Free Children's Activities

My toddler is driving me wild with his need to, you know, move all the time!  (Also, did you know they need to eat supper every night?  Sheesh.)  Here are a few of the recent activities that have kept Samuel happy and occupied, and haven't cost me a cent.

#1 - A trip to a local farm.

It's amazing what happens when you just ask around.  I mentioned to some women I knew that I was looking to plan a field trip to a local farm, and it turns out that the sister of a friend of mine owns a dairy farm!  Who knew?  So we planned a trip one morning for all the children.

#2 - The good old park

I can't tell you how many times I've relied on the park as an easy outing that gives Samuel an opportunity to run those sillies out while I, um, sit on a bench in the shade and take pictures of him.  *cough cough*.



#3 - Playgroups

Samuel is really getting to a developmental stage where he doesn't want to go to the big playgroup here in town.  That's ok, but every once in a while, especially on rainy days, we still take advantage of it.  Also, they have cool 'new' toys.

#4 - Planning playdates around an event

When a friend (who has a three year old boy herself) was getting a big load of topsoil delivered, she called a few of us ladies to come over with our children and let them get dirty.  We brought over a batch of peanut butter cookies and it became a playdate. 

We really like this kind of a playdate, actually.  We've used it many times before and I'll tell you why I think it works so well.  First - it isn't a standard, usual activity.  So the novelty makes it fun.  Second - it usually involves a lot of physical action: dirt, water, mud, grass, etc.  Third - it's very easy to find.  Once you start to look for this kind of activity, you can find it everywhere.  Case in point:

#5 - Long walks

On days when I don't have anything else planned, Samuel usually gets taken on a long walk.

I realize that I am not in either of these pictures, but I assure you I'm there.  :-)  A note on walks: I personally find it's an awful lot more motivating to have a destination.  If I am dragging us out on a walk to a certain place I'm more likely not to turn around early and go back home, etc.

#6 - Let's Go Visiting

We'll often plan those long walks around a destination that includes people we like or a specific activity.  Here we walked to a friend's house to pick basil from the garden:

When there's a house at the end of the walk it serves a double purpose: there's a destination to look forward to, and it involves amenitities like a place to change the baby, a bathroom, etc.

#7 - Make your own free activities

Sometimes there are free things happening in town, which is great!  There are at least three places we can go every week to hear a storytime, there are several festivals with free admittance, there are a multitude of parades and other things like that.  But even if there isn't something specific going on, see if you can create it yourself.  A few weeks ago we planned an 'apple and raspberry picking day' with some friends.  Every Friday we gather a group together and go to the farmer's market and make an afternoon of it.  As soon as we started to think about what we'd like to do, we immediately thought of the people we'd like to do it with.

So those are a few of the free activities we take advantage of around here.  What about you?

Check out Jen for more seven quick takes.