Cheap and Fun Summer Activities to do at Home
Kids are out of school, and they are likely already telling you how “bored” they are every day. What can you do to beat the summer blues and not spend a lot of money to entertain your kids?
Take a look at the following fun and inexpensive ideas:
- Volunteer in your community. Show your children that it can be fun to help others. See if there are any volunteer opportunities at your local pet shelter, church, summer camp or community garden. Kids will feel good about helping others, and this could prove to be a very rewarding and memorable experience for them.
- Visit a farmers market. During the late spring and summer months, many communities have farmer’s markets set up. There will be individuals selling all types of healthy and fresh fruits, vegetables, breads and tasty treats.
- Set up a lemonade stand. Kids will have fun designing and creating a stand, and they will also learn the value of a dollar from all the work they do to prepare and sell the drinks.
- Have a backyard campout. You don’t have to drive anywhere to go “camping.” Set up a tent or two in your backyard, cook s’mores over the grill, tell ghost stories, and look up at the stars!
- Try homemade recipes. Kids love to help out in the kitchen. Take some time to look up fun, kid-friendly recipes. Try out a homemade pizza dough, or make fresh chocolate chip cookies for ice cream sandwiches.
- Go for a walk and have a scavenger hunt. This will get the kids out of the house and exercising. Create a scavenger hunt for them, and put simple-to-find items on the list, such as a maple tree, a brown dog, a fire hydrant, and so on.
- Go biking. There may be a trail near your home. Take the kids on a bike ride and get some fresh air.
- Write and illustrate your own book. This will help your kids get creative. Have them come up with a story line and offer to help them type everything with a computer. They can piece together drawings for the book using everyday arts and crafts materials, such as construction paper, crayons and markers.
- Get some sidewalk chalk. There is washable sidewalk chalk available in many different colors. Kids will have hours of fun drawing on the driveway, sidewalk, or backyard patio.
- Go to a local, free museum. Many people don’t realize that there may be free museums in their own town. A lot of historical societies have community museums which are free to visit, and they can share a wealth of history about the town.
These are just a few fun and inexpensive activities that you and your children can take part in this summer. We hope that you create many fun memories and have a great 2016 summer!