Do you sometimes run out of ways to keep your kids entertained and active when they’re not in school?
Kids have tons of energy and love to get out and see new things. Their high level of energy doesn’t have to be matched by expensive outings though.
A trip to Disneyland or the new water resort sounds fun, but may not always be in the budget. Luckily, family fun doesn’t have to cost a fortune especially if you have young children.
With a little creativity and planning, you can find plenty of interesting things to do in the upcoming months. Here are 10 frugal and fun activities to do with kids this summer.
1. Plant a Garden
Kids of all ages can help out with yard work and gardening. Planting a garden for the summer and growing your own fruits and vegetables can be a learning experience for everyone and give your family a consistent project to tend do. You can even gather a few rocks to arrange around the garden and let your kids paint and decorate them.
2. Enjoy Music in the Park
Most cities have free ‘music in the park’ days in the summer featuring live music from bands and other groups. Some evenings have a theme with family friendly activities but either way, it’s a great opportunity to get your child up and moving.
3. Go Bowling
My son and I love to go bowling together and it’s a fun and affordable way for us to get out of the house. Since I had his 5th birthday party at a bowling alley, we still have tons of free game coupons to use.
But the key to bowling for cheap is finding a bowling alley near you with weekly specials and discounts. Our local bowling alley has $1 games on Sundays that we usually take advantage of. In the summer, there’s also a nationwide program called Kids Bowl Free that provides kids with 2 free games of bowling daily all summer long during week days.
4. Build a Sandcastle
Most people love the beach. The best part about visiting a nearby beach in the summer is that it’s usually free (if it’s not a man-made beach). Taking the kids to the beach for the day is the perfect way to relax, get some sun, and build sand castles together. Kids are often fascinated with sand and can play at the beach for hours without getting bored. All you need is a bucket 🙂
5. Plan for a Day Outside
Some days in the summer are so nice that you just want to get out of the house but don’t really want to do anything exhausting or spend too much money. Luckily, there are plenty of creative and fun things you can do right in your backyard. Start with a mid-day picnic in your yard or at the park. Then you can go for a bike ride around the neighborhood, fly kites, or feed ducks by the pond.
6. Create Art Together
Kids love to paint. It’s just a little known fact that they get even more excited when adults sit down and paint with them. Head over to the dollar store and grab a few different paint colors and finger paint together at home with some playful music in the background to create a relaxing afternoon of creating cool art.
7. Make Your Own Pizzas
Homemade pizza always tastes way better than the frozen stuff. Cooking with your child is a great way to bond and if they love pizza, they’ll be excited to help prepare their meal. Grands has a tasty mini pizza recipe you can try out or you can make a custom pizza with ingredients of your choice. Making pizzas is a perfect activity to accompany a family movie night or game night.
8. Explore The World From Your Home
It’s important to teach your kids about the world around them, even if it’s just from your home. A fun way to do this during the summer is to learn about a new country each week.
Gather facts online and visit your local library to find books to read together about certain countries. Find a fun fact about the culture and try to imitate it whether it’s a game, clothing item etc. You can also try to create a small dish or snack that is common in that country and pull up some traditional music on YouTube to listen to as you cook. French bread would be a yummy treat to represent France.
9. Sell Lemonade or Baked Goods
This is a fun activity that will also help kids learn more about basic money skills. Setting up a lemonade stand is something everyone should do at least once when they are a kid. Has your child done one yet?
Another option would be to have your kids help bake and decorate cupcakes and other treats to host a bake sale at your local church or charity event.
10. Make a Birdhouse out of Popsicle Sticks
You might need to prep for this one several weeks in advance and eat lots of popsicles in the meantime, or you can just buy a box of craft sticks at the store. The only other item you’ll really need is glue and a base for the house that you can easily remove to add and remove bird treats.
What is your favorite frugal activity to do with kids? What are you looking forward to doing with your family this summer?
These are some great ideas! My kids don’t go to school, so I am ALWAYS on the lookout for new ideas to keep them occupied.
Trying to keep kids entertained is probably the best motivaton to increase your level of creativity. Thanks for the comment Sarah!
I actually just started creating a list of things to do. This is a great list! Two activities that I’m planning for sure are creating a fairy garden in our large planter and making tie dye shirts. I really love your birdhouse out of popsicle sticks idea… that could be built and then placed in our fairy garden too. 😉
That’s smart that you are creating a giant list before the summer season hits and the themed garden idea is soo cute 🙂 Making tie-dye shirts is another great idea and something I really enjoyed doing growing up.
Now that my boys are a bit older can’t wait to make tents with boxes out side in the yard. They love “building forts” inside the house. This will keep them entertain for a while this summer.
That sounds fun! It’s so cool how kids can make fun out of literally anything.
We’ve done the Kids Bowl Free program for years and love it. I really like the A/C !!!
I just found out about it last year. It’s great to utilize when the kids just want to get out of the house and i enjoy bowling as well so it’s a win, win.
Kids love to put things together, make things by hand, and experience new things. So trying this in summer will be fun with minimal expenditure. The bonding that comes from creating something together is powerful and full of fun!
My husband and I were just looking for activities for the three kids this summer. We found the library reading program, vacation bible school, gardening, and various other activities. We may have to find a bowling alley and introduce the kids to that. Thanks for this great list.