Fun Freetime: Inexpensive Kid-Friendly Activities

courtesy of morguefile.com

Whether you’re a stay at home mom or someone who works in the home for a living, such as a nanny, being around kids all day means you have to get creative sometimes to keep them occupied and happy. Sometimes the kids need to get out of the house and away from the television or computer during the day, but coming up with ideas that are both engaging and inexpensive can be a struggle. The next time you’re in an idea slump, try using one of these fun and cheap ideas:

1.     Go for a hiking and picnic trip
Now that the days are slowly beginning to cool down and the crisp cool weather of fall is here, it’s the perfect time to hit up a local hiking trail and take the kids on a nature walk. You can challenge them to find different rocks and leaves and see who can spot the most animals and birds. Then you can finish with an outdoor picnic. It’s the perfect way to get out of the house and sneak in some exercise.

2.     Visit the museum or zoo
Visiting a local museum or zoo is a great way to get out and about and can usually be done quite inexpensively. The kids will have a blast looking at the different animals at the zoo or artifacts at the museum, and might even learn something while they’re out! Plus with all that walking around they’re sure to be worn out by the end of the day.

3.     Have a scavenger hunt
When’s the last time you went on a scavenger hunt? Creating a scavenger hunt is a great way to have the kids do something different with their time and they’ll have fun running around searching for the different items on the list. Have a contest to see who can find the most things on the list the fastest or team up and find everything listed together.

4.     Make puppets and have a puppet show
Rainy days don’t have to be spent engrossed in television shows or video games. Instead get some socks, buttons, markers, and glue and make sock puppets. Then spend the rest of the afternoon making up different storylines and putting on puppet shows.

5.     Play with sidewalk chalk

There are endless possibilities for a driveway or patch of concrete when you break out the sidewalk chalk and start drawing. You can spend all day drawing different pictures to tell a story or teach the kids how to play different games from your childhood, like hopscotch or four square.

It’s easy to fall into a routine when you spend all day with kids in tow, but sometimes it’s good to shake the activities you do up a bit. Luckily you can still create fun events for the kids to do without spending a lot of extra money.

Author Byline:

Allison once she graduated from college, as it allowed her to combine her two passions: writing and children. She has enjoyed furthering her writing career with www.nannyclassifieds.com .  She can be in touch through e-mail allisonDOTnannyclassifiedsATgmail rest you know.