Are you looking for kids’ activities that will keep them entertained and off electronics? Then you’ll love this list of 60 fun & free things to do with kids. Use this list to inspire you with fun game ideas, arts & crafts, indoor and outdoor activities, and finding free places to go near you.
Keep the kids from being bored and driving you nuts with these fun activities for kids in the summer, days off school, or just something fun to do this weekend with the entire family. The best part is they won’t cost you a thing!
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60 Fun Free Things to Do with Kids Screen Free
Table of Contents
Free Local Places to Go
There are so many great activities for kids in your local community and tons of them are free. Here are some of the best places to go to find fun things to do in your local area.
Look through the list and find the perfect place for your kids.
Library
We love going to the library to find new and exciting books to read. It’s also a great place to rent free movies and video games.
Before you go check out their website to see when they are hosting free events for kids. Often there are storytimes and group activities they sponsor with no charge. You’ll find they have events for all ages from babies to teenagers so you can keep all your kids entertained.
Most libraries also have reading programs the kids can join and get prizes for reading books.
Park District
Look at the websites of the park districts in your area and see when they offer free events. You don’t usually have to live in the town to participate in events open to the public. Most have holiday events and summer events kids will enjoy.
Town Website
See if your local town is sponsoring free live music in the park, movies in the park, or family events like Touch a Truck.
Local Parks
Take advantage of all the local parks in your area. Your kids will have so much fun exploring the parks and trying all the different playgrounds. In the summer find parks that have water features to keep your kids cool and have fun splashing in the water.
Children’s Museums
Look to see if any of the larger museums in your area offer free admission days. Often they will have a day once a month that is free or discounted.
Next, see if you have any small free museums you can explore in your area. Often towns have small history museums you can explore and learn all about the people who lived in your area.
Local Mall
Many of the local malls are trying to get people to visit by hosting free family events. Also, look to see if they have a free indoor play area for the kids to run around.
Visit a Zoo
Visit a free zoo with the kids. There are several fun free zoos around the country your kids will love.
- National Zoo in Washington DC
- Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago
- St. Louis Zoo in Missouri
- Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro, CA
Nature Preserves & State Parks
Check out your local nature preserve, state park, or nature trails to see if they offer any free educational programs, free tours or ranger lead hikes.
They often have a small nature center with local animals for the kids to visit too. Check their website for free events.
Then head out to hike with the kids on their miles of trails. Keep the kids engaged with a Nature Scavenger Hunt while hiking through the park.
If you have big kids see if they have bike trails you can ride throughout the park too.
Train Ride
Often in the summer local trains have kids’ ride-free programs or charge a nominal fee to head into the city from the suburbs. The Metra train in Chicago often offers this program.
The kids will love riding the train and looking out the window. Get off and explore the local city, visit a free museum, have some ice cream, or have lunch out before heading back home.
Bowling
This summer let the kids bowl for free through a program called www.kidsbowlfree.com. They can bowl 2 free games a day at participating bowling alleys.
Visit a Farmers Market
Head to your local farmers market and let the kids see all the items farmers in your area are selling each season. Get inspired to try and grow your own vegetable garden at home.
Volunteer as a Family
Find a local nonprofit that will let kids volunteer and sign up. It’s a great day out with your family giving back and you won’t be spending any money.
Indoor Activities for Kids
Keep the kids entertained at home when you’re stuck inside in the winter months or rainy days. Find tons of fun family activities and things for older kids to do on their own.
Get even more ideas on our popular Fun Rainy Day Activities for Kids.
Cook a Meal
Let the kids help pick out a dinner idea and make it together. Get inspired with our 25 Family Meal Ideas for Busy Weeknight Dinners. All are easy meals for the kids to help make with you.
Bake Together
Kids love to help make something sweet so take some time to bake together. You can make it from scratch or buy a box of brownies and have fun mixing it together.
If you want a no-bake recipe to make together my kids love making Oreo Balls and decorating them for different holidays.
Want to make a quick snack together try these kid-favorite no-bake peanut butter energy balls.
Have a Lego Challenge
Give the kids a box of lego pieces and 10 minutes to build something. Then have the kids show off what they made. Do multiple rounds by making different parameters such as creating a moving vehicle, buildings, or animals.
Playdoh & Moon Sand
Let the kids build and play with Playdoh and Moon Sand.
Build a Farm or Zoo
Use wooden blocks or lego blocks to create your own Zoo or Farm. Use plastic farm animals or zoo animals you already have to populate your zoo.
Homemade Race Track
Use tape to create a race track on your floors. If you use painter’s tape it won’t leave any marks on your floors. You can also use cardboard boxes as a ramp to make the cars go faster.
Part of the fun will be spending time creating your race tracks.
Sensory Activities
Create some sensory activity boxes for your kids. These can get messy so use a plastic table cloth or old newspaper to protect your table.
Fill a plastic bin with shaving cream and small drops of food dye. Then give kids plastic forks to make designs.
Dinosaur Bin – Hide small dinosaurs or small plastic animals for the kids to discover in a bin of sand.
Construction Trucks – In a bin of sand or wood chips add small toy construction trucks
Water Beads – Fill a bin with different color water beads.
Frozen Bin – freeze some small toys into ice cubes then put the frozen cubes into a bin with water.
Mazes and Crossword Puzzles
Find some free printable mazes, crossword puzzles, or workbook pages for the kids to do. You’ll find tons of free printable games on Pinterest.
Visit Family
Spend the day visiting family and friends in the area. What kid doesn’t love a trip to Grandma’s house?
Treasure Hunt
Create a treasure hunt for the kids to go on all around the house. Write up a few clues for them to follow to find a small prize at the end. Get ideas on Pinterest.
If you have older kids have them create the treasure hunt for their siblings or friends.
Science Experiment
Do a science experiment with the kids at home. Have the kids in awe with an erupting Volcano you can create at home in 3 easy steps. Kids will want to do it over and over again.
Discover Dinosaurs Frozen in Ice with this easy at-home science experiment. Use balloons, water, and miniature dinosaurs (or any animals you have at home) to create frozen dinosaur eggs the kids can then explore and melt.
Indoor Games for Kids
Zoom Games
While stuck inside stay connected to friends and family with fun Zoom Games. Kids will love playing battleship, checkers, and group games like Trivia and Pictionary.
Get inspired with our 15 Favorite Games on Zoom for Kids.
Hot Lava
Kids pretend the floor is hot lava you can’t touch. They put pillows on the floor and try to cross the room without touching the floor.
Freeze Dance
Break out the music and let the kids dance. When the music stops they freeze and anyone that moves is out.
Board Game Marathon
Pull out all the board games or card games and start playing. Let each child pick a game they want to play and enjoy a fun day inside.
Play Charades
Play a fun family game of Charades with the kids. Grab these free printable Charades words and you’ll be ready to play.
Hide & Seek
This is a fun game to play in the house, in a backyard, or park. Kids will love running around trying to find each other.
Obstacle Course
Create an obstacle course for the kids to run inside or outside with things you have at home
Inside have the kids make their way around furniture, pillows, dolls, and anything else you have inside.
Outside use cones, playground equipment, hula hoop, bikes, and sports equipment. It doesn’t have to be huge and intricate just something fun for them to run around.
Minute to Win It
If you want some fun quick games to play try Minute To Win It Games. Fun one-minute challenges with kids racing the clock or their sibling. Perfect for Family Game Nights too.
Older children will like Minute to Win It Games for Teens & Tweens.
Paper Airplane Challenge
Have the kids each design a paper airplane and then race the planes. Make it a science experiment by adding on paper clips to see what the added weight will do and changing the design on each new plane.
Nerf Gun Targets
For the Nerf Gun loving kids set up some simple Nerf Gun Targets in your home or back yard to play. This one was easy with solo cups and miniature army men you probably have at home.
Puzzles
Work together as a family to complete some puzzles.
I’m Bored Jar
Keep the kids busy with an I’m Bored Jar. Fill up a jar with fun activity ideas for the kids to do. Make it a game and let them pull out a new activity whenever they’re bored.
Use our free printables in 36 Things to Do When Your Kids Are Bored to fill up your jar and learn how to make it.
I Spy Game
Play the I Spy game with the kids. They can search their surroundings in the house or in the yard to find clues.
Arts and Crafts with Kids
Paint / Finger paint
Break out the paint and let the kids create a masterpiece. I fun way to paint is to cut an apple in half and make paint stamps.
Butterflies
Let the kids use their imagination to create easy coffee filter butterflies with items you have at home.
Leaf Collage
Collect leaves in the yard and glue them to a large piece of paper to make a leaf collage.
Bubble Art
Painting with Bubbles is a fun art activity at home with items you already have. All you need is bubbles, food dye, and paper to make this fun kids’ craft.
Draw
Have the kids draw something they see outside, their family, a place they like to visit, or their favorite character.
Shadow Art
The kids will love using shadow art to create drawings with sidewalk chalk and on paper of their favorite toys. Step outside and use the sun to draw amazing pictures.
Make Your Own Book
Let the kids create a story and draw pictures to go along with it. Then staple it into a small book for them to look through.
Rock Painting
Let the kids find some rocks in the yard and paint them. Then use the rock creation as decorations in the backyard.
Make Puppets
Use paper plates or paper lunch bags to make puppets. Let the kids color and glue items onto the plates and bags to design their puppets. To make the paper plate into a puppet glue a popsicle stick to the bottom.
When they are done let the kids perform a puppet show for you.
Outdoor Activities for Kids
Keep the kids active by heading outside for fun games and activities.
Nature Walks
Head out on a nature walk for some fresh air. It could be in your local natural areas, botanical garden, or just on a walk around your neighborhood. See how many birds and different animals you can find.
Look and see if they have any biking trails too.
Scavenger Hunt
Send the kids on a scavenger hunt through your local neighborhood or on a nature walk. Use these Free Printable Scavenger Hunts to make your family walk more engaging for kids.
Snow Painting
A fun outdoor activity in the Winter is Snow Painting. With only two ingredients water and food dye you can make your own snow paint. Kids will love spraying the paint on their snowman and snow forts. Or create their own masterpiece using the snow as their canvas.
Find out How to Make Snow Paint
Ice Ornaments
Get your kids to go outside in the cold by creating cool Ice Suncatcher Ornaments. Collect leaves, stickers, pine cones & other items from your yard then freeze them in water to become an ornament to hang on a tree.
DIY Outdoor Yard Games
Make your backyard fun again with some easy DIY Outdoor Games for Kids. Create obstacle courses, frisbee golf, balloon tennis, sports games, and more. Bonus it’s all with items from Dollar Tree so you’ll save money while having fun.
Photo Walk
Take pictures on your walk of your child’s favorite things. Then print out the pictures and let your child make a collage or small photo book.
Geocaching
Geocaching is a huge treasure hunt in your own town. Use the Geocaching App or GPS to locate the geocache near you. The app will show you a map of all the geocache in your area.
Head to the Beach
Spend a day at the beach hunting for shells and building sandcastles. Enjoy your day at the beach with these cool beach hacks for kids.
Bubbles
Let the kids see how many bubbles they can catch without popping. Then see if they can blow the bubbles into a hula hoop or chalk-drawn circle.
In the wintertime put the bubbles in the fridge before you go out. When you go outside have the kids dip the wand in the bubbles. Then wave the wand in the air to make ice bubbles. Don’t blow on the bubbles or it will melt them.
Chalk Drawing
Let the kids use your driveway to create beautiful chalk drawings. Get some fun sidewalk chalk drawing ideas for kids.
Chalk Games
Extend your playtime outside with fun chalk games for kids. Turn your sidewalk or driveway into a big game board, scavenger hunt, or obstacle course. Or just a fun color search and hopscotch for the younger kids.
Hopscotch
Use your chalk to draw a hopscotch game on the driveway.
Glow in the Dark Games
Play glow-in-the-dark tag or hide and seek with glow sticks.
Water Toys for the Backyard
Keep the kids cool this summer with fun water toys to keep them entertained in your backyard. Use water tables, sprinklers, slip n slides, and more to keep kids happy on hot summer days.
Water Balloons
Fill up some water balloons and have a water balloon fight.
If your kids love sports turn it into a water balloon baseball game. The pitcher throws three balloon pitches. If the batter hits it they advance to first base. If they miss the three pitches they’re out.
Water Gun Battle
Fill up the water guns and have a water gun battle. Great way to stay cool on a hot summer day.
Collect Bugs
Kids love digging for bugs under rocks and stones and around your backyard. You can get a bug holder and magnifying glass to study the bugs you catch.
Nerf Gun Battle
Let the kids run around outside and do a nerf gun battle. Kids can play capture the flag and other nerf games or just build a base and run around.
Bike Ride
Take a family bike ride around the block or head to a local bike trail in the area.
Star Gazing
Head out at night to look up at the stars with the kids.
Find a New Playground
Kids will love finding a new playground to explore in your area. We were so excited when we found Maggie Daley Park in Chicago. It’s an amazing playground and if you’re in Chicago make sure to check it out.
Take advantage of all the local parks in your area. Your kids will have so much fun exploring the parks and trying all the different playgrounds. In the summer find parks that have water features to keep your kids cool and have fun splashing in the water.
Feed the Ducks
Head to a local lake or pond and feed the ducks.
Go Fishing
Head to a local lake that allows you to fish. Often kids don’t need a fishing license in local town ponds where you throw the fish back.
Go on a Picnic
Pack up lunch and head out on a picnic. Bring a frisbee or a ball to play with and enjoy a nice day out.
Run Through a Sprinkler
Break out the sprinkler and let the kids run through it to cool off.
Fly a Kite
Head to an open park and enjoy flying a kite on a windy day.
Camp in Your Backyard
Save money by camping in your own backyard. Grill some smores and pitch a tent to sleep in.
Have a Snowball Fight or Build a Snowman
In the wintertime head out to build a snowman or make snowballs for a snowball fight. Let the kids build a snow fort to hide behind and store their snowballs.
Go Sledding
Head to your local public sledding hill and swoosh down the snow.
It’s amazing how many fun free things to do with Kids there are without screen time. I hope after reading this list you’re inspired by some new activities for kids. The indoor games for kids and arts and crafts will keep you busy on rainy and cold days. While the outdoor activities will have you playing outside all summer long.
If you have more great free activities for kids please share with us in the comments I love to hear from readers.
More Kids Activities
At Happy Mom Hacks we have tons of Kids Activities for both indoors and outdoors to fend off hearing kids say the dreaded I’m Bored. Here are a few of our favorites:
5 Great Rainy Day Activities for Kids – Fun ways to keep the kids busy on rainy and snowy days at home.
Easy DIY Outdoor Games for Kids from Dollar Tree – Cheap Backyard Games & Yard Games they’ll love to play.
Easy Summer Camp at Home Ideas – How to Plan a simple Summer Mom Camp kids will love.
40 Awesome Fall Activities for Kids – How to enjoy fall with the kids.
Guide to the Best Kids Birthday Parties – Best party themes, savings, and party games for kid’s birthday parties.
If you enjoyed these kids’ activities get more family fun activities, easy weeknight meals, family travel ideas, and household hacks by joining the Happy Mom Hacks community weekly newsletter.
Bonus, you’ll get Free Printable Would You Rather Questions – It’s a hilarious game perfect for family game nights or birthday parties.
Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for kid’s activities, household hacks, family travel, and fun parenting humor to give you a laugh each day.
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Wednesday 8th of April 2020
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