Free things to do with kids?

[PhilippeFlop]

I am a SAHM to DS2 and DD1 and I'm running out of things to do that are free or cost very little.

With such a small age gap, I sometimes find it hard to do anything other than a trip to the park or a walk to feed the ducks.

Any suggestions?

toddler groups - church ones are often cheap but look around
library - rhyme time if there is one but still good if not
children's centre if any still open near you
scour local papers for art shows, free concerts, fetes etc - there's a 'country market and teas' in a hall near us once a month, tea is 20p a cup and nice old ladies sell homemade biscuits / veg from their garden / patchwork potholders and LOVE cooing over babies
dd used to love watching window cleaners - we would go into town specially on the days they did all the shop windows in the pedestrianised bit.
Meeting up with other mums makes even boring park trips better. Get hold of your old NCT classmates, or go on MN Local for your area.

Look at the animals in pets at home store?

Garden centre with a playground and cafe? (Ours also has a tropical fish shop...otherwise known as a free aquarium!)

I would normally say, church/village hall toddlers groups, but I bet they are about to finish for the summer.

Are there any free museums near you? Little kids can find them entertaining even if they are not specifically made for kids.

What sort of area do you live in OP?

Rural, city, coastal?

We do the following:
Local playgroup (not free but v cheap)
Walks in the woods
Splashing in puddles when it rains
Local garden and aquatic centre - I buy a coffee some visits because I feel a bit guilty that I never buy anything...
Bike rides (harder with two, but Aldi have a double trailer on offer at e moment, if you can afford to invest)

Have you got any local visitor attractions that it would be worth getting a season ticket for? We have a zoo v close, so I got a season ticket. It was a bit of an investment but it's been worth every penny as we can just pop in for an hour or two, and there's a great playground and little soft play area.

Depends very much on where you live. I'm in London and there are free things to do all over the show - museums, galleries, loads of different parks or green spaces, church toddler groups, city farm, library. Anything like that where you are?

We have a national trust membership, costs under £10 a month. Lots of places to visit and quite often have a lot going on.

There are lots of Facebook groups where you can find local free/low-cost events.

Lived in two cities and a rural village whilst DC's were little so have had various favourite places and things to do.

Mainly we did toddler groups. I have always made friends from antenatal/toddler groups and met up for park visits and play dates at each others houses.

We have had season ticket for botanical gardens. Season ticket for cheap stately home Park which had playground and water play.

Visited free museums, libraries and art galleries. (Yes even with little kids, just going for half an hour is a trip out)

Free paddling pool at seaside resort.
(Also beach etc)

Church coffee mornings and fetes

Bike ride (as in the kids on ride ons) takes an hour to get to the end of the road, but in their heads that's a trip out, then you turn around and go home!

Walk alongside river (pushchair and reins if needed)
Walk to town and back again (to buy the one item you need!)
(In cities:) played in walk-in fountains, ran riot wandered through the cathedral. Looked at stalls in a market (and tried free samples at farmers markets)
Watch, diggers, dumpers, cranes, road drilling men. Lorries, boats etc.
(We lived somewhere with a shopping centre which had an indoor Bridge over a road. The kids spent hours racing the cars (under the bridge) from one side to the other (like pooh sticks)).

Library trip?

YES the shopping centre with the bridge
Or a department store with escalators (for riding in awe and wonder, not for playing on, obv)
Find a building site, or someone laying a drive or having an extension and go and spectate.
If you are rural, a bus trip to the next village to play in an unfamiliar park (my dc still love this and they are 7 and nearly 10, they are hoping for one a week in the summer holidays)
They also love the supermarket with the upstairs cafe where you can look down through the glass balustrade at all the people choosing their fruit

Thank you for all the ideas, we will definitely be trying a few of them out of the next couple of weeks!

For the user who asked, we live in a rural location (literally nothing here) but the nearest city is a short drive away and the coast is only a 45 min drive.

Also, the national trust membership is a brilliant shout, I have been meaning to sign us up for this for ages but it always slipped my mind, will get on it now.

I forgot to add that I do tend to avoid baby and toddler groups as I'm not overly confident with taking both kids to groups on my own, but I will find a local one and get us to it. I braved lunch in a cafe on my own with both DCs last week and it was lovely.

I live rurally with a 1 yo and 5yo. We bike ride to the park, go to local open space and let them find things to do, go on an insect hunt at the lake, feed ducks, go to next park in next village, go to have a splash in the river (very clean), paddling pool, tub of water and play at pouring and with older one he has to guess float or sink. But it is a bloody long holiday!! Library is on my list. Ships are a nightmare so I avoid those. Walk to town for an ice-cream is a day out to them though really! Main thing is to be outside

Shops not ships!

Really look at your nearby city. We're close to Bradford and Leeds and there's loads of stuff to do! I think when you live somewhere it's easy to overlook touristy things. Museums often have free events on when they have special exhibitions. Look at annual passes/deals you can get- we went to Eureka (kids science museum in halifax)and the first visit was quite expensive but the tickets gave you entry for a year so it works out very cheap if you go regularly.

Locally we do toddler groups (but as pp says they're breaking up for summer now) , woodland walks, visiting friends,playing in the garden, numerous park trips, libraries....

I think it's really dependent on where you live and how confident you are taking them out. I don't drive so have got really used to public transport trips and having full days out with them (mine are almost 2 and 3.5 now).

Library is another good one! Our local little one has the children's area fenced off so you can relax a bit without a toddler making a break for the exit...

That's the thing, so many things seem harder than they actually are - try something out and if it goes tits up you can probably work out why and organise so you avoid that pitfall next time.

If you are rural I would strongly suggest that come September you find the local toddler groups. Don't worry too much about the kids, in a good group everyone will look out for each other.
And, expect it to take a few weeks to get known, and spoken to properly. IME, most toddler groups are full of shy people, and they may have made a group of friends they are confident with, but that doesn't mean they are confident enough to talk to new people. Give it a chance, make small talk about the DC's or how much you needed that coffee, and wait the awkward period out.

Sounds like you are in a great location.
(Though you may need to learn the names of trees, the call of birds and get a space for your DC's stone and stick collections)

45mins to the coast, picnic on the prom, get an ice cream, beach till the kids are bored. (Even if that is half an hour!) Strip them off, dry, into pj's. Buy a takeaway coffee, (Never forget drive-thrus exist) or bring a flask. Once the kids are asleep, park up, drink coffee, read your book/do your bills etc. Once they wake, drive the rest of the way. Day out done!