Kids Indoor Activities

Practical Money Saving Tips

More homeschool tips for kids indoor activities.

Bowling - A lot of bowling companies have a club called Kids Bowl for Free. You have to sign up online: http://www.kidsbowlfree.com/ They send you e-mails with free bowling coupon games for your kids. As a parent, you pay for yourself. Holidays like Mother's Day and Father's Day are free for, well...Mothers and Fathers!

Movies - There is nothing better then a movie theater experience. But, it's so expensive. Especially with the new 3D. At my local theater a regular movie ticket costs $8.00 after 6pm, and $5.50 before 6pm. Children 11 and under are $5.00. For 3D movies it's $10.00 for adult tickets, and $7.00 for children. Now let say the average size family, two adults, three kids went to a movie after 6pm. It would cost $31.00 just for the tickets! The 3D tickets will cost: $41.00. Now if you buy 2 popcorn buckets to share and 2 drinks to share for the 5 of you, it will cost an additional $24.00. (Even more if you buy candy.) So, you could spend anywhere from $55-$65 for one movie.

What's the cheaper alternative? Wait and rent the movie at home. You can get movies at Red Box for a dollar. Or you can check them out at your local library for free. They do have newer releases. I'm sure you already have stuff to drink in your refrigerator. And microwave popcorn costs about $2-3 for a box with 3 bags. Make beds for the kids on the floor and have a fun movie night. Total cost $3-4.

Another cheap alternative would be to see if your town has a budget movie theater. We have one very close to our house. It usually shows two movies during the week. They are new releases, but, it's usually between when the movie leaves the regular theater and a DVD. The tickets are $2.50. Kids under 4 get in free. Plus popcorn and drinks are a little cheaper than the regular movie theater.

Another cheaper movie theater experience would be the drive in. Most of the time these are only open in the summer months. But, my local drive in cost $12 a car load. You can either use their food stands or you can bring your own food and drinks. I've even seen people grill out there.

Museums - Museums are fun and great learning experiences with a variety of kids indoor activities. Tickets can get pretty expensive depending on the museum. Keep your eye open for a free or discount day and only go on those days.

Plays - There is nothing quite like going to a live show. But, again pretty expensive. I think my local community theater costs $18.00 for an adult tickets, and $8.00 for children. So if you have the average size family of 3 kids and 2 adults you can spend $60.00 on tickets. You can receive tickets for free if you volunteer! Volunteer setting up, helping paint, making backgrounds, or by selling food at intermission. Each person has to volunteer in order to receive a ticket.

YMCA - The YMCA is a fun place for the whole family. They have lots of kids indoor activities: swimming, basketball, tennis, badminton, volley ball, work out rooms, kids gyms, and so much more. It's a very fun family experience and costs about $5 per person to get in if you don't have a membership. If you plan on going often, a membership would be the cheaper way to go. When you fill out a membership form see if you qualify for a discount membership. The discount will vary depending on your income and how many people you have in your family.

Zoo/Aquarium - There are lots of free zoos and aquariums out there, you just have to find them. Most universities have a large aquarium in their science department that you can go look at for free. Just make sure to call ahead and see when a good time would be. Otherwise if you can't find a zoo in your area that is free, figure out when their discount day is. You could also look on the web for coupons.

Have fun locating cheap kids indoor activities!

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