50 Free And Almost Free Holiday Activities For Kids

Christmas time also means Summer school holidays, nearly 50 consecutive days with the kids at home.

Entertaining kids can be expensive. Take just going to the movies for example. Tickets alone can cost a family around $50, add popcorn and drinks, you’re looking at closer to $80 just for a couple of hours entertainment.

I don’t believe kids need to be entertained 24/7. In fact I think it’s better if they’re not, that they have down time to use their imaginations and take responsibility for their own entertainment.

For me, Summer holidays meant riding bikes and playing ‘make-believe’. The skipping rope became a makeshift petrol pump tied to the back porch, the cubby was the shop where we it had empty cans and boxes to buy and we made our own paper money. Someone was the robber, someone was the cop someone was the shop assistant, someone was the petrol attendant… We built a ramp over the sewer access to jump over.

Summer used to mean running around under the sprinkler, trying to avoid the bindies.

It meant backyard cricket. Dad actually mowed a pitch in the lawn and we used the upturned trampoline as a wicket keeper.

And after I turned 14, Summer meant extra shifts at my casual job, keeping me busy and giving me extra cash to go to the movies with friends.

With our first born on the way, I’m no expert on entertaining kids, but I’ve scoured the net and my own childhood for free or nearly free kids activities that don’t involve the XBox.

What kind of things do you do with your kids over summer holidays?

Outdoor activities

 1. Swimming – While the days of running under the sprinkler may be long gone, there’s still the local pool, beach, dam, lake or river.

2. Sports – Is there anything else besides cricket? I guess there’s Frisbee, and kicking a ball around and what ever else it is that you do in ‘other’ sports.

3. Camping – If you’ve got a tent, then camping can be a great, inexpensive family holiday or weekend away, but a campout in the yard can be just as fun.

4. Picnics, Parks and Gardens – Can be at the local park or in the backyard, or on the loungeroom floor on rainy days. Eating picnics breaks lunchtime routine without breaking the budget. Depending on the age, public parks with play sets wile away many hours and give kids a chance to socialise with other kids.

5. Gardening – I had a veggie patch when I was a kid. I grew enough strawberries to sell them to the neighbours.

6. Walking/ hiking – Discover the local area, local wild life and maybe feed some ducks, all while getting plenty of exercise.

7. Bike riding – We spent a great deal of our childhood on bikes. My grandfather and my father both built bikes out of old, recycled parts, so there were enough bikes to go round for all the kids in the neighbourhood.

8. Fishing – I guess some kids (and adults) might find this a bit boring if the fish aren’t biting, but if you’re lucky you might come home with dinner.

9. Christmas Carols by “twilight” – Remember when it used to be candlelight. I guess people don’t think that’s safe anymore – especially in fire season.  But it’s still an awesome free night out.

10. Christmas light spotting – this is still one of my favourite holiday things to do.

11. Berry picking – depending on where you live, strawberries are in season in summer. And after picking and eating there is baking and preserving.

12. Free Play – Although she will deny this vehemently, my mum used to banish us from the house to go play. Our games were based on our imagination and usually our latest favourite TV show characters. Things haven’t changed that much, except now all the drama happens in my head – one day I’ll write my novel…

Indoor activities

13. Read a book – this was my all time favourite pass time. In fact I had to be dragged away from reading. TV has never held the same appeal as a good book.

14. Story time – related to reading but can also be ‘bookless’ story time where children and adults take turns making up the story.

14. Do a jig-saw puzzle – check out your local library for puzzles, games and other toys.

15. Board games, cards and other games – other games might include something like charades. For ideas and resources, see below.

16. Have a movie night

17. Baking – Getting children in the kitchen teaches them life skills and can be a lot of fun albeit messy. You could try baking and freezing slices and muffins etc together for back to school lunch boxes.

18. Put on a play – this can take hours of preparation and as you’re the audience, it gives kids something to do and you a break If you’ve got a video camera, you can record them for posterity.

19. Do some dancing – exercise and fun

20. Learn a new skill or hobby – I once overheard a mother tell her (approx. 8 year old) daughter, despite her keenness, that she was too young to learn to knit. Well bollocks to that! From knitting to stamp collecting, a new hobby now could become a life long love.

21. Write a story – Get budding young novelists to put their imaginations to work and write a story or two. Of course you don’t have to stop at stories, what about a letter to a friend or a blog – there are some great examples of kids who actually make money from their blogs writing about what they love.

22. Drawing – Why not illustrate that story you’ve written? Or make a cartoon. Or just draw the dog. For drawing tutorials see resources below.

23. Play dough

24. Revisit old toys – It’s amazing how forgotten toys can take on a new appeal. The best ever toy in my opinion has to be Lego – the hours we spent playing with Lego and creating our own constructions…

25. Dress ups and Make believe/Role play – Despite spending all year at school, playing teacher was our favourite make believe game.

26. Build a sheet fort

27. Create a scavenger hunt – This is a good activity for older kids to organise for the younger ones and can be heaps of fun – we used to play this across Sydney every year at college. 

28. Breakfast in Bed – Our variation when we were a little older was to take turns at sleep-overs to write up a menu and serve breakfast to each other restaurant style with napkins and the whole shebang.

29. Science activities – Remember Julius Sumner Miller and The Curiosity Show (see it on YouTube)? I used to do quite a few experiments from these shows and had great fun learning. For science ideas and resources see below.

30. Indoor sports with socks – Like basketball.

31. Decluttering – Discover forgotten toys by getting the kids to declutter their rooms.

32. Chores – chores around the house not only take up time, but take the pressure off you and teach kids responsibility. We were motivated by the threat of the feather duster, but I think today it’s all about making things fun, Super-nanny style.

33. Nap Time – you’re never too old for nap time.

Craft Activities

34. Make Christmas Cards and Gifts

35. Check out local art and craft classes

36. Create a scrap book or album – digital cameras and editing make this task a lot easier and cheaper

36. Draw chalk drawings on cement – we used charcoal from the BBQ once. Whilst effective (and it washes out), my grandma was not impressed.

37. Craft sessions – see below for ideas and resources

38. Make some jewellery

39. Painting

40. Colouring in – for free resources, see below

41. Make and fly paper aeroplanes or a kite – I had a great book with some really complex aeroplane designs. Competitions were a lot of fun.

Local Attractions

 42. Visit the museum – or other free local attractions like the art gallery.

43. Celebrate Australia Day – Often council or other organisations host live entertainment and BBQs for Australia day.

44. Visit the library – not only is it a place for free books, ideas and resources, toys, DVDs and magazines, libraries often run vacation programmes including story time.

45. Community events and programmes – have a look through the local paper, contact the local council or check out the PCYC for workshops, events and programmes run through the school holidays.

46. Go bowling –  or mini golf. Not so free, but scour through the local paper or shoppa-dockets and you might find discounts for these and similar activities. This goes for the movies too.

And a few Other Ideas

47. Start a family tradition – Any one of the above could become a family tradition. It’s these traditions and special moments that we remember in our adulthood.

48. Child swap – You mind my kids, I’ll mind yours.

49. Hang out with friends

50. Throw a slumber party

Plan ahead – some of these activities take a little organisation and planning or a little research into what’s on in your local area. Having a well stocked craft box (with recycled stuff of course) and a few games at the ready, will make wet weather a lot easier.

Get the kids involved – What stuff do they want to do? Maybe I should have put this as number one. 

Some Resources

Craft Resources

• Frugal Family Fun – this is a favourite blog with lots of inexpensive craft ideas using recycled materials.
• Free kids Crafts – craft ideas from a passionate mum

Other Kids Craft and Activity Websites:

• DLTK Kids
• Amazing Moms
• Family Fun Go by Disney
• Kids Craft Weekly
• Kaboose – more than just craft and activity ideas

Kids craft blogs:

• Kid’s Craft
• By Little Hands
• Handmade Beginnings – Promoting early learning through handmade educational aids

Colouring in Resources

• Kids color pages
• Coloring Pages Kids
• Coloring.Ws

Activities and Other Resources

• The Idea Box – Way too many ads, but still lots of ideas for kids activities.
• Look Learn Do – Craft resources and science projects
• Families with Purpose – activity resources as well as other family resources
• Jan Brett – famous children’s book illustrator, this site has lots of resources including colouring activities, games and awesome how to draw videos.

---

Have you read these posts?

1. Teaching money to kids with five activities
2. fun frugal summer holiday ideas
3. tip tuesday – starting a craft box for the kids
4. keeping young kids amused round up
5. unplugged. screen free time and a TV free month