How to Keep Your Kids Entertained on a Shoestring Budget
Even though there may seem to be more month than money, parents are often tempted to haul out the credit card when our children start showing signs of boredom or restlessness. Entertaining kids costs money - even a simple treat like a movie and popcorn ends up costing a small fortune, particularly if you have more than one child.There are alternatives that don't cost an arm and a leg, activities that will have your children asking for more!
Things You'll Need
- Imagination
- Things you already have in your house
Instructions
1. Camp in the back garden 2. Bake/ Icecream sundaes/make food sculptures then eat them 3. Get back to nature 4. Explore your neighbourhood 5. Dance 7. Rediscover the Joy of Play 8. Make your own newspaper or family newsletter 9. Make an obstacle course in your back garden. 10.Make your own artwork
There is nothing children like better than having an adventure. Pitch a tent in the back garden, pack some healthy snacks (and a few treats) into a lunch tin, and ask your child to choose one or two favourite toys to join her. If you don't have a tent or if it's a rainy day - drape sheets or blankets over chairs or a table - it works just as well!
Most kids love to mess about in the kitchen. Bake a cake together, then let your child decorate it anyway she pleases. If you aren't up to the time and mess that baking with children often entails, haul out the ice-cream and an assortment of sweets, and make the wildest ice-cream sundaes your child can think of. Another fun activity is to make a food sculpture - use pretzels, sweets, string licorice, raisins, cream cheese, peanut butter etc. and then eat it. Your children can even make a menu and pretend the kitchen is a fine restaurant!
Feed the birds. Imitate birdcalls. Collect autumn leaves and paste them in a scrapbook. Pick flowers. Walk in the rain. Climb a tree. Plant a seed. Lie on the grass and make pictures out of the clouds. The fresh air does them good!
Find out more about your neighborhood. Your local fire station or hospital may offer tours. Take a walk and vote for the prettiest garden or the most colourful house. Visit your local Library and spend a morning reading as many books as she likes.
This activity is especially fun to do on a rainy day. Play all your favourite songs as loud as you like, and waltz around the lounge with your child (or a broomstick), boogie as fast as you can or play air guitar. Make up new steps. Let your defenses down and enjoy the music and the exercise, and let your kids release all that pent up energy.
Kids of all ages love this activity. Older children can write the play, younger children can decide on the songs to perform. Haul out the old makeup, the dressing up box, the funny hats and scarves and ask your children to perform their concert just for you. Cheer and clap loudly, take photographs, throw flowers picked from your garden onto the "stage", and quietly wipe away a tear or two.
When last did you play Monopoly, Scrabble or even Charades? Dust off those old games, or try to remember the games you played when you were younger, and rediscover the joys of play. Build a jigsaw puzzle, play Snap. Have an egg race or play Hopscotch. Teach your kids how to play Pass the Parcel, Musical Chairs or Pin the Tail on the Donkey. It's an interactive, educational and fun activity that teaches your kids the joy of winning and the art of losing gracefully. Plus it's a wonderful way to spend quality time together.
Give each child a story to investigate and write. Get them to cut out pictures from old magazines or let them use old photographs to add to their finished reports. Put it all together on a large piece of paper and make copies to give as gifts to family and friends.
Use Garden furniture, old boxes, a hosepipe - even some empty plastic bottles and watch your children run over and under, around and through! Great exercise and a good memory game too!
Make pictures out of twigs, seeds, pasta and leaves. Or cut out pictures from old magazines, and use scraps of used wrapping paper or fabric to make a collage. Spend an afternoon reorganising your photo collection, and enjoy all the memories they bring.
