35 Almost free fun things to do

It’s late March. Spring is here. The days are longer and it will get warmer. Your children (and you, too?) will be looking for free fun things to do. Let’s face it, most of us begin to experience that phenomenon we call “cabin fever” about this time of the year. TV and video games are becoming tedious. We want to get out and do something, but being frugal we’d like to find free or almost free fun things to do.

When I was growing up finding something fun to do was pretty much considered the domain of children. Oh, if I complained enough about not having anything to do, my parents would come up with something, but it might not have fallen within my definition of “fun.” After school and on weekends my friends and I went on the prowl to find fun and interesting pursuits in the neighborhood. And since we were kids, we rarely had any money so we became masters of “fun for free—or almost free” adventures.

The way things usually started was with someone showing up at someone else’s house and asking, “Can you come out and play?” “Yes” or “No,” the next move was on to the next house down the street or around the corner. It wasn’t long before there was a bunch of us looking for something to do. One of our favorite things was to hit the drugstore. I’ve said that as kids we didn’t get a lot of money, but if two or three of us could come up with a total of ten cents, the whole gang could be happy. Back then drugstores still had bins of penny hard candies. For ten cents every one of us could have a treat and fill a bit of time. It always took a while to choose what we wanted, and when I look back on those days, it seems that the candy lasted longer in my mouth than it does now. I’m not sure this was a frugal adventure—maybe on our parents’ part…Fun for a few pennies—and not every parent had to come up with money every time.

Forays to the drugstore aside, it was usual for us to engage in games like hide and seek and dodge ball or be found on the swings and slides at the neighborhood park. (Our parents got off free on these activities. Frugal? Yes.) On rainy days we hung out at each others’ houses, or a brave parent would take some of us to the library or a museum. (That doesn’t mean they stayed with us, but it did mean they had better not get a call from the person in charge of the place; in those days everybody knew your parents…) These latter activities may not have been quite free, but they weren’t very expensive either. I’m not talking about something like the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Back then, almost every small town had some sort of local museum that you could visit for free. In fact, that’s still true.

Saving money as a single mom should be every solo mom’s goal because recreation for children can get very expensive.

Those were the days: Get up and go play.

Today, things are different. Parents can no longer just let their children run. We need to know where they are, what they’re doing, and who they’re doing it with. When I was young, most of us checked in at home at lunchtime. Now many of our children have cell phones and instructions to call in every couple of hours. This is for general safety; too many bad things happen these days. Also, there aren’t as many parents present as there used to be. (Not to mention many adults don’t know their kids’ friends—or the friends’ parents.) That said, as parents or grandparents we need to be very active in finding good, clean, safe fun for our younger family members. We need to participate more with them in that fun, but it we can still be frugal and find free or almost free fun things to do.

Having fun doesn’t need to be expensive. You can be frugal and have fun with your children and their friends. Plan on including other parents and you can share any expenses you incur.

Here is a list of thirty five free or almost free fun things to do:

1. Play kickball. It’s sort of like soccer, and you can make up the rules up as you play.

2. Have a sunrise breakfast: Get everyone up while it’s still dark and eat breakfast outdoors. Cook the meal on a grill. Maybe the kids can help you, or maybe you can fix breakfast before you wake your children. A twist on this would be to pick up breakfast and go to a park to eat.

3. Go to your local playground and really make use of the equipment. Parents, you get into this too. The kids love it when you actually play with them. (Make sure you take along enough water and a snack.)

4. Ride bicycles. The nice thing about riding bicycles is that you really don’t have to go anywhere; just riding around is fun, and it’s great exercise. On the other hand, planned bike adventures can be fun, too. I have a friend who grew up in Indianapolis. He remembers all-day bike rides around town with his parents (starting when he had a seat on his mom’s bike.) They went on picnics and sightseeing trips, but they traveled by bike, not car.

5. Go to a museum. (It is ok to drive.) In a lot of town there are museums that have free days. Where I live there’s at least one that has free admission every Thursday.

6. Play Hide and Seek. This has always been one of my favorites. I enjoy hiding from the kids, but I never hide so well they can’t find me; make it fun for everyone.

7. Do a scavenger hunt. Hide items ahead of time in a location like the backyard, a baseball diamond, or a certain area of the park. Give the kids a list of what they’re looking for. (When my daughter was young, we went on a scavenger hunt and a list of clues about where to find the various items was provided—but they were cryptic and all in rhyme. It was challenging—and fun!) Note: If you aren’t paring parents with the children, make sure the kids know the limits of the hunt area, and you stay where they can see you and you can see them the whole time.

8. Pillow fights can be a lot of fun.

9. Rent a DVD, make popcorn and watch the movie. (Just because you’re enjoying a bigger variety of activities doesn’t mean you can’t fall back on the old standards once in awhile.)

10. Play board games or card games—great activities for evenings and rainy afternoons.

11. Bake something: cookies, or cake, or pie. Make sure the kids get to help make the batter. Worry about clean-up later. (They can help with that, too.) After you bake it, you all get to eat it. (That’s my favorite part.)

12. Go to a thrift store and look around. Find something that you and the kids could repurpose for your house or yard. This could be a project that takes awhile; have fun along with teaching the kids patience and persistence.

13. Put in a garden. It could be a patch in your yard or a container garden. You and your children can care for the garden together, and in time enjoy the fruit of your labor. If you grow enough, you might want to consider canning. But…you need to consider if that’s a frugal move for you. Canning is usually profitable in the long term, but it can be expensive to get started.

14. Finger paint. You might want to do this outside, or at least not on a carpeted area of your house. By the way, if you don’t have paper, you can finger paint on cookie sheet. (Of course, you won’t be able to save the creations.)

15. Go people watching. Pick a public place and watch people, then talk about what they are doing. Are they in a hurry? What are they buying?

16. Write letters to people. I mean real letters on paper.

17. Play freeze tag. This is a good game for a large group. Form two teams for this tag game. When you are tagged by someone from the other team, you have to stop and stay “frozen” in your exact position until you are “unfrozen” by the touch of someone on your team. The object is for each team to try “freezing” all the members of the other team.

18. Play chess. Chess had been a popular game for centuries. In the Middle Ages it was used to teach strategy and critical thinking.

19. Learn a few magic tricks. Your local library should have some books on magic. (Or, check on your computer.) With practice your family—or a group of neighborhood kids—might get good enough to put on a show for friends.

20. Read to each other. If you’re reading a story with characters, each reader could take one (or more) and try reading their part(s) using in-character voice(s).

21. Go fly a kite. Kites are not expensive to buy, but you can also make a one and fly it. Did you know that the Japanese have an annual kite festival?

22. How about doing some volunteer work? Why not teach your children to give of themselves early in life? If you do, they are very likely to continue the practice as they mature.

23. If you have an outdoors grill, you can barbecue dinner.

24. Pitch a tent and sleep out side—or inside. When my children were young we draped sheets over the dining room table and slept under it.

25. Build a fort out of boxes.

26. Roast marshmallows. Take this a step further and make Smores.

27. Have a water gun or water balloon fight.

28. Start a bug collection. At some fairs, insect collections are judged for prizes.

29. Go jogging.

30. Take pictures of nature. I have friends who exhibit wonderful pictures of animals, weather, and natural scenery at the county fair.

31. Make hot chocolate. Mmm…and yumm.

32. Build things with Legos. You might want to start small with this idea. Legos aren’t cheap, but if you buy kits, remember that the pieces can used to create other things too. (Reusing those pieces is frugal.)

33. Play touch football.

34. Learn to juggle. I’m still practicing this one.

35. Build paper airplanes and have a contest to see whose flies the farthest.

Conclusion

As frugal people, we want to maximize the use of our resources to enhance our lifestyles. Money and time are two major resources. Time with our children is important and in today’s society it’s necessary for us to be “on the scene” with them. When I was young, it was fairly safe for children to run free. Now, we have to exercise more caution, but the need for adults to be with their kids gives us the chance to re-experience freedom with them. That would be a frugal use of time. The things we do to fill that time can be fun (and—maybe—instructive), but they don’t have to be expensive. That’s a frugal use of money.

I’ve listed a number of activities, some of which can be done in large groups, some more one on one, that are free fun things to do. I’m pretty sure you can think of more.