What do pirates collect? Treasure. What do kids collect? Tra…, well, they call it treasure. Seashells, rocks and coins are obvious items to collect. As are stickers, cars and trucks, and ponies. But there are other things, too. Collections can be all kinds of different objects from one place, one event, or from a trip or holiday. A collection can be all one color; a small foil tart container, a bit of silvery wrapping paper, some sparkly ribbon, a mismatched orphan spoon, and a shiny new dime make a silver collection. Kids use all kinds of vocabulary to talk about their collections. Explaining why one item can be part of a collection and another one can’t be gives children an opportunity to use reasoning skills. Organizing, choosing, evaluating, and comparing are a few other skills used in making a collection. We might call what kids collect just trash but the skills used are anything but. Can you share some suggestions for collections?