Keeping your kids entertained on a Budget

Week 1 … Entertainment Retro Style

Let’s make a trip to on the Cut Living Cost time machine, before the Wii, Xbox 360s, Bratz dolls and MP3 players. What did kids do back then? They went out to the park to play, imaginary friends, arts and crafts. Anything was game back then. Feeling cooped up in the house doing spring break? Take them to the park, to ride their bikes or Heelys. You’d be amazed on how much time will fly when you spend your afternoons outdoors.

Another “cost conscious” idea is to take them to the library on the weekend. There are tons of programs for specific age groups, books that cover a variety of “kid friendly” topics and you can use the internet for FREE! Most – if not all libraries have parental controls, so you don’t have to worry about your child visiting adult sites or viewing adult content.

Games… as in board games are also a really great way to spend quality time with the kids. You can even go the educational route with games such as Scrabble, Cranium or Chutes and Ladders. Here are some more cheap activities for children:

• Make a Puzzle – get your children to draw a picture and cut it into a puzzle shapes
• Learn origami – you can download origami instruction from different websites
• Play catch
• Sidewalk chalk drawings

More to come next week . . .