Cheap Family Fun Ideas

Arts & Crafts - This is great for kids of all ages, adults too! You have never lived until you have colored with your 2 year old. Honestly, it's easy to forget just how fun it can be. Buy a fat coloring book loaded with pages or print free pictures to color from the net. Add in a big box of crayons and color! Exhibit your art when you're done for everyone to enjoy!

Optionally, you may choose to draw. Just provide plenty of paper. It can be construction paper, notebook paper, drawing paper, or whatever is handy. Get out anything you have to draw with like pens, pencils, crayons, or markers. Of course, this depends on the ages of your children. I recommend choosing by the age of the youngest as they will want to use what their siblings use.

If your children are old enough you may want to make things from everyday items. My kids had a great time painting rocks. Yes, that's right! We collected a bunch of rocks and painted them. My oldest daughter made a turtle out of hers. My youngest just colored theirs. They named them and Voila! Pet Rocks!

Fold and decorate paper to make fans and paper airplanes.

Do you have little girls? Take cloth scraps and make Barbie tie-on clothes. This encourages the use of everyone's imagination. This is something I did when I was a little girl. I kept losing my doll's clothes. So, I'd buy the cheap scraps of material in front of the cutting counter in the craft section of Wal-mart. I'd look at summer clothes I had like those little tops that tie around your neck. For the areas that should be sewn I would just cut out enough to wrap around twice and leave enough material to tie. Also, if you wrap material around Barbie and cut out a strip you can make a cheap, temporary dress.

If you want something a little more polished for Barbie you can buy Velcro and Velcro adhesive. With a pair of scissors and some cheap cloth scraps from the cloth department you can get a little fancier. Just remember that since there is no sewing involved none of these clothes will last forever. However, your child can make their own with a little imagination and help.

Adventure and Learning - Plan some fun activities to enlighten your children and yourself!

On one rock finding expedition with my older children I took a hammer and as they presented rocks to me, I cracked them open. You have to be very careful and do this away from your children. I recommend wearing goggles and gloves for extra safety. What we found inside was very educating and interesting. Some rocks had crystals inside and others were smooth with layers of color. This prompted questions and after some online research we all learned something new.

Try an experiment. My favorite is baking soda and vinegar! There's a chemical reaction at play here but you don't have to be a scientist to know it just looks cool. I recommend doing this one over the sink or in the sink for easy cleanup. For a little flair you can add food coloring to your vinegar. My daughter used this for her Science Fair project on volcanoes.

Take your family on a nature hike. If you have a forest nearby or in a neighboring area this can be great fun. Bring along bags or containers and have your kids collect things like pine cones, acorns, rocks, etc. These things can be used in craft projects or simply kept as mementos.

Go to the beach. If you live near a beach take your family swimming.

If you live near the ocean collect sea shells together. We did this on vacations when I was young. I don't have any of the shells but I have many fond memories.

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