You can make this lovely historical portrait of our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, entirely out of pennies with the Abraham Lincoln Penny Portrait Kit. The kit comes with an 18″ x 24″ poster, a 1943 steel penny (copper was needed for the war, so they used steel for one year only) and a fact-filled informational booklet. All you need to do is find a few pennies and glue them on:

And by a “few” pennies, we mean you need 846 pennies (actually more like 845 since it comes with one already). You probably have that many in your couch cushions alone. If not, start saving now. It also comes with a penny collecting guide, which you’ll probably need. But if all the pennies are the same, how will it make a portrait? Simple, there are four different shades of pennies from shiny to “was buried in your yard for a few years”.

If you don’t have the right shades, the guide has some simple experiements to help you clean or discolor your coins to match what you need. If you want to pre-collect, start gathering up 349 shiny new, 112 lightly used, 97 well used, and 288 old as dirt pennies. Once you collect all your pennies it will take about 5-8 hours to complete the project. That’ll keep the kids busy for a while.

Lincoln’s Portrait Made of Pennies DIY Kit
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