List 10 free activities!

[PrincessPerky]

Re: List 10 free activities!

Can I add more?

11)build a dream house of legos/duplos (duplos are bigger legos, safe for mouthing children, easier to build with)

12)make a card or note from cut out shapes and child writing (DD wrote 3 of the letters to her name yesterday!)

13) read an 'important paper' that you were required to in school but skimmed, like constitution or something.

14) plan a vacation, I know you might eventually want to spend the money on it, but planning it is free, and can help motivate the official saving.

15)stock a dream house from an ikea catalog or other such thing. I used to do this with my bro, we were silly, but it was fun. Sometimes we would challenge ourselves to the cheapest house, sometimes to a theme, always free.

[cicy33]

Re: List 10 free activities!

Here are the few things we do:

watch cable ( I know this isnt' free but considering it might keep us from going out and spending money I added it)
Play poker
Play Yahtzee
Play ship, captain, crew (dice game)
play on my computer (again internet but still cheaper than option above)
I do love to read but don't get to very often
That is about it for us.

[Ima saver]

Re: List 10 free activities!

jacuzzi, candlelight and wine. (ok not free but not too expensive)

[miclason]

Re: List 10 free activities!

1. make a movie theater in your own home (make some popcorn, pop a movie, close the curtains, turn off the lights!)
2. go outside and watch the clouds - extra fun if you can find shapes in them!
3. write a journal
4. if there are grown-ups around, try to remember what kind of clothes you wore 5, 10, 15 years ago...what kind of music you listened to, and what was your favorite TV Show...
5. Tell a story to a child, but without reading!! (honest, is not that easy!)
6. make soap bubbles!
7. Watch fish (it IS relaxing!)
8. Play with the family pet...
9. If you have children, tell them stories about when they "were little" (4 to 7 year olds love it!)- for older kids, tell them stories about when YOU were little
10. Tongue twisters!!!

[marjorie]

Re: List 10 free activities!

Use local high school pool
Use community college gym during "open gym" hours
Borrow kayak from teen center, and go nuts!
Skate!
Take a little kid for a walk where you go so slowly they get to examine everything
Look up recipies that need ingredients you already have
Repot something, it'll appreciate it
Inventory household
Go to a town meeting- see what's going on and meet people
Give an internet class at the library

[cicy33]

Re: List 10 free activities!

Your high school has a pool!!!!!???? don't tell my kids!

[marjorie]

Re: List 10 free activities!

Most of the larger school districts around here have pools. I'm in upstate NY and our winters can be pretty bad. Occassionaly you have a newscaster who decides to measure snow in yards...
Guess I should have included shoveling...

[markitcat]

Re: List 10 free activities!

1. Learn a new language from books or tapes from library.

2. Memorize a favorite poem.

3. Volunteer as an usher at a local community theater stay and see the show for free.

4. Go to any high school football field after school in fall, listen to band practice.

5. Get all dressed up and go to a church on a saturday to see a wedding. You don't have to know anyone. Just don't go to the reception.

6. Climb a tree. No, I'm too old cuz I'm 50.

7. Build a sandcastle.

8. Stargazing

9. Go to a hospital and look at the new born babies.

10. Learn how to juggle

[CheaplyClever]

Re: List 10 free activities!

Husband and I are both newly and offically retired (yeah!) so I jumped right onto this thread.... this really isn't that easy!

1. The dog wants to be included, so let's get out the leash and take a walk.

2. Check out a stack of books from the library

3. Play backgammon

4. It's the time of year to get all of the taxes together

5. Declutter the house, room by room

6. Take the above clutter to Salvation Army

7. Spend a few hours in Salvation Army/Habitat/Goodwill just looking at stuff (I try to find something I brought in last month)

8. Volunteer to do something on a weekly basis- we like to deliver food to the elderly

9. Hold hands while watching a tv show together

10. And the best for last.... take turns rubbing lotion into each other's back and or feet

[toys]

Re: List 10 free activities!

Learn about local history... visit sites on the historical register.

(Google?) Search random words on the internet... perhaps find a forum to join that shares your interests.

Choose a random page in the dictionary and learn all (or at least one of) the words.

Reorganize the furniture in your house -- just for fun (as well as exercise and a change of scenery).

Watch something on tv you wouldn't normally (like the Discovery or History channel) -- assuming you have already paid for cable.

Learn a language (but I already said that, elsewhere).

Borrow a documentary from the library... about something you know nothing.

Hike... anywhere, but the most scenic locations can be more time consuming (in a good way).

Create a new recipe.

Give blood.

Learn oragami... if you already do it, try harder ones.

Learn a new card game... like Euchre.

Tell me I reached 10 some time ago and should stop already.

[LittleGopher]

Re: List 10 free activities!

With children:

1 - sled
2 - swim at the beach
3 - hike - within 10 miles we have 2 county parks, a forest preserve, a 'rail to trail' trail,
4 - bike
5 - have a backyard campfire (roast hot dogs and marshmallows - not free, but we have to eat anyway)
6 - backyard tenting
7 - library - books, movies, programs
8 - cook and bake
9 - the Twin Cities area has so many free (or free days) attractions - parks, zoo, nature preserves, museums, festivals...(cost for vehicle gas, but if snacks and water are brought along - it's nearly free)
10 - home! (we can play with our toys, create art and crafts from what we already have, watch movies we own, play games, read, talk, look at photo albums, look at our travel scrapbooks, look up info on the internet, learn something new like crocheting or knitting or sewing, have friends over...endless possibilities)

By myself or with my husband:

1 - read, read, read - never enough time to read
2 - sew - especially quilt ( I seem to have collected plenty of fabric over the years, so nothing to buy, plenty to make)
3 - work on the above mentioned photos - while there is a lot of albums, there are more boxes of photos than I'd like to acknowledge, and now with the aquisition of a digital camera about a year ago...well, it's quite amazing how many photos one can quickly have downloaded onto the computer just waiting for a little attention
4 - super-long soak in the tub
5 - walk - usually around the neighborhood, so more social than for exercise, or cc sking ( I have skis and boots from when I was in high ski - don't have one of those super sleek one-piece suits that are commonly worn now, but THAT is really ok!)
6 - write - with my dad gone (11 years ago from cancer) and my mom having Alzheimer's Disease, I feel like the 'keeper' of my family's memories. I want to make sure I remember them all, to pass down to my girls.
7 - garden
8 - 'fun' household projects - for me, it's painting and staining, refinishing furniture, especially what others deem throw-away. I like using tools! (again, using what we have already)
9 - have friends over - girlfriends for coffee, family and friends especially for BBQ in the summer (our house is fairly small, but we have a great backyard!)
10 - naps, sleeping in, or vegging out in front of one of our favorite well-watched DVDs

and on and on and on....

[PRICEPLUS]

Re: List 10 free activities!

Clean up clutter in the house! I just did!

[jw4848]

Re: List 10 free activities!

The following stores offer these at different times. Check you local location for exact day and time...no cost or obligation to participate and you take the craft home with you.

HomeDepot has a craft each month usually the first saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The parent assists the child in making various projects. a nice apron with pockets, pin, and certificate are given also. A few of the projects I have done with my child: Bird house/feeder, race car, planter with soil and plant, bug house, craft caddy with crayons...

Michaels Has various crafts each Saturday.

Lakeshore has various crafts each saturday.

Lowes has crafts on Saturdays.