Summer

2 Free Summer Fun Ideas That You Must Sign Up For Now

May 22, 2018 by Stacy Craft 1 Comment

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.

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.

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

4th of July Graham Cracker Flag

Gardening Sensory Bin

Weekly Summer Schedule for Kids

Little Tikes Slam N Curve Water Slide Review

July 1, 2020 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Are your kids bored and needing something to do during these hot summer months at home?

The Little Tikes Slam N Curve Water Slide review will tell you everything you need to know about this outdoor water toy before you buy.

We are half way through our second summer with this Little Tikes water slide.

Whenever I am thinking about spending a good chunk of money on a toy, I have questions. Like will it hold up and last?

Will it get played with? Is it going to be a pain for me to deal with? Is it appropriate for the age of my kids?

I will answer all of these questions for you in this Little Tikes Slam N Curve Water Slide Review.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

Little Tikes Slam N Curve Water Slide Review

The water slide comes with several features that claim to keep your kids occupied but does it work?

Will they really play with it and will you get a value worth your money?

In this Little Tikes Slam N Curve Water Slide Review I will give you my experience (and my kid’s) with they toy. I think it is important to point out that this is not a sponsored post – meaning that I purchased this water toy with my money and was not compensated for writing this review by the Little Tikes company.

Features on The Little Tikes Water Slide

The inflatable has a rock wall that the kids use to climb to the top of the slide. At the top of the slide, there is a water feature that sprays water down the slide which helps the kids fly down the slide extra fast.

Once they hit the end of the slide, they will dump into the attached pool. The pool area is pretty bit and has a small basketball goal and an included inflatable ball.

Will the Kids Play With It?

My kids absolutely love this toy (6 & almost 3). Today my daughter said “here in America, we are lucky because it is so hot and we can play on the water slide!” Kids are funny.

And there I was thinking how unlucky I was because it was so hot. All about perspective!

But anyway, is very common for them to play in it for 2+ hours in the backyard. Mom Win! Parent Win!

It is so great to sit outside with my husband while they play on the slide. We get to have a conversation and the kids have a blast. It is great for all of us.

And they are so worn out by the end of their play session.

(Here is my almost 3 year old going down on his belly)

Set Up

The set up is pretty easy and can be done by one person without issue.

The biggest obstacle is that it is kind of bulky for one person of my size (5’3) to deal with. But that being said, I have said it up tons of times alone.

Once the water slide is in your desired location, you just hook it up to the included blower and let it do it’s job.

It inflates in just a few seconds.

Durability

We used the inflatable slide last summer and have used it about 3 months this year.

The slide is definitely looking a little less new. But the overall construction is still good.

I would say it is well made and durable. I see no reason that we won’t be able to use it again next year (year 3) with proper care.

Safety Features

The highest part of the slide has netting around the two open areas to help prevent a child from falling from the top.

Of course when you combine heights and water, you definitely need to use caution and watch the kiddos at all time. However, overall I think the product is well constructed to aid in keeping kids safe.

Clean Up

Clean up. The question we all want addressed!

Does it get gross and moldy? Is it hard to empty?

Clean up is actually easier than I thought it would be but it takes a few steps.

The slide auto drains the pool area which is nice. The drawback? It doesn’t really fully drain all the water. You will have to raise the edges and manipulate it a bit to get it completely drained.

Pro Clean Up Tip To Get the Slide Dry:

So it won’t get gross and moldy IF you put it away completely dry. But this thing is big and it is hard to find somewhere to lay it out flat to dry.

Here is what I do: Unplug the blower and let the pool drain most of the water. Help it along to get the rest of the water out of the pool.

Next, blow the slide back up using the blower. It is still going to be wet. Let it stay inflated with no water flowing for 30 minutes or so until it dries out on top.

The last step is to drape it over something like a deck railing to allow the bottom part of the slide to dry.

Put it away until you are ready to use it again.

Not really hard but a bit time consuming. The good news is that it only requires a few active minutes from you. You set it up, walk away and let it dry.

Tips

Now that the Little Tikes Slam N Curve Water Slide Review is over, I thought I would offer a few tips.

Tarp

I don’t do this because our wood deck is big enough to hold the slide.

But many people spread a tarp down before inflating the slide on grass to eliminate grass getting into the slide/mud under the slide.

Towel Under Slide

I’m not sure if this would be an issue on grass but my kids go so fast down the slide, they were getting beaten up when they hit the bottom. I found that putting a folded beach towel underneath the slide before filling it with water helped to give a little pad and made it more comfortable.

Pre-filling the pool partially with water prior to hooking up the sprayer above the slide also helps with comfort as well.

I hope that this Little Tikes Slam N Curve Water Slide review helped you to determine if it would be a good outdoor toy for your kids.

Looking for more Kid Fun?

Summer Water Fun for Kids – Slip N Slide Hack

May 18, 2018 by Stacy Craft 8 Comments

Summer Water Fun for Kids with Inexpensive Slip N Slide Hack

Summer heat. It isn’t in full swing here yet but it is coming! We have already had a couple of 90 degree days and it is still May (all my South Texas friends are probably laughing because it rarely dips below 90 there). Anyway, when it is hot, water play is on my mind for the kids.

This idea is easy to execute and involves just two main items. It will cool the kids off and keep them entertained for hours. If you need simple summer water fun for kids, this is for you!

Quick Disclaimer: Of course when your children are playing near any type of water, remember to always have them under constant supervision.

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.

Check out this Awesome Summer Theme Schedule – An easy way to have fun with kids all summer long.

Summer Water Fun For Kids – Slip N Slide Hack

Last year I bought a cheap slip n slide for my then 3 year old. She did not really understand the concept of running an sliding the way that the slip n slide is intended to be used. It took me 3 days but I finally came up with a way for her to have fun using her new toy!

What you Need:

Slip N Slide

Little Tykes Slide

Baby Shampoo

Set Up Instructions

This does work best if you have any kind of small incline in your yard. We have a very small hill but it gives just enough height to help propel the kiddos down the slide. If you don’t have any kind of hill, it will still work, they just will not go quite as fast.

Place your slide in your yard (preferably at the top of a small incline).
Place the top of your slip in slide a few inches under your slide and secure it into the ground with the included spikes.
Roll out your slip in slide. I always like to check the area as I am unrolling for any big twigs or rocks that might cause boo boos for the little ones as they speed over them.
Attach your Water hose.
Wet your slide, this just helps for the first few slides. Once the kids get going, their wet bathing suits will keep the slide wet.
Drizzle the baby shampoo over the slide and the slip n slide. The baby shampoo helps to get it extra slippery so they slide down fast. You may want to reapply a few times but I don’t end up having to do it much. *Any body wash/shampoo would probably work but I use the tear free variety just in case it gets in the kiddos eyes.

Recommended Ages

I did this for the first year when my daughter was 3. She has already been doing it this year at four. The slide that we have recommends a maximum of 60 pounds so we will probably have at least a few more summers out of this little creation. I would say in general it would probably work for kids aged 3-6 or maybe small 7 year olds.

Why Not buy the Little Tikes Slide & Slip Combo

So it appears that Little Tikes can up with the same idea that I had last year.

Don’t worry, they didn’t ask my opinion and I am not a bizillionaire for my awesome slip n slide hack idea. So why not just buy what they made? Here are my thoughts:

Cheaper – On Amazon, you can buy the two items I suggested for about $6 or $7 less than the combo.
Existing Slide – The Little Tikes first slide is kind of a household staple. I feel like so many people have this for their kids already. So if you already have the slide, for less than $12 you can buy the slip n slide and have a new use for your slide that results in lots of summer water fun for kids!
Longer Slip N Slide – The Slip N Slide I use is 14 feet long. The one that comes with the combo is only 10 ft. So especially as the kids get older, the longer one will probably be a little more fun.

We have tons of Little Tikes items that we absolutely love, but for this slip n slide hack I just prefer to make my own!

Want More Fun Summer Ideas? Check these out.

Vegetable Soup Water Table Play

Flower Planting Sensory Bin

Princess Rose Petal Tea Pretend Play

Invitation to Play – Birthday Party!

Travel Activities for Kids on Road Trips Under $15 to Free

June 25, 2018 by Stacy Craft Leave a Comment

Travel Activities for Kids on Road Trips Under $15 to Free

We recently took a beach trip with our 7 month old and 4 year old. Driving 7+ hours with two kids requires lots of planning. I wanted to have some travel activities for kids, snacks and extra patience packed for the drive.

And if you are going to the beach and need to know the #1 beach item to take with you for an infant, read about that here.

Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.

Since we used to make a trip from our home in Houston, TX to Memphis about every 6-8 weeks for the first two years of my daughter’s life, I am pretty experienced in things that work well in the car. I have compiled a list of things that we used on this trip or have used on previous trips to make the journey a little easier on everyone.

Amazon Road Trip Toys & Activities Under $15

Pop Snap Beads

I put a few handfuls into a solo cup. The cup fits into the carseat cup holder and the kids can assemble chains or jewelry. If they use all the beads by making a super long chain, I will refill the cup. These beads snap together so there is no chance of a string being dropped and all the beads falling off. Good for a car ride and something different than the usual car activities.

Colorforms Reusable Stickers & Background

Do you remember playing with these as a kid? I do! I loved being able to create a sticker scene with all of my favorite characters and then pull them all off and start over. Lots of the current characters are available for your kids – Peppa, Paw Patrol, PJ Masks. These are a great activity for the car, airplane, a restaurant or even just quiet time at home.

Magnetic Dress Up Board

Magnets in the car are always a win in my book because I envision them staying stuck where they should be and not all over my floor. My daughter has been playing with her magnetic dress up board since she was 2 or 3 and still enjoys it at 4.5 years old. We always have to have all thing princess and girl so we love the Frozen and Minnie sets. They also have a Minions and Cars set too that will be perfect for my baby boy in a couple of years!

Melissa & Doug Water Wow

Wow is right. Simply put water in paint brush holder and shut the top. Your kids will paint with the water and all of the pretty colors will magically appear. The best part? Once the water dries, the color evaporates and they can paint again and again.

I bought my daughter a set of these when she was 2 and we are just now having to replace them 2 years later because the paper finally wore out after being painted so many times. She has so much fun using these books, especially in places where painting is not typically allowed like in the car! This pack has 3 books and if you need less, they also have a 2 pack. I keep these in my diaper bag too for times that we might get stuck somewhere and need a distraction.

These might just be my favorite travel activity for kids!

Lacing Cards

Encouraging learning and fine motor is what we do as moms (even if it is in a car)! These lacing cards accomplish just that. The kids think it is fun and we can feel good about them doing something besides watching a screen (and don’t think I am getting all judgey, you better believe a screen will make an appearance in our car during a trip.)

The ocean themed lacing cards were my choice since we were travelling to the beach. The princess, zoo, and transportation cards are also very cute.

WikkiStix

These are pieces of yarn covered in wax. The sticks are moldable and can be twisted and formed into shapes. I like to print off free playdough mats to use when playing with these wikkistix. They are mess free! Picklebums has a great roundup of playdough mats that you can use.

Dollar Tree Travel Activities for Kids

We took a quick trip to the Dollar Tree right before we left. As always they have a million things that you didn’t know that you needed! Since everything is just $1, it is great for little car ride surprises.

Here is what we got:

Stick on By Number Mosaics – These little kits surprised me! They were lots of fun and super economical.

I kept the stickers up front with me and let my daughter pick one number to do at a time to cut down on lost pieces and mess. These were actually really good quality and reminded me of kits I have purchased at craft stores for much more than $1!

Velvet Mickey Mouse Mini Poster Coloring Art

Mini Character Puzzle Tins – Attach magnetic tape to the puzzle pieces and they can work the puzzle on the cookie sheet in the car. Make sure you use a really thin magnet. I used one that was too thick at first and the puzzle pieces will not fit together right if you do that.

Travel Activities for Kids that Dollar Tree Stocks:

Playing Cards

Big Pack of Stickers

Coloring & Activity Books

Crayons

Dry Erase Boards – They had cute little character boards in the school supply aisle that were perfect lap size

Snacks/Candy/Treats

Baby Dolls/Barbie type dolls

Trucks/Cars

School Workbooks – lots of age appropriate workbooks are available.

(Almost) Free Travel Activities For Kids

When you are traveling, money has probably already been spent on travel expenses, lodging and entertainment when you get there. But when you are trying to survive a long drive or plane ride with littles, a few new things can be worth it because it literally helps with sanity.

A couple of new items are fun and exciting for the kids but there are plenty of things that you can also do extremely inexpensively or for free to create entertainment on the ride as well. Travel activities for kids don’t have to cost a lot to be exciting. Here are some cheap ideas to make the car ride more fun.

Gift Wrap Everything

Do you remember the first Christmas or two with your baby? Remember how they had more fun with the wrapping paper and boxes than with the 3 million toys that you and your family gave them? That is the concept here! If you buy a couple of new items, wrap those up. Even better, over the course of the week before you leave, select a few car appropriate toys that you already own. Wrap those toys up too! The mystery of unwrapping will be so fun, the kids won’t care if it is brand new or something they just have not seen in a week. (Do your kids love the cheap blind bags? This is a DIY variety!)

I keep all of the wrapped toys and activities within my reach and pass them out as needed. My favorite container to use to contain this is a trunk cargo organizer (I use this one). I like the trunk organizers more than a plastic bin because they are collapsible so it gives you a little more flexibility. If you want to collapse it once you arrive at your destination, you can save some room.

I also do this with snacks. An animal cracker is so much more fun to eat after pulling it out of a pretty package. I keep the savory and sweet snacks separated in my bag so that I am in control of preventing 4 snacks of M&M’s in a row. I pack some healthy stuff too but treats are kind of a given on a road trip! Your kids will love unwrapping all of their stuff on the road to where you are going!

Just remember to pack a couple of plastic grocery bags to control the trash and dispose of it at your next gas station stop. Brightly colored tissue paper makes a good gift wrap for this and seems to create a little less mess than traditional wrapping paper since it tears away so easily. I just lightly tie a little ribbon to secure it or you could use tape.

Printable Worksheets

There are lots of free printable worksheets available that you can find on Pinterest to print off. Tracing letters, simple math problems, and easy problem solving activities can be good choices to pass the time on a road trip. These are great travel activities for kids that are fun and educational.

Preschool Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are a fun and inexpensive way to pass the fun. We use Do A Dot Paint markers to mark off the found items. Paint is always more fun than a regular pencil and these are no spill. I like this scavenger hunt for younger kids since it has large pictures.

I hope these travel activities for kids help you on your next road trip or plane ride. We survived our road trip with no meltdowns (even from the baby!). And if you are looking for a fun Staycation idea for your kids, check out this awesome Slip N Slide Hack.

$5 Chicken Sausage and Grilled Vegetables Meal

July 23, 2018 by Stacy Craft 5 Comments

It is a miserable and very humid 92 degrees here today. I spent a large portion of my morning pinning images of pumpkins, bonfires and autumn colored leaves. Just dreaming of Fall. Since my family still wants to eat (even when you could fry your meal on the back porch), I have to come up with simple ideas to beat the heat. This simple $5 chicken sausage and grilled vegetables meal comes together quickly. My favorite part is that it is healthy, packed with colorful vegetables and it is cheap.

(Affiliate Links are used in this post. A small commission may be paid to me at no extra cost to you and that helps to support this page. Please see my disclosures page for additional information.)

Actually, that is not my favorite part. I like that it is inexpensive. It is nice that it has vegetables full of vitamins. Love quick meals. But my absolute favorite part about this grill meal is that my kids not only eat it, they love it! The cheesy stuffed chicken sausage kind of resembles a yummy hotdog. The vegetables taste like the State Fair on a plate. It is probably my favorite healthy meal that I make (and it doesn’t hurt that it is also probably the easiest and super cheap)!

$5 Chicken Sausage and Grilled Vegetables Meal

Making yourself a list of 5 or 10 easy, cheap family favorite meals really helps to make your weekly meal planning much easier. I usually rotate 1 of our top meals into my weekly meal plan. It also helps to have these super simple meals in the back of your mind. So if you have the choice of running out and grabbing fast food or hitting the grocery store to grab a couple of things, that you can make the right choice for your budget!

If you have been hanging around here, you know that I follow the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle to lose baby weight and stay in shape. Depending on the amount of oil and the type of chicken sausage that you use, you might be able to squeeze this in as a Fuel Pull (FP) meal. If you can’t get under the fat threshold then it would be an S meals. Meals with sausage are usually an S but sometimes i can find a spinach stuffed chicken sausage that keeps the fat very low. This is also a low carb option if you follow some other type of low carb diet.

If you want some more of my THM recipes, try my super popular Cheesy Salsa Verde Chicken with Cauli Rice, Parm Crusted Pork Chops and Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese Roll Ups.

Under $5 Supper

Here is what you need for this $5 Chicken Sausage and Grilled Vegetables Meal:

Chicken Sausage (I love the Aldi brand) – $2.99

Bell Peppers (I prefer red or yellow but if you can’t get them on sale, green work fine) – $0.99

Zucchini – $0.30

Olive Oil

Cajun Seasoning (I use this one)

Total: $4.28

This feeds our family of four. I usually give my kids a baked sweet potato to ensure they are getting some healthy carbs and my husband will sometimes add some french bread with his meal.

You could also add onions or asparagus to this if you wanted more yummy grilled vegetables in the mix.

Prep

I am not even really sure you can call this a recipe. More like food assembly. Just chop your chicken sausage and vegetables into bite size pieces and place them in a medium bowl.

Add some olive oil. I just drizzle it on but 1/2 of a tablespoon to a tablespoon should be fine. Add in some cajun seasoning. I just sprinkle some on but for this amount of food, I use about a teaspoon. If you don’t have cajun seasoning, just throw on whatever you have. The beauty of this is that it is so versatile.

Dump your chicken sausage and veggies into a grilling basket or skewer it as kabobs. I like the grill basket because it is quicker to throw it all in the basket and grill.

Cook on low for about 15 minutes or medium for 6-10. You just want to warm your sausage and get your vegetables softened up some. I like my veggies to still have a little “bite” to them so don’t grill until they are mush.

If you need a cheap and easy meal for your dinner rotation, try this $5 Chicken Sausage and Grilled Vegetables Meal. I hope it will be a family favorite at your house like it is at mine.