things too tight or applying too much pressure to an item than is good for it.

If the child is under 10 years old, it's best to try and get sturdy items for them as it can be a very upsetting time for a child when they accidentally break things due to their strength outgrowing them.

Natural keyrings

To the right is an acorn, sealed with varnish and it must be glued into its cup, so it will not be a viable oak tree I'm sure. It's quite a neat idea and it would be a simple thing to obtain the appropriate fittings and set children to making little keyrings like this,using pine cones, stones, shells and other natural objects as gifts for Grandma, cousins, aunties etc.

I use homeopathic medicines which come in very small 'jars' only about 2.5 inches tall and just around half an inch in diameter. It would be a very simple matter to make a small hole in the lid, fit a keyring into it, fill the jar with sand or sparkles or anything tiny (a very small fairy) and then glue the lid shut. Apart from drilling the hole in the lid, this is also something children could easily do and the end result would be a unique and very personal gift for a teacher, a friend or relative.

Figural keyrings

This little dog is made from china and is really advertising St Bruno tobacco, perhaps not an ideal keyring for a child to have in a collection - unless you can come up with another reason why the dog is called St Bruno.

Many manufacturers produce (or have produced for them) advertising keyrings, many of which are great fun and can often be had for free, just for the asking.

Of course, most cars come with a keyring advertising either the make of vehicle or the garage it was purchased from, it's probably a boy thing more than a girl thing, but these can also be collected and, again, can often be had for free, especially if a child requests one.

It's a great way to teach a child about politeness, having them write a short, neat letter to a business asking for a freebie for their collection and often businesses will send back an equally polite reply with several free items. It can be a good idea to include a photograph of the child's collection with the letter or, with a bit of computer magic, print out a few pages with small photos of the collection the child has and enough space for the child to hand write their request.

Not quite so useful

It's fine as a keyring but I wouldn't want to rely on it as a compass.

Some keyrings which look practical really aren't. They're more of a gimmick than being a useful item. This compass is an excellent example since you would undoubtedly be lost if you tried to navigate by it. The metal ring attached to the compass probably doesn't help to increase any accuracy but even without that, North is just a very vague direction and you could easily end up closer to East than North.

I'm sure there are keyrings with totally practical applications but you need to carefully check before relying on them and really just regard them as a bit of fun.

Nevertheless, these are just as desirable in a collection and children will not be too fussy about the accuracy of something like this.

You'll find there are keyrings available which cover every outdoor activity you can imagine and a collection could easily be formed around outdoor activities alone.

Whether you have a niche collection or a general collection, there is no shortage of different styles of keyring to choose from.

Cap lifter keyring

I wanted to specifically mention this little crab claw cap lifter keyring. Again, it may not be entirely suitable for a young child, but this is another type of keyring which could be had for free.

This particular one is for the Worthington Cup, a football competition (that's soccer in the US) sponsored by Worthington's brewery.

Most breweries etc have this sort of thing to hand out as freebies and you may well find other types of keyring bottle openers are available, not only from breweries but soft drinks manufacturers and food producers as well. It is always worth asking local businesses and national producers.

Why start a collection for a child?

Why start a collection for a child?

Starting a collection when you are very young has some great advantages for any child and some might surprise you.

1 It helps a child learn to be careful with precious objects - you don't have to teach it, they want to take care with their collection.

2 The child will want to try and keep their collection neat and tidy and you can help them do so, help make a box to keep the collection in.

3 Being a collector gives the child (even at a very young age) a sense of their identity "I'm a collector" is a wonderful thing to be able to say when you are 5 years old.

4 It encourages them to learn and, in many senses, teaches them the importance of learning as they want to find out more about the items they collect.

You should try to provide as much back-up to the child as possible by helping them find books about the items they are collecting. You can buy the books or borrow them from your local library. Most libraries will be happy to get a book in for you if they don't actually carry it normally themselves, they simply request to borrow it from another public library.

Researching the items that are collected can be great fun, always supervise any online research.

Allow the child to develop their interest as far as they would like and if they want to start a different collection then support that decision all the way. I have many collections, the majority of which are increasing in value while I enjoy looking at them.

Have a great time exploring the world of collectables.

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