Comments on: You Tell Me: Frugal Spring Break Activities

By: Ruby

Ruby — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 06:54:03 +0000

A little shocked that you could think that reading with your kids would make you a mean mommy ! ! ! The mind boggles. Seriously. Have you had negative input from other people about this, or did you have bad experiences as a child? I’ve always seen reading as a good thing, never as a punishment or anything. Never feel bad for reading or letting your kids read!

By: Sunday Money Roundup - Yurting The Week Away. | My Two Dollars

Sunday Money Roundup - Yurting The Week Away. | My Two Dollars — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:00:32 +0000

[...] Frugal has some Frugal Spring Break Activities. Since my wife is a teacher, we are taking our activity this [...]

By: Casdok

Casdok — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 11:24:29 +0000

We are just going to chill!!

By: Kathy

Kathy — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 19:16:35 +0000

Google for crafts, or just pictures of their object of interest that they can color. My two little boys love Thomas the Tank Engine, but I bet if you Google “Coloring book” and just about anything, you can find some “new” pictures for them to color. You can make Christmas ornaments (or Easter ornaments?)–just because it’s not the “right” season doesn’t mean it won’t be fun. Hey–why not do all the stuff you feel impelled to do at Christmastime, but can’t do because you’ve got too much to do?

Kathy

By: Frugal Dad

Frugal Dad — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:16:37 +0000

Borrowing from my “Frugal Family Fun Night” ideas, you could plan an afternoon movie matinee, complete with homemade popcorn and sleeping bags. My kids love any excuse to drag out their sleeping bags and lounge around, and it’s even more fun in the middle of the day! Let them pick out a movie you haven’t watched in a while, or make a trip to rental store to pick out a new one.

“Cooking Class” – this is a good one my wife uses during school breaks. Plan two or three things you could make with the kids during the day. Homemade cookies, a cake recipe, or a favorite homemade dinner dish. You can go a step further by picking up some used aprons and letting the kids “decorate” them with finger paints, bedazzlers, etc. Frugal dads love this one because it usually means a home-baked treat when he gets home from work!

By: Tia

Tia — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:07:42 +0000

-The library is great for all ages.
-Here in Denver we have the Kids’ Pages and they list free events for each month.
-We have a movie and popcorn night (or day if its rainy). Pop some airpopped corn, we each get our own bowl and watch a family movie.
-My kids (ages 5 & 8) both love to cook and bake. We will be making lots of healthy cookies, mini pizzas & casseroles to freeze for the busy days once school starts again. They get to pick out their own recipes, help get the ingredients we need from the store & prepare their “own” meals.
-Both kids enjoy it when I take time to draw pictures or color with them. When momma is sitting still with them it seems to be more fun. :)

By: LJ

LJ — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:36:05 +0000

My kids are younger than yours, I think, so I don’t know how well this will work for you.

We do crafts, that are (if possible) educational. We’ve made kites, butterfly catchers and we even attempted to plant a “butterfly garden” at one point, but my green thumb has yet to sprout :)

We also work on “family” projects. Putting pictures into albums or making home videos.

And when the weather is really nice, we head out to the woods to go “exploring”, we look for animals and birds, gather “pet rocks”, pinecones, etc. and usually pack a picnic lunch to share.

I could go on and on, I am the queen of inexpensive children’s entertainment. I just can’t see myself spending a ton of money to take the kids to the movies or something like that. Frugal fun is our specialty :)

Take Care

By: Alison @ This Wasn't In The Plan

Alison @ This Wasn't In The Plan — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:53:18 +0000

What about the library? Do they have any special spring break storytimes for older kids? One of our libraries shows movies once a week even.

What about museums? Some of our museums offer free admission days several times a year and I just found out that one has free admission every day after 4:00.

You could do a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood, make a list of things you’re likely to find and see how many things you can find. You could probably tweak this and have it be an inside activity too.

If the weather doesn’t allow for outside planting, you could get some inexpensive flower seeds and the kids could plant them in paper cups or other small containers. You could decorate the cups to look like people, plant grass seed and then when it grows, the kids can give their people “haircuts”

By: No Debt Plan

No Debt Plan — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:02:53 +0000

Errr… board games was going to by my idea. We like puzzles, too. (No kids so that’s the best I can do.)

By: Damsel

Damsel — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 13:50:36 +0000

Make some homemade play-doh (google the recipe), bake cookies, watercolors and crayons, and remembering that it’s sometimes a good thing for kids to be bored! It forces them to be creative and come up with something to do on their own instead of being entertained all the time… :P

You can also have a picnic in the middle of the living room floor — that’s fun for us when it’s raining!