2 Free Summer Fun Ideas That You Will Want to Sign Your Kids Up For Now!
My 4 year old just learned the word “bored.” She loves her new vocabulary word and shows it off often. Since I don’t want her to be bored all summer, I was thrilled to find 2 free summer fun ideas.
Ok, so in all fairness, I actually do not mind if my daughter is bored. I think it is good for kiddos to be occasionally bored.
It is amazing the creativity that can come out of not having every minute of every day planned by an adult. But, I’m also a realist. I need things to keep her entertained over the summer and it is a bonus if those activities are cheap or free.
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2 Free Summer Fun Ideas to Sign up For Now
When it heats up in those early summer months, I usually let my mind drift to the pool. I blow up our inflatable toddler splash pad and set up our awesome Slip N Slide hack.
Even though water is a great way to cool down, sometimes we need a little change of pace. Here are 2 Free summer fun ideas to sign up for so that you will have built in fun all summer long.
Kids Skate Free
For this freebie, go to the Kids Skate Free site and sign up. You can look by State and city to find the closest location to you. This is all facilitated by each individually owned skating center so I am sure the rules change for each one.
For example, the location that we will go has 2 weekday afternoons (2 until 8 pm) and one weekend afternoon that you can attend for free.
Even my 4 year old loves to “skate” now (holding on to the rail and walking on the rink). While she works on mastering the skill, she is building up her gross motor skills, exercising and most importantly at this point getting her wiggles out!
To use this freebie, you need to go back to the site and print off a weekly pass to take to the facility for use. Not a large price to pay for this awesome freebie.
*Update 2021: they now have an app that makes it super simple to show your passes at the door.
It does cost $4 per child processing when you sign up. I am not sure exactly what this goes for, I am assuming that it may be to maintenance the site.
*Update 2021: this year there was no fee! They didn’t even take a credit card at all. YAY!
There is also a rental fee ($2 at my location) if you need to rent skates for your kids. We got skates for my kids at Christmas this year so we will use those. By the way, if you need skates – these have been so cool for my 3 year old. He is a pro on them. Who knew there was such a thing as “beginner” skates.
If you take one child 5 times over the summer, you would save about $36 once you subtract the $4 processing. If you have 3 kids, that is $108! Wow.
Kids Bowl Free
Sign your kids up for 2 free games of bowling all summer long. Complete the form at the Kids Bowl Free site, where you can sign up all your kids that are 17 or under.
There is no processing fee for this, just simply pick your location, register your kids & print your coupons as needed for their two free games. You can do this all summer long! If it is free and an air conditioned location, I consider that a success.
The Kids bowl free site does give you one paid option when you process the free kid memberships. For less than $30 (this was my location and may change by site), I could sign up 4 adults to play 2 games all summer long as well.
*Update: now it is 2 adults for $30.
I decided to do this because my husband and I will probably at least go together once or twice plus all the times I will take the kids solo just to get out of the house. For this one, I could sign up our two older girls, the 4 year old and both of us.
On a Sunday, the cost of a game is right at $30 so if we play two games on one Sunday we make up the cost.
If we go three Sundays over the course of the summer and play 2 games each time, we save $150! I also signed my mom and sister up two because I could sign up 4 adults for that one time fee of $30.
It is unbelievable! Adults can only bowl during Kid Free times but at my location they have WAY more times available than I will ever actually go so it is not limiting to me.
Bowling shoes are required at most facilities. If you don’t have shoes, the rental fee is usually around $3 a rental.
Summer Savings – How Much will I Save?
It depends on how many times you go to these 2 free summer fun ideas.
If you go just a couple of times to each, you can easily save $50 to $100. If you go a lot or have a bunch of kids, you will save even more!
Since we have a big family when my step daughters are with us, I love frugal ideas where we can go and have fun but not spend an arm and a leg.
More Fun Activities to Do At Home!
Need some more summer fun ideas? Try some of our favorites.
Vegetable Soup Water Table Play
