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45 Cheap (or Free) Summer Fun Ideas

by Erinn

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The official start of summer is just days away and I know how hard it is to keep kids entertained all summer long. I found making a list on my calendar helped me pick a fun thing to do every day. Here are 45 cheap or better yet free, great ideas for summer fun for you and the kids:

Catch firelies

Decorate t-shirts outside with paint or dye

Have a tea party outside

Make a birdhouse

Make your own ice popsBake a pie or cookies

Feed the ducks

Go swimming

Plant a garden or a herb garden

Play with water balloons

Play with water guns

Go on a scavenger hunt in your neighborhood

Play hide and go seek in the dark

Find a new playground

Have a picnic

Make S’mores

Learn how to knit and teach your kids, maybe even take a class

Visit the zoo

Visit a museum or children’s museum

Let your children play outside in the rain

Make a theme day, like a “red day” wear red eat only red foods (tomato, apples, strawberries, polish your nails red) or “dinosaur day” (read about dinosaurs, color dinosaur pictures, eat only veggies that day)

Write a letter to a grandparent or friend

Have a lemonade stand

Pick fruits or veggies at your local farms

Make an indoor sand or (Rice!) box

Find free movies in your town
Play hopscotch

Draw with sidewalk chalk

Play with bubbles, have a biggest bubble contest

Race some bug you find on the ground

Join a reading club for grades 1-6

Have a “day of beauty” paint nails, have masks, give your kids a massage

Go to a free reading time

Buy a hammock and take a nap together

Play with a remote controlled RV or boat

Visit a day fair or carnival

Go for a hike

Can berries for the winter

Grab your sleeping bags and sleep on the floor together

Do some arts & crafts

Grow butterflies (My kids LOVE this!)

Visit a neighbor

Make a bubble pool in your backyard

Make ice cream

Make a trip to a board walk

Bowling!

Just be together

What are your favorite family summer fun ideas?

Vote for my post 45 Cheap (or Free) Summer Fun Ideas on Mom Blog Network


Posted in Crafts, Kid Fun, Parent Fun, Parenting, School Age Children, Stuff I Love, Toddlers on June 18th, 2008

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3 Responses to “45 Cheap (or Free) Summer Fun Ideas”

  1. Sandra Says:
    June 18th, 2008 at 6:55 pm

    Great ideas Erinn! I forgot about what fun it was to feed the ducks. I also like the t-shirt and bird house idea.

  2. Erinn Says:
    June 19th, 2008 at 8:09 am

    Sandra, Feeding the ducks is so much fun, my kids and I love it and it is a great way to use up the old bread!

  3. Scripts & Scraps from a Survivor » Can you believe that school starts here in one month? Says:
    July 21st, 2008 at 11:28 am

    [...]  So this morning, I hit google looking for ideas and I found two great blog entries with ideas.  You can find them here and here. [...]

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