Free activities

I'm a mom on a tight budget, so when we get out of the house for activities, I try to keep it free but also fun.  I have found that the local libraries are great places to have free story times, craft days, music time, and play time.  I've spent $14 for my daughter to play at a play street museum and she wants to leave the first 5 min we are there.  I take her to a free library and she plays for hours and doesn't want to leave.  I'm all about not spending a dime and her enjoying it more! Usually two to three times a week we are visiting the library.  Both of my toddlers love the story times that they have in the mornings where they read several stories, sing songs, and even get to pop bubbles or see puppets.  Mondays at my library they have craft time where each week they make something different and have all of the supplies out for the kids to make something.  We really enjoy this as well and get to show daddy what we've made when he gets home from work.  Some libraries have awesome free kids play areas with toys and books.  The one around our area has a Train that we play in with books, a little kitchen, dolls, STEM activities, etc.  We also have another library that has blocks, a large dollhouse, coloring, etc that we also love for free indoor play time.  Perfect for cold or rainy days.

Every day I look for free activities in my area on Facebook events and the newest one I found was a story time at a train museum.  Both kiddos really loved this.  It was a bit of a drive, but we got out, had a new story time experience and got to take a tour of the museum and train.  It was free and totally worth it.  We will be back!  Always check out your Facebook events!

Another free activity that we love is scouting out new playgrounds to play on.  I checked google maps a few days ago and found several new playgrounds that we had never been to and were close to where we lived.  Now we have about 10 different ones that we can switch out during the week to keep it exciting.  I love telling my mom friends that I've found a new park and we can meet there for a fun play date.

Some of the local nature preserves around have toddler or children's events scheduled.  Check with the ones in your area and see what they have available.  We have a preserve nearby that has reading with a ranger, craft time, stories under the stars, learning how to find animal tracks, etc.  I was really impressed with the Ranger the last event that we went to.  He was especially patient with the kids and kept them asking questions.  It was such a great experience.  Some parks you'll have to pay an entrance fee, but the rest is free and totally worth it to be outdoors and exploring nature.