As your children grow up, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep them entertained without breaking the bank. Some days, it is all you can do to keep up with them. You may find that it is only early afternoon, and you are not sure what to do with your little one next. Most often, these situations occur in the summer holidays, when children do not have the routine of school to fall back on.
Here are some tips to help you keep your kids happy without making you crazy at the same time. Equally as important, these ideas do not cost any money, so you can have fun without worrying about paying the bills later.
Set up a treasure hunt
I use the word treasure loosely here, take the kids existing toys and hiding them around the house. Tell your little one how many items they are looking for, give them a bucket to collect their “treasures” in, and spend an afternoon giggling and laughing together!
Create a fort out of pillows and blankets
Making a fort appeals to kids both old and young, Lucas is 16 months and has started gathering the cushions from the sofas. Gather up any materials you can find such as pillows, blankets and cushions. You can set these items up any way that you want; the sky really is the limit. Once you have your fort ready to go, gather up some books and toys and play inside.
Start a game of hide and seek
This is an oldie but a goodie, and you can do it either indoors or out. If your children are very young, keep them in one general area. If they are older, you can spread out a bit. This is Lucas’ favourite game at the moment with D, Lucas will go up and ‘get’ Daddy then quickly run behind the sofa and wait for him to find him.
Have a party
Turn on some music and encourage your children to get up and dance! Put a little spin on it by having a contest to see who can come up with the most creative moves. You may not feel like dancing when you first begin, but by the time you get moving, you will feel better. And, when you are thoroughly exhausted, you can elect yourself the judge and have your children perform for you.
Go outside
Find a park or a path to walk on. Go to a playground to let your children run around. Search for bugs. There are so many things that you can see and do outside. Let your imagination be your guide (or, just defer to your children as they will have lots of great ideas!)
Have a shoe fashion show
If your children are young, you have probably found them modeling your shoes. Little ones really love shoes! Gather up all the shoes in your house and have a fashion show. Let your children try on different pairs and practice walking all around.
Have a picnic lunch
Lunch often seems like a chore, especially when your children don’t want to eat what you serve. Change things up a bit by having a picnic outside! If the weather isn’t great, just lay down a blanket in the living room and serve up your picnic that way.
Do some gardening
Getting your hands dirty is fun for kids of any age! Gardening with children is a great way to get rid of some excess energy, you don’t have to have a big garden to have fun. You can use your imagination and just water the grass or trees, if you have a back yard you could get some flower pots and plant some seeds. The sky is the limit!
Visit a pet shop
Kids love to look at animals, but the zoo may be too far away or too expensive. Instead, go to a local pet shop! You can wander the aisles all while taking in various pets like rabbits, turtles and fish.
Visit the ducks
Ducks are a lot of fun to watch, and throwing them a few pieces of bread is an easy way to keep the kids occupied. Wait until you have several ends that you are not going to eat, and then take those old pieces of bread with you down to the ducks.
Jobs in the kitchen
Kids want to copy you and your behaviour. So, if you have a job that needs to be done, get your child involved. Ask them to help you load the dishwasher or wipe off the counter. You will get your work done and have a little fun in the process. Lucas loves emptying the washing machine and dishwasher, passing me items to either hang up or put away.
Paint rocks
Lukeosaurus states that painting rocks ‘Not only does it allow children to express their creativity and spread kindness, it also gets the whole family together, ensuring some quality time gets made for everyone and you all get out of the house a bit more too.’
Find Free Trips
With dozens of free stuff sites out there, its easy to find free kids trips, visiting sites like WOW Free Stuff*, you can go on there kids freebies and find trips to theme parks, museums and art galleries.
What do you do that keeps your children happy and occupied without spending money?x
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
There are so many fun things to do for free and on a budget, like you have shown here. A treasure hunt is always fun!
Rachel says
Okay so I need a play date round at yours! Building a forte and having a treasure hunt = hours of fun x
Rhian Westbury says
Such great ideas, I loved treasure hunts and making forts in the garden when the weather was nice enough x
Sarah Bailey says
These are such amazing ideas – there is really so much you do without spending money when you just let your imagination run wild. x
Harriet from Toby & Roo says
This is a fab post, as a mummy to three I can’t tell you enough how much we struggle with days out and finding the cash to afford the “big places”… so instead we go for freebie fun like forests and the garden! H x
Ana De- Jesus says
Having a good danceathon is always fun and of course releases endorphins. Going outside and exploring mother nature is always great too.
Life as Mum says
Great tips 🙂 Many places are so expensive these days but most of us forget about the free places
MELANIE EDJOURIAN says
Nice to see there are lots of great things we can do with little ones that don’t cost a fortune.
Liz Mays says
These are the best ideas. Now is definitely a good time to put the backyard to good use.
nicol says
there are so many things to do without money and many people don’t realise this
Jessica says
I love the idea of treasure hunt. Kids will surely enjoy it. And oh, baking can also be a bonding. 🙂
Tara says
Some fabulous ideas here, thanks for posting!
Nayna Kanabar says
These are all great idea and ones that would be enjoyed by the whole family.
RachelSwirl says
Some fantastic ideas!
Tanya Brannan says
What fantastic ideas! I wish I had known about some of these when my girls were smaller. Now they are older, they seem to cost me more!!
Becca @ Amuse Your Bouche says
So many great ideas here! I love hide and seek, and I have such great memories of feeding the ducks with my family when I was a kid 🙂
Hannah says
I used to love visiting the ducks when I was younger, I still do it now sometimes actually x
Helen Costello says
We spend so long visiting pet shops – wouldn’t occur to the kids that they are having a cheap day out, they just love going! One of my girls’ favourites is chopping mushrooms – keeps them occupied for ages!
WhatLauraLoves says
Great ideas! I’m sure you’ll save lots of families money this summer xxx
Jemma @ Celery and Cupcakes says
Great tips! I can imagine that the summer holidays can get expensive trying to entertain kids.
Northern Crumble says
Im definitely all for the Creating a fort out of pillows! There’s nothing better than pop-up tents or just making your own. We do this with our niece and she has hours of fun playing with her toys in and out and talking to them and making up stories
I think these sort of activities help bring out creativity in a child, a lot more so than spending hundreds of pounds on a day out!
Mel says
Brilliant tips! I love looking for free stuff to do with the kids. Building dens is a firm favourite in our house, as is finding the best paddling pools (and getting there early) when (if) it gets warm 🙂