Five Free (or Inexpensive) Thing to Do With Your Kids

 

Other than photography related questions, a lot of you ask me about how I manage everything having four little kiddos at home. (Ha! Truth is, I really don’t.  They’ve taken over?)

 

A big part of being a parent and a full time photography  business owner is learning how to separate the two and be present in the moment with your children.  I am ALWAYS looking for things to do with my four kids to have fun and keep them busy. And because I’m super frugal ( and well, there’s a lot of us) I’m always seeking out activities that are free or low cost.

 

So I thought I’d help you out too! If you are ever searching for ideas for fun things to do with your kiddos, here’s our top five and hopefully this will give you some inspiration for something to this weekend with your little ones!

 

A little different for this week’s Friday Five, here are 5 things to do with your kids (besides trying to bribe them into letting you take their picture?)

 

Hiking

We do this a lot.  And yes, I know you might not live close to the mountains like we do, but you do can all kinds of hikes!  Sometimes we hike what we call “the urban hike”. We drive out to downtown (sometimes even take the speedline in) and just walk the street. If it’s too cold or hot, well, well then we hike the malls (and there’s a few of them out here, so our scenery always changes)  It’s totally free and promotes fitness and exercise too (double win!!)

 

 

Movie Night (or Morning)

Families movie nights are always a win! Usually free if you’ve got Netflix or Hulu to stream something, or a couple bucks to get something newer off amazon.  Get out all the blankets and pillows and cuddle up. We usually let the kids go to the dollar store beforehand to pick out a treat. They get to get 1 of anything they want there.  Which is so fun to watch because they think it’s just the coolest thing that they’re allowed to get anything they want from a store (our oldest is wise to the fact now that everything’s only $1?)

 

Thrift Shopping

I’m not exactly sure how we got started on this but my kids LOVE to do this.  We look for treasures when we go out and boy can we find some. You can do this yard sale-ing, going to a local Goodwill or thrift store in your area.  I’ve found some are better than others. You can find some unusual or unique toys and games and things to keep them busy for hours for sometimes just a few cents.  Plus the kids love the hunt of finding something cool! Make a “treasure hunt” out if going thirft shopping! Rare beanie babies have been our treasure hunt of the moment recently.  (oh yeah, and as a bonus, you can look for cool props for your next photo shoot!)

 

Dance Party- Microphones Required

No joke here- we have a dance party every.single.night at our house. The “after dinner” show in the Supiot household consist of four kids singing and dancing and just letting out their energy (sometimes for WAY longer tha.n anticipated). So get out your microphones, find some upbeat music and go a little crazy.  We’ve currently been using this super cool cordless mic that doubles as a Bluetooth speaker . It’s also gold, so all my kids want this one as for some reason it makes them the “lead singer”. And our tops music  picks of the moment : Panic at the Disco, JoJo Siwwa, The Greatest Showman Soundtrack and Les Mis ( odd collection , right?)

 

Check Out A Local College Campus

If you’re lucky enough to live close to a college campus, you are in luck! Doesn’t have to be a huge university, community college campuses offer a lot too.  At the very least, they are cool places to walk and explore. Usually kept up very nice and lots of neat buildings and architecture. (hey, so you’ll probably want to take your camera and try to get in a few shots?) We live close to Arizona State University and love walking the campus with the kids, but more than that, they have an art museum (free on family days!) and tons of free festivals just about every month.  

 

So there you have it! 5 free (or cheap) things that I do a lot with my four kids that you can try out too! And let me tell you, when I’m not working, I LOVE to have activities planned, so if there something free or inexpensive you do with your kiddos, let us know in a comment below!