Plan loads of fun for your kiddos with this BIG List of Frugal Summer Fun Ideas for Kids!
Once school is out, I know how it goes! So if you’re wondering what to do with the kids at home… you’re in the right place. In fact, I’ve compiled a HUGE list of Frugal Summer Fun Ideas for Kids to help you keep those little hands busy!
This year, let’s keep the “I’m bored” out of the lazy days of summer… without breaking the bank! 😉 With these ideas, it won’t matter if it’s raining or sunny outside. These easy boredom busters will have the kids smiling, laughing, and busy having fun until school starts again!
It’s time to load up on more creative, fun and frugal kid entertainment ideas. Here we go!
Frugal Summer Fun Ideas
Get Creative!
Check out these 40+ Fun Crafts for Kids!
Come rain or shine, keep the kiddos busy with this big list of frugal craft ideas for kids!
Make This Homemade Playdough Recipe
Make your own homemade play dough with just 6 simple ingredients you probably already have!
How to Make Silly Putty
How to Make Fluffy Slime With Shaving Cream
Make a Twirling Ribbon
8 Fun Handprint Canvas Art Ideas {and Footprint}
Make some artwork you’ll cherish forever with these sweet Footprint and Handprint Canvas Art ideas!
DIY Felt Board + Weather Templates!
DIY Marble Magnets
American Girl Doll Craft: DIY Gymnastic Ribbon!
Decorate your Doll House
How to Make Homemade Bookmarks from Cards
Build a Toothpick Marshmallow House
Make a Father’s Day Coupon Book
How To Make Flower Flip Flops
Go Snap some Cute Photos!
- Solve these Printable Mazes
- Color these fun Disney Coloring Pages
- Free Half Price Books Printable for Kids
- FREE In-Store Lakeshore Learning Crafts {every Saturday}
- Do a FREE Lego Online Activities
- Go to the FREE Pottery Barn Book Club Story Time {every Tuesday}
- FREE In-Store Events at American Girl
- Sign up for the FREE Apple Store Kids Summer Camp!
- FREE Admission to Museums
Gardening for Kids Ideas:
Make some DIY Wildflower Seed Bombs
Fingerprint Flower Pot Craft
Make a DIY Wild Bird Treat
Build a DIY Raised Garden Bed Together
Make a DIY Milk Jug Watering Can
Grow Corn From Popcorn Kernels
Kids will love what happens when they plant popcorn kernels out in the backyard! Check out this fun kids gardening activity.
Frugal Summer Fun Ideas for Kids – Have Fun in the Kitchen!
Enjoy some Pudding Cones
Bake some Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes
Make some Homemade Crockpot Applesauce
Play with some Pets!
- Train your Puppy or Dog!
- 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!} 😉
- Grow your own Butterflies from Caterpillars!
Live Butterfly Gardens at Home = SO much fun!!
We’ve done this a few times, and my kids absolutely loved it! Here are our butterflies…
Read a Good Book!
- Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program = FREE Book!
- Half Price Books Summer Reading Program {Earn FREE Bookworm Bucks to spend in store!}
- Scholastic Summer Reading Program
- Check your local library for Summer Reading Programs! {ours offers free prizes + free baseball tickets}
- Read your latest Free Lego Magazine Issue!
- Get 5 Free Board Books for Early Readers!
5 Free Board Books
Catch a Cheap Movie!
- Cinemark Theaters Summer Movies {as cheap as 50c per movie!}
- Harkins Theatres Summer Movies {less than $1 per movie!}
- Regal Cinemas Summer Movies {$1.00 per movie!}
Get Outside and Play!
- Plan a Camping Trip!
- Get in to a National Park for FREE!
- Work on your FREE REI Adventure Journal!
Make some Extra Money!
- Host a Lemonade Stand!
- Make Save, Give, Spend Mason Jars!
- 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, too!} 😉
- Teach your kiddos about money and finance when you follow these tips for How to Help Your Kids Understand Credit.
Play at an Arcade!
- Free Chuck E. Cheese’s Coupons and Deals
- Peter Piper Pizza Coupons
- Game Play Rewards at Dave & Buster’s!
Get Building!
Have a little Christmas in July!
6 Easy Christmas Ornament Crafts for Kids
Christmas Tree Cone Craft for Kids!
Go Bowling!
- FREE Bowling for Kids – Kids Bowl FREE! {various locations}
- $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
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
- 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
- Make some Ooey-Gooey Oobleck!
- 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!
Not every summer day is sunny! Be sure to check out these 16 Rainy Day Activities for Kids!
Here are more creative and frugal ideas for things you can do with or without the kiddos this summer…
Fun Crafts To Do that Anyone Can Enjoy! {huge list}
Feeling crafty?? It’s time to get your Craft on and get inspired to do some fun crafts!
215+ Easy Gardening Tips for Beginners! {What You Need to Know}
Grab your shovel and get inspired with these easy Gardening Tips for Beginners to Pros!
How to Stay Busy at Home {35 Awesome Adult Things to do}
Sitting at home, and need something to do? Check out these tips for How to Stay Busy at Home!
101+ Frugal Travel Tips and Best Kept Secrets!
Planning a vacation doesn’t need to break the bank! Put these fun and Frugal Travel Tips to use to plan your next fabulous adventure!
So don’t miss out! Get all the latest fun new Frugal Tips, Crafts, Recipes + more right here…
So what are some Frugal Summer Fun Ideas for Kids you enjoy with the kiddos??
Leave a comment and share!
Zeezee says
Summer sledding/ ice blocking: Take a large block of ice from the store, a few old towels, and go to a grassy hill. Fold the towels and put one on a block of ice, sit on the towel, and slide down the hill.
Fairy Wings says
For boys, building stuff is always fun. I used to use a hammer and nails often during my summers growing up and build forts and bird houses and other stuff.
My little girl has an amazing imagination and loves pretend play with friends whether it is dressing up in tutus, dresses and fairy wings or just playing with her my little pony or strawberry shortcake toys. It sure is fun to see her when she gets into character and doesn’t know you are watching.
We have also used the big box idea. Oh the fun you can have with a big box!
MomHomeGuide says
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!
Eden says
This looks great!
Deirdre @ladies holiday says
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!
Michelle says
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… 🙂
Jennifer Vicente says
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!!!
Jacki Scott says
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.
Camie Ricks says
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.
Heidi says
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.
Jray says
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.
Brenda says
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)
jessica says
omg this is o cool !!! will b doing this all the time !! thanx
Amy says
Love this list!! I’ve shared a link to it on my blog. 🙂
Stephanie says
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.)
Yessica says
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.
Marsha says
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.
Heidi says
You’re very welcome, Marsha! 😉
~ Heidi
Gail Akeman says
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
Nancy Blecha says
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.
Noelle says
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
Michaela says
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!
Melissa says
I AM DOING THIS TOMORROW