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Keep the “I’m bored” out of the lazy days of summer, the rainy afternoons, and the snowbound winters…. without breaking the bank! 
Here’s a BIG List of Frugal Fun Ideas for Kids!
- Free e-Books for Kids!
- Free Barnes & Noble Online Read-a-Longs
- More Free Online Read-a-Long Stories
- Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program = FREE Book!
- Half Price Books Summer Reading Program {Earn a $5 gift card!}
- Junie B. Jones Summer Reading Program = FREE Book!
- TD Bank Summer Reading Program = Earn $10!
- Scholastic Summer Reading Program
- Book Adventure ~ Earn FREE Prizes!
- Check your local library for summer reading programs or year-long activities
- Read your latest FREE Lego Magazine Issue!
BIG List of Easy Craft Projects!
Play with some Fancy Nancy Paper Dolls
Go Snap some Cute Photos!
- Solve these Printable Mazes
- Color these fun Disney Coloring Pages
- Work on these Free Cars Coloring Pages + Activity Book
- Make some Funky Flower Flip Flops
- Work on a FREE Organic Valley Kids Activity Booklet
- FREE In-Store Lakeshore Learning Crafts
- FREE In-Store Kids Crafts at Michael’s
- FREE In-Store Lego Freebies at the Lego Store!
- FREE In-Store Kids Events at Pottery Barn
- FREE In-Store Events at American Girl
- Grab this Free e-book: 22 Fun Activities for Kids
- Work on some fun Kids Activity Books from ING!
- Learn more about technology with the Apple Store Kids Summer Camp!
- FREE {or nearly-free} Admission to Museums from Target!
- Work on some Chic & Crafty Projects together!
Enjoy some Pudding Cones!
Bake some Cupcake Cones
Make a Christmas Tree Cone
Make some Homemade Crockpot Applesauce
Catch a Cheap Movie!
- Cinemark Theaters Summer Movies
- Harkins Theatres Summer Movies
- Great Escape Theatres Summer Movies
- Marcus Theatres Summer Movies
- Rave Cinemas Summer Movies
- Regal Cinemas $1.00 Summer Movies {Tuesdays & Wednesdays}
- Get a FREE Blockbuster Express Rental!
- Try Netflix for Free!
- Watch some old classics on Hulu! {Brady Bunch, Gilligan’s Island, etc.}
Play with some Pets!
- Volunteer at your local animal shelter!
- Offer to have your kids help take care of your neighbor’s pets while they’re on vacation! {my boys have loved doing this… and made a few extra dollars, too!}
Enjoy the Great Outdoors!
- Get in to a National Park for FREE!
- Work on your FREE REI Adventure Journal!
- Plant a garden!
- Check out these Fun & Frugal Camping Tips!
- Offer to have your kids help water your neighbor’s plants while they’re on vacation! {my boys have loved doing this… and made a few extra dollars for this, too!}
Make some Wildflower Seed Bombs!
Start some Seeds… with a 2-Liter Bottle!
- Free Chuck E. Cheese’s Tokens & Reward Charts
- Peter Piper Pizza Coupons
- $10 FREE in Game Play at Dave & Buster’s!
Get Building!
Go Bowling!
- FREE Bowling for Kids – Kids Bowl FREE! {various locations}
- FREE AMF Summer Bowling for Kids!
- FREE Brunswick Summer Bowling for Kids!
- $10 FREE in Game Play at Dave & Buster’s!
Check Out a Fun Website!
- Lego Games
- Kids National Geographic
- Starfall
- Fun Brain
- Book Adventure
- Nickelodeon
- PBS Kids
- Disney Games
Ask Your Frugal Friends!
More Boredum Busters…
You could even make a jar full of ideas… and pull one out each day!
- Run through the sprinklers
- Decorate your Backyard Playhouse
- Fly a kite
- Paint the Fence, Rocks, Tree Trunks, etc. with paintbrushes from the $1.00 store… and use Water {instead of paint}!
- Go for a Bike Ride
- Play in a Big Box!
- Blow bubbles
- Walk to the park
- Take a scooter ride around the block
- Look for fun shapes in the clouds
- Lemonade Stand
- Have fun with sidewalk chalk
- Play with a friend
- Go to the beach
- Go to the lake
- Take a dip in the community pool
- Relax in the backyard inflatable pool
- Paint with Water!
- Sign up for a fun, inexpensive class through your city
- Pick some flowers & make a bouquet
- Pack a Shoebox for Kids in Need
- Have a tea party
- Have a nerf gun fight
- Have a picnic outside for lunch!
- Go fishing
- Go on a scavenger hunt
- Make an outdoor obstacle course
- Hoola Hoop!
- Hopscotch
- Make a fort using chairs, blankets, sheets, etc!
What are some frugal fun activities you enjoy with the kiddos??
Leave a comment & share!
Our kids love to scrub the kitchen floor. They dress in swim suits, I put a little dish soap in spots on the floor and add a little water. They have a ton of fun scooting all around, racing, slipping and sliding! When they are done, I take a damp rag and wipe it all up. Voila! Clean floor and a ton of fun for the kids.
My kids are older now, but I use to do this same thing. The kids love it, they slid accross the floor like a slip and slide and they didnt even get into trouble for gettin the floor all wet! lol
My old church (and my family too) used to put a big tarp out on the lawn, grabbed a hose, and some baby soap (and towels of course!) and made a GIANT slip n’ slide! it was so much fun! The highlight of everyone’s summer!
I AM DOING THIS TOMORROW
I so get tired of hearing I’m bored. I need different things for my kid to do. Hopefully I can remember some these when it comes summer. I already registered my kid with kidsbowlfree.com
You may have just saved my sanity for the summer. Thank-you sooo much for the tips. I have around 12 children who all play at my house.
You’re very welcome, Marsha!
~ Heidi
My kids do this game that you get a piece of paper for each person thats playing and an adult would write a word on each paper(without letting the players see) for smaller kids do words in the same theme for everybody. For older kids just use different themes for each. Then u tape it to their forhead and they try guessing wat they are by asking questions about wat they are and take turns.
LOVE the idea of putting these in a jar!! Each day a different kid can pick! Thanks much!
(We also ride bikes a lot, sidewalk chalk, & visit the library – they have a ton of free summer activities.)
Love this list!! I’ve shared a link to it on my blog.
Kids can make Ice Cream in a bag! It’s easy and can be mostly done outside and is a big hit with the kids! (Just Google “Ice Cream in a bag” for a recipe/directions)
omg this is o cool !!! will b doing this all the time !! thanx
Take your kids with you and go and volunteer somewhere – a shelter, a nursing home, the park gardens, food bank, a church – there are a lot of things kids can do to help others and they learn something too! They can sing songs, read a story, play board and card games, help someone do crafts, clean up an elderly persons yard, make cookies or other goodies to share or to sell to raise money for someone who needs some help or to raise money to go to summer camp themselves.
I decided to have my own “Mama’s Summer Adventure Day Camp” featuring a daily Adventure for my little guy! http://fakeitfrugal.blogspot.com/2011/06/mamas-summer-adventure-camp-our-summer.html
I also have a list of Kids Summer Savings Ideas at http://fakeitfrugal.blogspot.com/2011/06/kids-summer-saving-ideas.html
Color special pages or create ones of your own, then send them to our Heroes — deployed service members. Especially good for around the 4th of July, but an activity that can be done all year round.
http://operationwritehome.org/coloringpages.html
http://operationwritehome.org/schools-scouts.html
I found a great way to remember these things for when I need them is to write them on index cards and keep them in a file box. Then when your kids say I’m bored, go thru the box or if they are older let them look and pick an activity.
I get friends together and 1 or 2 times a week we plan events to do like field trips to museums, tour @ our local store, swimming parties, park events with games for the kids and the moms can hang out and chat, or we sometimes plan a craft or board game date @ one of our houses then we share a house that has a different activity and snacks so each of us can do something and also have a break, or u can switch weeks with each others house too.
It lets the kids know that @ least 2 times a week we have time with friends.
These are some great ideas, I plan on adding them to our list! I always sign the kids up for swimming lessons, that last two weeks. Our local Nature Center here lets the kids cut up worms to feed their large aquariums of fish on Fridays. We also do the free bowling. Our library offers summer reading program that often has neat guests that come to visit such as exotic animal exhibit. Our movie theater offers movies that were out the previous year every Tues. if you bring 1 canned food item for the local food bank you get in free. In the evenings we can walk and ride bikes on the track. These are some of our inexpensive ways to stay busy in the summer.
Another fun activity to do with your kids is geocaching, or letterboxing. It is a great way to get outdoors and work together for a common goal, and have a great time in the process! Kind of a mini adventure! To get started check out: http://www.geocaching.com
For my kiddos birthdays (they are two years and two days apart), I decided to combine their summer parties by having a “Mess Fest” in our back yard! I set up different stations, a pool with dirt and worms (yes, they like to dig them up), a water slide with chocolate syrup, whip cream & sprinkles, a tarp with two bags of flour covering it and of course a sprinkler for clean up! All the kids had a blast, we have great pics and it was very inexpensive! Just today we did pudding painting in the backyard. Kids love to make messes, I don’t love cleaning them but it’s so worth seeing them have fun!!!
I found great ideas on this list. My daughter is out for the summer in 3 days and I’m helping another mom out by having her son hang out with us 2 days a week for a couple of weeks. Now I have plenty to keep these two 7 years old occupied! Well, at least I hope so…
This is by far the most comprehensive and helpful list I’ve found about this…as I head into summer planning mode I will definitely use some of these ideas! Thanks!
This looks great!
My kids love to go “exploring” together in the summer. We hit our town, or another local town on foot, and explore the main streets, side streets, neighborhoods, etc. It’s a good way to get in some exercise, and we often find new and fun places to go to!
This is a great list! My husband and fellow blogger will be home with our 5-year-old this summer, and we will use these, I’m sure.