The first great hint is to get into a Mom's group that does the work for you. There are tons of Mom's groups out there that have lots of events posted. When you find some events, you also might meet some other mom friends to go with. When you find new events, you can also share.
We love to go to our local library at least a few days a week. My son is currently doing the winter reading program and every time he finishes 5 books, he gets a prize from the chest. I think that he has turned in near 20 of the sheets during the short program. We have gotten two pool toys, a puzzle, bingo cards, stop watch, number game (no instructions), pencils, pads, bouncing dice, and books. Bonus is that we are visiting the library and finishing lots of books in order to fill sheets to get more prizes. We aren't even really sure what he has gotten but here are a bunch of the things that he has already gotten.
We also like to do lots of free events. These range from open house programs at different businesses and library programs. We just did the open house at the local bounce house where my son got to bounce and play games for free for over 3 hours in these three inflatables and get his arm painted (he doesn't like it on his face).
We have frequently have signed up for programs during the year at the library (lots and lots during the summer). My son loves to put together legos at the library, go to book clubs, magic shows, puppet shows and learn about animals. He also likes to earn the free coupons to go to the book sales like in the picture below so that he can pick out free books.
We love to do crafts too! We go to Lakeshore Learning (the teaching store) on Saturday because they have free crafts. We went to AC Moore last summer because they had free crafts to make. If there is a place for crafts, we are there to figure them out. Every first Saturday is free crafts at Home Depot. There is also free crafts at Lowes but it is really far away from our house so we haven't been.
I hope that you find some fun and free things to do with your family. We are looking ahead to the coming summer months and trying to figure out lots of fun things to do when the weather gets nicer like going to the playground. listening to concerts, doing science experiments at home and the library and building lots more legos What do you have planned for fun family events this summer?
If you are looking for things in your area, check any local libraries, bookstores or other stores that have crafts because there are any tons of fun things to do all year round.
What a fun post! I had joined a Moms group one year when my son was little. I liked it, they did organize play days a few times a week, but I may have joined at a strange time because I felt like there was a lot of focus on who the president was, who the vice president was, etc. (or whatever the titles of the positions were called.) Like I said, it may have been a transitioning time for the organizers but it detracted a little bit from the "fun" aspect of the group to have everything often centered on "politics."
ReplyDeleteWe are huge fans of the local library. That is truly our biggest source of outside entertainment. We take part in the summer reading programs and most of the events sponsored by the library. This past summer when we moved here, we were so pleased to find that the library here hosted a small outdoor carnival at the end of the summer and provided prizes for the children who took part in the summer reading program- the prizes were very cool, many like the ones you pictured above, and there were many prizes in the form of school supplies, which was really wonderful since we were at the point of school starting for the year. The library even hosted a day at the movie theater and provided popcorn and a can of soda for the kids who participated in the reading program. I love the library!!