Are you looking for cheap family activities that the whole family can enjoy without breaking the bank? Heading out to amusement parks, the bowling alley, or a movie theater is a lot of fun, but the costs can add up quickly, especially when you are paying for a whole family. Not to worry though because there are so many amazing activities that you can do together as cheap family activities! Check out these great ideas:
Cheap Family Activities
Volunteer
Volunteering in your local community is a great way to spend time together as a family without having to spend anything at all. There are likely many volunteer opportunities in your community from park clean-ups, soup kitchens, food pantries, and even the local animal shelter. They often need people to come out and exercise and play with the animals. We’ve found 50 different kid-friendly volunteering ideas and many of them would be suitable for older kids.
Start a Garden
Gardening is a great way to spend time together as a family that can also help you to put a dent in your grocery budget. Not only is gardening a cheap family activity and suitable for kids of all ages, but you are also teaching your kids how to grow their own food which is a great skill to have! Besides, vegetables taste better when you grow them yourselves. If you don’t have a garden then try sprouting seeds in a jar or growing herbs in small pots on a windowsill. Sprouting seeds is an easy way to grow food and something that even little kids will enjoy as the seeds sprout over a matter of days. 10 crops that children can grow are listed in this handy gardening with children guide.
Local Theater and Concerts
Many communities offer community theater and concert events several times a year. It can be fun and even educational to attend these productions but also costly. Ask at the venue if they have standby tickets where you get tickets on the day of the performance for a reduced price. It’s also great fun to take part in amateur productions and this would be a cheap family activity idea. Performing on a stage gives a child confidence and experience that will be highly useful to them later in life. Many careers involve giving presentations or speaking to a group of people and performance confidence learned at an early age is a valuable life skill. If theatre isn’t your kid’s thing, how about ballet, joining a choir or learning magic tricks for a talent show.
Host a Potluck Dinner
Do you want to entertain family, neighbors, or friends but need to keep everything frugal? Consider hosting a potluck dinner where everyone brings a favorite dish or two to share. This is a low-cost way to entertain, and the whole family can get involved by helping to prepare the dishes your family would like to share. You could also set up a playdate with a few other families, meeting in a local play park. Everyone could bring picnic items to share and make the meet-up more enjoyable.
A play park meetup is also a great place to try out some different cheap family activities with games such as capture the flag, marbles, duck duck goose and hula hooping providing much fun and laughter as you play together as a family or with friends.
Treasure Hunting at the Local Flea Market or Thrift Store
Just looking to spend some together as a family but don’t want to have to spend a lot of money? Your local thrift store or flea market is the perfect place to discover cheap ‘treasure’. You can find all kinds of amazing things at the flea market or thrift store from small kitchen appliances, to toys, baseball cards, or clothing. You might even find something that you or the kids need at a much lower price than it would cost to buy it new.
Arts & Crafts Day
Do your kids love creating things? Why not spend a rainy day crafting around the kitchen table? Pull out your art supplies like paint, canvas, glitter, sequins, paper, glue, and craft sticks and see what kind of amazing creations you can make together. This would also be fun as a joint activity with another family where you can pool resources and ideas. How about trying some macrame crafts for kids?
Play dough opens up a variety of cheap family activities perfect for a rainy day indoors. If you don’t have any play dough, then there are lots of recipes online to make your own. You can print play dough mats, make a number line, press tools and cutters into the dough to make shapes, use yellow play dough to make minions or bumble bees. The opportunities are endless!
I’ve got some unusual craft ideas for you here >>
Local Hiking Trails & Bike ride
Looking for a way to get the whole family up and moving while you spend the day together? Check out local hiking trails or try a bike ride that you haven’t been on before. We often make it a point to visit the nature trails and parks near our homes, but why not try one on the other side of town and see what it has to offer? If you find it tricky to keep kids moving along on a hike then we have some FREE nature bingo cards you can print off to motivate them to move!
Most State Parks waive their admission fees on specific days of the year. Typically, these include January 17, April 16, August 4, September 24 and November 11. Be sure to check with the State Park you want to visit if this is important to you and ensure that they are offering free admission to everyone on these days.
Backyard Campfire
Looking for a family activity that you might not have done in a while or ever? Have a campfire in the backyard, make some s’mores, and tell each other jokes or age-appropriate ghost stories. If you don’t have a fire pit, you can build one with a few bricks or large rocks, or you can use your charcoal grill and sit around it and make s’mores or roasted hot dogs on sticks. Made s’mores before? Instead, try making Australian dampner bread on a stick.
Family Game Night
Have a family game night and some fun snacks to share. Pull out your favorite board games or play card games. These are a great way to make memories laughing and playing at home with the entire family. There are so many family-friendly games that are appropriate for kids of all ages.
Your family could also enjoy a more physical family game even when it’s a rainy day and you are all stuck indoors. Set up an obstacle course or activity challenge in your hall or living room. You can also include a variety of physical activities such as a bean bag toss, then setting up a pyramid of 6 paper cups. You can use crepe paper or string to make a ‘laser’ maze. Get Dad working his way through, as well! Being smaller, the younger kids are sure to have the advantage
Scavenger Hunt
Scavenger hunts are a great idea for younger kids and the hunt can be indoors or outdoors so they are fun whatever the weather. We have an alphabet scavenger hunt suitable for kids of all ages that you can print off at home. Grab it here.
If you only need to consider older kids, try a treasure hunt with more complex clues. These clues typically take the form of puzzles and codes that need to be solved before the seeker can move on. Kids love working out the clues and they are even getting a little Math and English practice into the bargain (but don’t tell them that!)
Prepare a Meal Together
Prepare a special meal together as a family. There is a reason that they call the kitchen the heart of the home and spending time together there as a family will create memories for a lifetime. As a family, decide what it is that you would all like to make. You can prepare in advance so that you can add the items to your weekly grocery list. This is the perfect time to teach your kids about meal planning using a meal planner and grocery list.
Baking is actually a type of science experiment although with tasty results. Older kids can watch online videos and cook along with a favorite baker or chef. Try making bread as an alternative to a sweet bake or bake some cookies and hand them out to friends as a surprise gift.
Check out all my recipes for kids here >>
Visit a Local Museum
Is there a local art museum or historical site in your community? Have you been there recently, or ever? If you haven’t this can be a great way to spend an afternoon as a family and it won’t break the bank. In some cases, kids get free admission. UK kids can apply for a free Blue Peter badge which then gets them free entry into over 200 attractions!
Through Museums for All, those receiving food assistance (SNAP benefits) can gain free or reduced admission to more than 900 museums throughout the United States simply by presenting their EBT card.
Bear in mind that some historic sites are more interesting for children to visit than others and have more fun things for them to do. Some venues are more suited to certain age groups. You will know your child best and what interests them. Lots of museums are free to visit and some are free on specific days. You’ll probably have to cover the cost of ice cream if they have a cafe but that’s not going to break the bank!
For older kids, try to find out if there is a historic site near to you that runs tours at night or by candlelight. Everything seems more exciting and interesting and the kids get more immersed in the history of the place.
Go Camping
Looking for a frugal family getaway for a night or two? Consider a camping trip to a nearby campground or park. Renting a spot at a campground for a night or two is much less expensive than staying in a hotel, and campgrounds have lots of fun activities that the whole family can enjoy. Swimming, fishing, canoeing or kayaking, and hiking are just some of the activities that your campground might offer. You could also try a camping treasure hunt whilst you are there for an unusual, yet cheap, family activity.
Kids love to get out of the house and play in nature and they learn so much whilst they explore the great outdoors. The key to successful family camping is to be organized with your packing and to get everyone involved in the camp chores. Even young kids can get involved with the easier chores such as filling their own water bottle. Once the chores are done, you can get on with having family fun.
Create a Family Photo Album or Scrapbook
One amazing way to have some frugal family-friendly fun is to sit down and create a family photo album or scrapbook together. Bring out all the pictures you have taken over the years that never quite made it into a photo album, or have each family member create a couple of scrapbook pages with their favorite pictures. This is a great way to relive memories of past trips, adventures, and birthdays. Enjoy quality time with your kids as you fill them in on family history.
There are lots of fun and cheap family activities that you can do to spend time together, especially if you are creative and willing to think outside of the box. Make sure that you keep an eye on your community’s social media pages to learn about free or low-cost activities as well. It’s always fun when you can do something fun, nearly, free, and meet new friends. What are some of your ideas for cheap family fun?
If your kids love mystery games and detective puzzles, you need to see this
Rainy day? we’ve got some fab activity ideas
Pin it for Later:
Great tips! I know with this economy we’re all looking for ways to have family fun in a budget friendly way. I’m featuring your post today on You’re the Star Blog Hop. This week it went live a bit late. All my fault, I hit the wrong date somehow in the publish calendar. If you stop by & let me know if you’re following me on social media & what platform, I’ll feature you there as well! Have a great week!
Thank you very much for choosing me as the Star Blog. I’m following you on Facebook on my personal profile (Janice Papworth) but my page is https://www.facebook.com/nonscreenactivitiesforkids and also on Pinterest as https://www.pinterest.co.uk/PaperMadeBeautiful/
Janice, these are fantastic and oh so economical family fun activities. I so appreciate you sharing this. Thank you.
Visiting today from #74&75
Thank you for your kind words
Love these tips! I especially appreciate that they are economical and geared toward a variety of age groups. Have a wonderful weekend!