Short on cash or just a fan of free family fun? This list is for you. Presenting the top 10 free family fun activities, in no particular order.
1. Visit Free Museums and Attractions
Make a list of all of the free museums and attractions in your area. Then work your way through the list until you've hit them all. Art museums, history museums, monuments-there's sure to be something worth checking out at each one. Bring your family along and scout out the unique in each location.
Need help finding free admission museums in your area? Just check with your local chamber of commerce for ideas or do a Web search for "free museums" and the name of your town. You're sure to turn up more than a few surprises.
2. Go Geocaching
You don't need to be a pirate to search for buried treasure. In fact, you don't even need to be anywhere near the shore. Just visit geocaching.com to get the coordinates of treasures that other geocachers have hidden in your area, and you can go search them out as family. Want to create and hide your own treasure? You can do that too.
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3. Take a Trip to the Library
The library is a great source for free books, movies and magazines, and it can also be a good source for other types of free entertainment. Check with your library to see if there are any upcoming story hours, concerts or educational programs that may be of interest to your family. Then be sure to take advantage of them. After all, your tax dollars are helping to pay for them.
4. Go on a Bike Adventure
Pull your bikes out of the garage and go for a family bike ride. A quick lap around the neighborhood or park can be fun, but if you're looking for a longer adventure, check with your local bike shop for a few route suggestions. As experienced cyclists, the shop's employees should be able to point out trails and roads that are both safe and appropriate for your family's skill level. And don't forget those helmets! A ride isn't fun unless it's safe.
5. Cook Together
Cooking is an important life skill, and it's one that can be a lot of fun to teach. Pick out an interesting cookbook from your collection, or check one out from the library, and cook your way through it as a family-one messy mishap at a time.
6. Go Star Gazing
Head out after dark for a night of stargazing fun. You can use a telescope and an astronomy guide to help you locate the constellations and planets or just wing it as you stretch out on a big blanket and stare at the sky. Either way, the evening promises to be as enjoyable as it is educational.
7. Camp Out
Camping is the ultimate family adventure, and it's one that can be enjoyed completely free of charge. Grab a tent, some sleeping bags and all the fixings for s'mores and head to your backyard for a night of fun and family bonding. You can sing camp songs, tell ghost stories and roast marshmallows, all without leaving home.
8. Volunteer
Teach your children the importance of helping others by doing volunteer work as a family. You can sign up to help at a soup kitchen, clean up a park or waterway, visit folks in a nursing home or come up with your very own project. Just think about what issues are important to your family-protecting the environment, helping the poor, supporting the arts-and choose an activity that goes along with that interest.
9. Have a Family Game Night
Dig out all of those seldom-used board games and declare tonight Family Game Night. Then spend the evening rolling dice, shuffling cards and munching on snacks from the pantry. It may not be fancy, but it sure is fun.
10. Go on a Junk Hunt
Here's an offbeat idea that's sure to put a smile on everybody's face: Dig out a long-forgotten and totally unneeded item from the basement or garage (the tackier the better), then go door to door asking neighbors what they're willing to trade you for the item. Keep on trading until you end up with something completely outrageous.
If your family is big enough, you can divide into teams and make it a competition. The team that ends up with the most outrageous item wins.
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