There’s an old saying that goes, “Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you’ll have good luck!” And while the penny might be the symbol of good fortune that we all love to find, it turns out it’s got some other interesting uses as well — and all of them have to do with creating masterful DIY projects around your home. From floor upgrades to table finishes to makeshift tap shoes, there are a million and one uses for the coin that everyone seems to have but never takes to the store and spends. Now, you don’t have to feel so guilty about all those pennies you’ve stockpiled in a jar — you can actually put them to good use. We’ve chosen 20 of the best DIY penny projects below, so gather up your loose cents and start planning. A penny might be worth next to nothing, but what you can create with them are priceless.Who knew that something technically worth so little could be so valuable around the house?
For starters, if your kids want to try out tap dancing, this is a great way to avoid the high cost of tap shoes for a probable short-term interest.
Think of it as a little fun upgrade to the cute sneakers they already have.
How badass would it be to have an entire glowing floor of pennies in your home?
Make sure they’re all in the exact right location by putting pennies in the cracks to measure distance.
Stick a penny into the tread with Lincoln showing head-first. If the head is not completely covered and mostly visible, your treads aren’t up to snuff and you may need new tires.
Evidently snails don’t like copper. Their secretions react to the metal, providing a slight static electricity response that most snails want to avoid — which means you can use pennies to keep snails away from your garden!
Steady the furniture piece by adding one or more pennies underneath the short leg for stability. If you want a more permanent solution, glue the pennies in place.
Finally, something cute to do with all of that loose change.
Weights are sometimes added to curtain hems, so they can hang properly. For DIY curtain weights made from pennies, combine glue, paper clips, a few pennies, and slip these into the hem.
You can construct an elaborate penny hunt game with pennies carefully hidden around the room. When the kids find a penny, they place it on a number chart, reinforcing their recognition of numbers!
Use a large tub; add sterile sand or bagfuls of dried rice, a handful of pennies, and a piggy bank. The child can search through the sand and find some “treasure.”
Walter Michka of Money for Nothing recommends the value of picking up a penny off the ground. He figured out that if you pick up a penny every second of every minute for each hour, the wages add up to almost $75K per year! Not bad for a hard day’s work!
There are plenty of rare pennies that have more value than you would think, and collecting them and examining their dates and finishes can be something fun to do with the kids.
It might take you awhile, but it looks like the results would be worth it.
All you need are the right tools and you can write anything you want.
What’s not to love about this portrait of Abes– made of many little Abes, no less?
Can you believe how amazing this looks, despite the fact that it’s just made from pennies of all different ages and hues?
It might be too expensive to give your own home a copper roof, but at least you can do it to your birdhouse.
Why bother with diamonds and pearls when you can transform actual currency into the cocktail ring of your dreams?
