United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Fort Worth, one of only two places in the United States where dollars are produced.  Free tours are offered Mon - Fri, but be warned, they don't give out any free samples.   

There was plenty of complaining this morning when I woke my kids up for a road trip to the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  As summer progresses, they are starting to sleep in a little later each day.  I called the day before, and they advised me of the best tour times for today, as some tours have large groups already scheduled.  The tours are offered every 30 minutes, but each tour has a maximum limit of 75.  

We arrived, went through a security check (similar to an airport), and loaded a bus painted to  resemble a dollar, for transport to the tour.  You want to see my picture of the bus?  Well, I would love to show it to you, but they do not allow any cameras, phones or electronics on the tour. 

Once inside, we were able to check out the many exhibits while we waited for our tour to begin.  My four year old loved the backward puzzle of a dollar bill!  There is also a short movie about the bureau, and a scavenger hunt for the kids! 

The tour is really informative, and was interesting.... but I found it hard to concentrate when you are looking at ALL THAT MONEY!  You wouldn't believe just HOW MUCH MONEY is produced there each day.  I'm not going to tell you though, because you really should go take the tour.   

And there is a gift shop.  They sell some unique items, and even uncut pages of bills. 

As we were leaving, we pointed out to the kids the line of visitors that stretched out the door and were waiting in the hot sun.  I felt vindicated, even if I never got an apology for all that early morning complaining! 

For more information, or to plan your own tour; http://www.moneyfactory.gov/tours/fortworthtxtours.html

A fun puzzle idea

As I said, my four year old really liked the puzzle exhibit in the museum.  He, like most young kids, likes all puzzles.  And that's great because puzzles address so many learning objectives, problem solving skills, geometry and hand eye coordination are among some of them.  As we were watching the kids play with the exhibit, my friend, Pam told me of something she had seen on Pinterest.

Using the inexpensive cardboard or wooden puzzles you can find at the dollar store, add magnets to the back of each of the pieces.  Then you can attach the puzzle to an old cookie sheet (hooray for recycling) for fun while traveling in the car, so the pieces don't get lost! 

As she is telling me this, the pieces of no less than 2 of those puzzles are scattered all over the floor of my suburban.  What a great idea!

And of course, you can bring it inside to play with on the refrigerator, too!