Thursday Thirteen: Fun and Inexpensive Things to Do With Your Kids

Home Science Tools Banner
* This post may contain affiliate links or sponsored content. *

Did you like this article? If so, please help by sharing it!

Thirteen Fun and Inexpensive Things to Do With Your Kids

1. $1 Movies — Okay, they may be more than $1 where you live, but most places have a “second run” theater somewhere…or even a drive-in. We used to never see movies until they came out on video. Now, we all love to go to the $1 movies as soon as something we’d like to see comes out. (This makes a great date night for you and your spouse, too!)

2. $1 Scoop Night — one of our local Baskin Robbin’s Ice Cream Shoppes offers $1 scoop night every Tuesday. There are two others in the area that don’t offer this, so if the one nearest you doesn’t offer it, you may call around to some other locations. If you don’t have a Baskin Robbins, check with the ice cream shops near you.

3. Free Nights at Local Museums — both our local children’s museum and our local art museums offer a free night once a month. Yeah, it might be a bit crowded, but it’s fun…and it’s free!

4. Minor League Baseball Games — Oh, my goodness! These are so much more fun than professional baseball! It’s casual, there is entertainment all during the game for the family — especially kids — and our park offers a family section where smoking and alcohol aren’t allowed. So much fun!

5. Bowling — Again, check around. One of our local bowling alleys is offering $0.99 cent bowling…and I think it even includes shoe rental, which is where they usually get you.

6. Logan’s — Do you have a Logan’s Roadhouse anywhere near you? Give them a call! All of our local restaurants are offering two meals for $12.99 and $2 kids’ meals (which includes their drinks).

7. Family Game Night — Pictonary played Win-Lose-or-Draw style on the dry erase board is so much fun! And, have you ever heard of the game, Pit? Oh, my goodness! We discovered it through some friends in our homeschool support group and it is so much fun! I don’t think they sell it anymore, but we got a very updated edition on eBay.

8. The Duck Pond — Got a duck pond anywhere nearby? Ours is not only a great place to feed the ducks (a bag of popcorn goes a long way), but it also has a stocked catch-and-release fish pond. A few fishing rods, some worms, and some bread or popcorn for the ducks, and you’ve got hours of fun.

9. Bike Riding — Not only is it a fun, inexpensive way to see your city or park trails as you never have before, but it’s great exercise!

10. Living Room Camp Out — With or without a tent, this is a blast for the kids. Pop some popcorn, make some S’mores in the oven and pop a favorite movie in the DVD player for some family fun the kids will want to enjoy again and again.

11. Play Video Games — Yeah, there’s too much TV watching and video game playing in most homes these days, but every once in a while it’s fun to just jump in there with them. “Old school” Nintendo games are a lot of fun to pull out and dust off. Kids think they’re funny and Mom’s and Dad’s can actually play them. 😉

12. Color — Did you know that coloring is very therapeutic? My youngest loves to color and she really loves it when I sit down and color with her. I have my own coloring books and crayons. 😉 The older two will even join in on occasion. A Star Wars coloring book goes a long way in convincing my boy.

13. Cook — My kids love to help me cook…and they really love it when I just supervise and let them do it. A side benefit to this one is that, once they get the hang of it, I can have a night or two off from cooking myself.

+ posts

Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

Did you like this article? If so, please help by sharing it!

5 Comments

  1. Happy TT and a wonderful list…I’M STILL working on #13 with my two teenagers…grrllll…lol.
    Fellow TT Participant

  2. I like these ideas! We are just starting off with homeschooling so I look forward to perusing your blog for input.

  3. Great ideas!! The Stars Wars coloring book is EXACTLY what convinced my almost 8 year old to join in the coloring fun with us!! Love that Dollar Store 😉

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.