So I have been thinking a lot lately about what Kaylee and I are going to do once she gets big enough to graduate from Peek-A-Boo. I have yet to hit the lottery and as far as I know Rodney hasn't hit gold (as far as I know...) so I was trying to come up with free or almost free things to do with a small child throughout the year and I thought there are probably a bunch of other people who could benefit from such a list so I thought I'd post it. I'm trying to hit 100 so if you have any ideas please add them! Uless otherwise noted all are under $10, most under $5.
1. Decorate a piggy bank and talk about the importance of savings. You can find ceramic piggy banks at Roberts or Michaels or wherever.
2. Watch the clouds
3. Smother pine cones in peanut butter and bird seed. Hang them outside the window and watch the birds come!
4. Bake cookies. Eat them yourself of doorbell ditch them to a neighbor.
5. Make friendship bracelets out of embrodery floss. Or dental, whatever.
6. Make a planter box garden. Or if you happen to own a house with a yard and some dirt plant a garden. This will cost a little more, how much totally depends on you.
7. Bean-Bag toss. Use old socks and pinto beans to make bean-bags and a piece of cardboard for a target.
8. Self portraits. Trace the kid on a large piece of butcher paper and let them color themselves in. I've heard you learn a lot about your child's self image with this one.
9. Make a car, or spaceship, out of an old box, crayons, paper plates, and whatever else you have laying around.
10. Finger painting. Maybe go outside for this one...
11. Go on a wildflower walk and gather a bouqet.
12. Press flowers from said boquet and put them in a scrapbook.
13. Dye hard boiled or hollowed out eggs.
14. Bubble party!
15. Paper plate masks
16. Paper mache. Who doesn't love paper mache??
17. Feed ducks. (Wheeler farms has lots of hungry ones)
18. Most libraries have children's story time.
19. Go to a parade
20. Ride Trax (this one is mostly for me)
21. Visit temple square. You'd be surprised at how much little kids will enjoy it, I spent a whole day there with my 6 year old sister once.
22. Go to the zoo. Can cost a little more, but watch for buy one get one free days! Yay!
23. City carnivals (i.e. Draper Days)
24. Wheeler farm, they have TONZ of fun stuff and activities and animals and hay rides. Seriously go.
25. State fair. I forget how much it costs, but under a certain age are free!
26. Have a picnic.
27. Go to a farmers market and try something new.
28. High school sporting events. Much more fun if you know someone on the team.
29. Chalk art. And if you want to spice it up, leave love notes on grandma's driveway.
30. Make a pizza
31. Gateway mall downtown's fountains. Do not try in January.
32. Fly a kite
33. Go to the pet store and learn how to handle animals.
34. Slip n' slide. What more can I say?
35. Host a teddy bear tea party.
36. Have a lemonade stand.
37. Cut out paper snowflakes and hang them from you child's ceiling.
38. Pick berries. They actually have farms where you can pick your own berries! How cool! Cost depends on what and how much you pick.
39. Go to the dollar movies
40. Have a treasure hunt
41. Decorate a flower pot.
42. Put on a puppet show
43. Make a ginger bread cookie advent calendar.
44. Cut the ABCs out of old sponges to make stamps perfect for learning letters.
45. Take a tour of the fire station
46. Roast marshmallows
47. Have an ice cream cone and play at a fast food playground.
48. Go to an ice cream parlor and sit at the bar. (ok so really I've just always wanted to do this)
49. The Living Planet Aquarium. This is one that's a little more expensive but they do have season passes for $18, or something right around there, so you can go all year.
50. Window shopping
51. Ride on the boats at Liberty Park
52. Go to the Clark Planitarium. Again, a little more expensive
53. Tracy Aviary. $
54. Check out a flea market
55. Play at an arcade or Boondocks. Cost totally depends on what you do.
56. Discovery Gateway Children's Museaum. This is awesome!! Not sure on the cost, google it, but it is a WONDERFUL place for kids!
57. Jungle Jims
58. Thanksgiving point gardens. Or whatever they have going on there. They often put on things just for kids.
59. Gilgal Sculpture Garden. Downtown, free, beautiful.
60. Take a family trip to the "This Is The Place" town
61. Timpanogus cave. Maybe wait until they can walk the whole way on their own. Or be sure to bring dad. : )
62. Ice skating
63. The Alpine Slide. I think they may have to be "so high" first.
64. National Trails Day. Excellent teaching opportunity. Every year the government hosts a clean the trails day where you go and help clean (all ages welcome) and they feed you lunch and stuff. Good service project.
65. Heber Valley Railroad. Pricey at Christmas, but totally worth it.
66. Topaz Mtn.
67. Garage sale. Either have one or go to one!
68. Make a blanket tent!
69. Pull out a matress and watch a movie in bed in the middle of the living room. Be sure to have popcorn!
70. Paint fingernails
71. Tye dye t-shirts
72. Decorate cupcakes
73. Get a big quilt and go star gazing
74. Have a backyard camp-out
75. Play dress ups!
76. Sand art
77. Glitter pictures. A big mess, but worth it! Take a page out of a coloring book and use a glue stick and colorful glitter to color it in.
78. Play house
79. Beauty salon- let your daughter do your hair for a change
80. Word/letter/spelling games
81. Water color pictures. I believe they make coloring books especially for this
82. Make furniture for barbies out of odds and ends around the house.
83. Get cheap DI picture frames and decorate them together. (LOVE this one!)
84. Have a treasure hunt around the house/yard
85. Turn on 80's music and have a dance party!
86. Make a magazine colloge. Collage? Collauge? W/E you know what we're saying!
There's what I have so far. Any more ideas? I really want to hit 100!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
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5 comments:
Sorry if I repeat something that you already said (I sometimes read really fast and miss things)
*star gazing (even better if you have a telescope)
*set up the tent in the backyard and have a camp out
*build a fort out of blankets
*if you have a girl, pain fingernail and toenails
*play dress up
If I think of any more, I will let you know. What a good idea to make a list.
I'm very impressed with your list!
When we have my nieces and nephews over for sleepovers here's what we do...
Tye dye. You can buy a kit from Walmart for $10 and all you have to do is add water, it can dye up to 10 t-shirts (I think). Every day can be a hippie day!
Decorate cupcakes. I made the cupcakes beforehand then gave them the frosting and sprinkles. They REALLY liked the sprinkles...
Make pizza. Along the same lines as the cupcakes, kids seems to like to make/decorate stuff...
We have just taken them to the parks a lot too. They can entertain themselves for hours there.
Whoa! Are you planning on being Super Mom?!!
*hair "do" when she's a little older let her pick out as many bows,elastics, etc she wants and do her hair crazy just to her liking, then let her do yours!
*sand art, get multi-colored sand from craft stores (or color salt w/food coloring?) and layer in jars for decoration or use glue and make a picture to frame!
*play house you be the "daughter" let her play mom. I bet you'll be surprised how much she looks up to you and want's to act like you!
*try writing your name backwards and see what it spells. have fun making words out of first, last, and middle names.
*make paper animals (draw and cut out or steal from a coloring book,color, cut out and then talk about where each animal comes from (jungle,etc.)
*water color pictures! take water color paints and get them soaked w/water drip on page and blow with straws! makes a fun picture and kids love it!
*make barbie furniture from recycling. try cutting out hairspray bottles into a chair, or boxes into tables etc. use your creativity! possibilities are endless!
*buy wood frames from d.i or dollar store use micellanious items around house (fun erasers, glitter, buttons, feathers, broken jewelry, gems, etc) and glue around frames for a personal touch! then add picture. good as a gift as well.
these are just a few i remember doing or look forward to doing if i have a girl one day!! hope they help!
*Hiking... always fun at all ages and there are so many fun trails in Utah {non in flordia...}
*Gardner Village, cute place to walk around AND you can get fudge samples!
Dry erase markers on the sliding glass door. This way you are not confinded to the small size of the paper {Tommy learned to write his letters this way}
*treasure hunt around the house
*Wacky day, sandwiches for breackfast, tacos for lunch and pancakes for dinner
*Turn on the good ol' 80's and DANCE!!!
*Read the Classics {currently James' favorite book is Moby Dick}
*Make a colloge out of magazines
*Find a community clean up to do. {the boys and I went to clean up the beach, not only was it a lot of fun but I want to boys to learn that our community is important
*See if you can find a "you pick it" place where you can pick your own fruit or berries. SO FUN!!
I'll be back to borrow from your list as I am needing things to do...
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