Fun & Frugal Summer Activities for Kids # 28 Go See a Summer Movie {For Free or Super Cheap}

Many movie theaters offer free, or nearly free, kids movies in the summer time.  You can check with your local movie theater to see what kind of summer programs they offer.  

 

Here is a list of several of the movie theaters that are currently participating in free Summer Movies. 

Our local theater used to be free, but now they charge $1 per person, still a HUGE savings when you consider that tickets are generally $8-10 per admission.  Plus popcorn, of course.

Another option is to see if your city, or one nearby, is offering Movies in the Park.  Many parks provide a free movie, all you have to do is bring your blanket and kids.

One thing on our summer bucket list is to visit a sort-of close-by drive in movie theater called Bengies. The price is right, and you get to watch up to three movies for the price of one.  Not sure we'd make it through three, but we'd sure try!

Have you ever taken the kids to a drive in or a movie in the park?

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Fun & Frugal Summer Activity for Kids #27 Go on a Nature Walk

For those of you that are familiar with the Charlotte Mason way of schooling, this will not be a new concept for you.  Hopefully, it will at least be a gentle reminder of the beauty of nature walks.  

 I heard about nature walks about 5 years ago. A nature walk is simply that, a walk in nature.  Your and your children can walk around a local park, trail or even in your neighborhood.  We we've done nature walks my kids collect lots of goodies.  My kids have brought home rocks, flowers, leaves, bugs, pine cones, bark, one time we even found the bone of a raccoon's jaw.  And yes, we brought it home {smile}.

My kids have collected items, come home and sorted them into categories of sorts.  They have researched things they've found online.  The have even sketched the things that they have seen on our walks.

When we are walking I try to let them explore on their own a bit.  I also love to share things that I have previously learned with them.  We also talk about how awesome God is, and what an amazing creator and artist He is! 

A nature walk is lots of fun.  It is a great way to start a collection of plants, bugs, rocks or whatever.  Something fun to get you started might be a nature scavenger hunt.  You could print out one with pictures for younger children, or one that is just words for the older crowd.

If they are really into it, they can start a nature notebook or box to keep track of their findings. If we have found something of great interest we usually follow it up with a visit to the library for more information.

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Fun & Frugal Summer Activities for Kids #26 Explore Local History!

Something that the family and I have enjoyed this summer is checking out historic sites and local museums.  I am almost ashamed to mention that there is a historic stable in my neighborhood, that we had not checked out until about a month or so ago. We have lived in this neighborhood for almost 15 years! 

Come to find out, we all enjoy checking out historic sites.  For instance, that stable I mentioned, had an open house one day.  They offered pony rides, crafts, and a tour of the stable and connecting house for us to check out.  They even had a beautiful Clydesdale horse that we got to pet.  After we checked out the stables, we walked a short distance to the historic mansion, which we also got to tour.  

Tomorrow we plan on going to another historical site to watch a Civil War reenactment.  Also a freebie! 

I plan on packing a lunch and snacks, checking out what else is in the neighborhood and geocaching while we are there.  Did you know that many of the National Parks and historic sites have geocaches that are actually hidden by the park rangers?

One thing I have learned this past spring was that our little city has a lot to offer.  Most are free or very inexpensive.  These little spots have actually become some of my kids favorite places to visit.  I have also found that most of these little spots are quite kid friendly, and hands on.

Have you checked out what your city has to offer? 

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Have Fun!

Fun & Frugal Activities for Kids #25 Geocaching

I had heard about Geocaching a few years ago, but never really paid it much mind.  Then one fun afternoon we decided to give it a try.  

 

Ok, wait a minute, maybe I am getting ahead of my self.  If you have never heard of geocaching before, here is the best definition that I could find...

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.

So, off we went on our first geocaching adventure!  We downloaded and used the free Geocaching App on my iPhone.  It told us the coordinates of the cache, gave us a hint and led the way.

The first cache that we found was a small log in a hide a key type rock.  We were really excited to find it! There was a little log inside that signed and dated.  

The next one we found was at a local historical mansion.  This thing was sooo little we couldn't believe it.  The log was teeny tiny, but we managed to sign and date it.  

 

Since geocaching is pretty much worldwide, we checked to see if they were any nearby when we were vacationing at the beach.  There was one at a National Park placed by the rangers, the same park where we earned our Junior Ranger Badges.  This cache was larger and had trinkets inside.  The rule is if you take a trinket, you have to place a trinket.  So, we swapped 4 goodies and signed the log.

The last one we found was also at the beach.  In the middle of a state wide lacrosse championship game.  In the dark.  In a creepy wooded corn field area.  But, after much debating, our brave 9 year old decided to lead the way.  This was probably the neatest cache we have found, the box was a plastic treasure chest.  again we swapped trinkets and signed the log.  

Not only do the kids love doing this, but The Hubs and I do too!  The Hubs is a pretty competitive guy, so this is right up his alley! 

To get started just sign up for a free account on Geocaching.com.  You might want to peak over Geocaching 101.  Look for caches in your area.  Then either use a GPS or phone app and getting your treasure hunt on! I bet you too will agree that Geocaching Rocks!

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Have Fun!