Get the box of chalk out and start drawing on the sidewalk with the kids. You don’t have to be a great artist to do this one. The kids sure won’t care. You can always sweep it away if you don’t like how your work turned out.

If you’re in an area without sidewalks, you may have a driveway or walkway up to your home that can be used.

You could also just try drawing a game on the ground. Kids love hopscotch, and what’s more classic than a chalk hopscotch game?

The post Chalk Art – Free Fun Friday appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Head out into the back yard or drive out away from city lights. Bring blankets and warm clothing as needed. Look up and enjoy the sight of the stars.

Your best bet is on a moonless night if you want the best view of the stars, but the moon itself can be a lot of fun too, especially with binoculars.

Knowing at least some of the constellations is nice, but you can get a book from the library if you aren’t too good at spotting them, or look them up online first to see what you should expect in your area. AstroViewer.com has a free online interactive sky map you can try.

Binoculars won’t do anything impressive for anything other than the moon, of course, except in rare situations. Sometimes a comet will come close enough that binoculars help with viewing.

The post Go Stargazing – Free Fun Fridays appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Just talking as a family is a great activity. Sit down and chat about anything. What problems are people dealing with? What’s going well? Whatever.

Sometimes it works best to have each parent go one on one with each child. Kids will often open up best to just one person.

There doesn’t have to be a problem for it to be important to sit and just talk with your kids. It’s a reassurance for kids to know that you’re interested in whatever is on their minds.

The post Just Talk – Free Fun Fridays appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Building a fort or a tent is fun for both the parents and kids. It can be out of couch cushions, under the table, on a bed, wherever it works for you.

Forts are great because they can be anything. A private place to chat… never mind that anyone outside of it can hear you, it feels private. A castle. An imaginary world. Or, well, a fort.

It’s fun to see what goes on in a child’s head in a fort. My kids are rather fond of playing Narnia in them.

The post Build a Fort – Free Fun Fridays appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Find stores in your area that offer free workshops. Home Depot, for example, has these at many of their stores. Their kids workshops are geared toward kids ages 5-12, the first Saturday of each month. Other stores may also offer crafts, either for the cost of supplies or free.

The post Free Workshops – Free Fun Fridays appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Many communities regularly have events that are free to attend. In my area, this includes concerts in the park (in the summer, not now, of course), holiday celebrations and carnivals.

Some of these can add up if you do spend money at them, especially the carnivals. Rides are generally not free, after all! But many of the events in my area offer free crafts for the kids to do as well as free music to listen to.

The post Attend Free Community Events – Free Fun Fridays appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Hey, they can’t all be my ideas. Have each of the kids and the parents take turns picking a free or cheap activity to do as a family. Set up some rules, and encourage some creativity. You never know what people will come up with.

The post Take Turns Deciding – Free Fun Fridays appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

No, not just fun this time. It’s practical and a great lesson for the kids.

Before Christmas is my usual favorite time, but cleaning out the closets, toy boxes and so forth to find things you should give to charity can be done at any time of the year. The decluttering feels great, and even younger children can be encouraged to understand what a good thing they’re doing to encourage their enthusiasm.

This can be hard, as many younger children really hate to give up anything, even clothes that don’t fit and toys they ignore. But it’s such a wonderful lesson for them too!

Talk to the kids about why you want to send these things to whichever charity you support. Point out how much easier it will be to find the things they really do enjoy. Find that button that you can push to really get your child interested.

The post Sort Out Closets for Charity – Free Fun Fridays appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

Running low on fun family activity ideas? Get a book from the library with ideas. It could be crafts, cooking, just something to get your creativity going. With luck you’ll even have the basic supplies at home.

The best part about checking out craft and activity books at the library is that you don’t have to worry about outgrowing something you’ve paid for. Just keep changing as interests change.

The post Get Activity Ideas at the Library – Free Fun Fridays appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.

How’s the weather outside? Have you been taking advantage of winter weather with your family?

Being in southern California, mud pies is all we get to do unless we want to take the time to drive up to the mountains for whatever snow is available. Lucky us (I think?), mud is something that appears in quantity in our back yard with the rain, and one section takes a really long time to dry.

Whether you have snow or mud, odds are the kids will love playing in it. And if it’s right in your yard or neighborhood, it’s very easy to get to.

The post Snowball Fights and Mud Pies – Free Fun Fridays appeared first on Home with the Kids Blog.