Summer Fun on a Dime

4 Weeks of Frugal Family Fun: Marshmallow & Toothpick Structures (Day 5)

by Crystal on June 21, 2012

I was inspired by Angie from Creating Our Home for today’s project! And I’m so glad we tried this because it was a huge hit — especially with Kathrynne.

All you need is a bag of mini marshmallows and some toothpicks. You might have both on hand, or you could pick them up at the Dollar Store or Walmart very inexpensively.

Show your children how to connect the toothpicks and marshmallows together to make structures and then let them be creative and see what they come up with!

I gave each of the children their own bowls of marshmallows to make it easier (and to prevent any possible arguments over who gets the marshmallow bag!).

And don’t forget to have a snack of marshmallows at the end!

I think Silas enjoyed the snacking on marshmallows at the end best of all! :)

Did you do something fun and frugal as a family today? If you blogged about it, I’d love for you to leave a link to your blog post below. Or, you can just tell us what you did in the comments.

Note: Since the purpose of this series is to encourage you to be intentional about fun in your home this summer, please only link up posts showing pictures/sharing details of fun things you did as a family today (or within the last few days). Posts that do not adhere to these guidelines will be deleted in order to make it fair for those who are putting forth a lot of effort to participate in this challenge.

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4 Weeks of Frugal Family Fun: Bubble Painting (Day 4)

by Crystal on June 20, 2012

Kathrynne was feeling better today and we were able to try the Bubble Painting.

I didn’t think to look up multiple recipes for Bubble Painting on the internet, but I just went off of this pin on Pinterest. Afterward, I did look up recipes online and realized that this probably would have worked better had we used actual paint mixed in with the bubbles instead of food coloring.

But hey, we had a lot of fun making abstract paintings and we used stuff we already had on hand, so it wasn’t a failed experiment by any means. :)


Silas didn’t enjoy painting as much as the girls and quickly resorted to building with Legos instead.

Did you do something fun and frugal as a family today? If you blogged about it, I’d love for you to leave a link to your blog post below. Or, you can just tell us what you did in the comments.

Note: Since the purpose of this series is to encourage you to be intentional about fun in your home this summer, please only link up posts showing pictures/sharing details of fun things you did as a family today (or within the last few days). Posts that do not adhere to these guidelines will be deleted in order to make it fair for those who are putting forth a lot of effort to participate in this challenge.

Looking for more? Click here to read other posts about

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Free Apple Camps for 8 to 12-year-olds

by Crystal on June 20, 2012

If you live near an Apple Store, you definitely will want to check into this!

Apple Stores are once again offering free Apple Camps this summer. Here’s the description:

At Apple Camp, kids ages 8-12 learn how to shoot their own footage, create an original song in GarageBand on an iPad, and put it all together in iMovie on a Mac. This free workshop, held at Apple Retail Stores, spans three days and ends with campers debuting their masterpieces at the Apple Camp Film Festival. Space is limited and workshops fill up quickly, so sign up now for a super-creative adventure.*

Thanks, Fun 4 Kids in Buffalo!

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Do-It-Yourself: Homemade Water Wall

by Crystal on June 19, 2012

ItsGravyBaby.com shows you how to make a homemade water wall out of recycled materials.

Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

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4 Weeks of Frugal Family Fun: Homemade Flubber (Day 1)

by Crystal on June 15, 2012

We kicked off our 4 Weeks of Frugal Family Fun series by making Homemade Flubber.

In case you’re scratching your head wondering what I’m talking about, “Flubber” originated from Disney’s 1961 film The Absent-Minded Professor (I’m not sure that I’ve even seen the movie, but I’m familiar with the storyline!).

My children were totally stoked about this project. Getting to play with slimy goop? Yes, please, bring it on!

They were highly motivated to finish their chores and to-do lists for the day in order to get make Flubber (or “icky” as Silas dubbed it!) And they all loved making it.

Our first batch flopped because we didn’t completely dissolve the glue in the water. But we still got some slimy goo from it that children thought was very cool.

The second batch actually looked like it was supposed to. And everyone had a blast playing with it.

The only problem was that 3-year-old Silas got a little “into “it and started flinging it on the wall and letting it drip all down the front of him.

So my advice to you moms is: if you decide to try this recipe, do it during naptime or when your really young ones are otherwise occupied. Or, let them play with it outside in old play clothes and then let everyone have a water fight afterward to clean themselves off. :)

Homemade Flubber Recipe

  • 1 1/2 cups warm water, divided
  • 1 teaspoon Borax
  • 1 4-oz. bottle glue (we used both Elmer’s glue and cheap off-brand glue and both seemed to work well)
  • food coloring

Dissolve Borax in 1/2 cup warm water. Set bowl aside.

In another bowl, pour the entire bottle of glue into one cup warm water, add a few drops of food color, and completely mix together. Mixture should resemble a thin paste with no globs of glue still intact.

Pour Borax mixture over glue mixture. Start stirring and it should immediately begin turning into a slimy mixture.

Once it’s mixed together and resembles slime, allow your children to have fun with it — preferably outside or at the kitchen table.

Store leftover Flubber in a ziptop bag for up to two weeks.

Note: Adult supervision at all times is a must with this recipe as Borax is toxic. Check the comments for other non-toxic alternatives.

Original recipe from Whitfield’s Home in the Country.

Did you do something fun and frugal as a family today? If you blogged about it, I’d love for you to leave a link to your blog post below. Or, you can just tell us what you did in the comments.

Looking for more? Click here to read other posts about

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4 Weeks of Frugal Family Fun — new series/challenge for June and July!

by Crystal on June 14, 2012

I’ve been hinting around that I’m starting a new series/challenge here this week and it’s finally time for the “big reveal”! :)

We’ve done 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home and 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer so far this year. Those challenges were great, but they required quite a bit of time and effort many days (or maybe that should be all of the days??).

I wanted to do a challenge for summer, but I wanted to keep it simple and fun. So, we’re going to focus on being intentional about family fun for the next four weeks.

I’m always on the lookout for things we can do as a family that don’t involve a lot of prep work, don’t cost a lot of money, and are a lot of fun. Based upon the emails I’m receiving, I’m not alone in this quest.

For the next four weeks (beginning June 15 through July 13), I’ll be sharing a fun and frugal activity that we do every weekday as a family. I’ll be taking pictures and sharing how-tos (like the Homemade Puffy Paint tutorial from last week).

And I’d love to have you join us by blogging about a fun activity you do as a family each week day. The activity can be as simple or as complex as you’d like to make it and it can be for any age. The only requirements are that it is inexpensive, fun, and family-friendly.

I can’t wait to be inspired by all your ideas!

I’ll be back tomorrow evening around 5 p.m. EST with a post on our frugal and fun activity for the day along with a link-up for you to share your posts, too!

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Frugal Summer Fun from A to Z

by Crystal on June 08, 2012

Guest post from Sarah of TheCharacterMom

If you’re looking for frugal summer fun, here are 26+ ideas to try with your family this summer!

Art – From shaving cream and chalk drawings to real paintings for grandma’s art collection, the possibilities are endless!

Balloons, Bubbles, and a Big Box – Need I say more about simple pleasures?

Cookouts – Nothing brings people together better than a campfire or food cooked on a grill.

Drama – Put on family plays, puppet shows (make your own with old socks, plastic spoons, or toilet paper rolls with photos glued on for faces), have a talent show, make up your own music videos or commercials. Make sure to get crazy costumes as well!

Eat Treats – Cooking together and eating together bring you closer together. A couple of my favorite kid-friendly recipes:

  1. Juicesicle – freeze juice in plastic ice cube trays with toothpicks stuck in them or Dixie cups with a popsicle stick stuck in them.
  2. Simple homemade ice cream – 1 Tbsp. vanilla, 2 cup cream or half & half, 1 cup milk, and 3/4 cup sugar. Mix together and freeze.

Field Trips – Designate one day a week to go somewhere interesting and fun. Visit a library, fire or police station, check out a local museum, or tour a bakery or factory in your area.

Games – Pull out the board games or make up some fun games of your own for a memorable family game night.

Homemade crafts – Teach your child how to make a craft. Or learn a new skill like woodworking or sewing together. Take them to a craft store and let them pick out a kit.

Insects – Go on a nature hike and hunt for bugs and identify and learn about them.

Joking around – Be silly together: wrestle, tickle, or have a pillow fight.

Kite – Make a kite or buy one at the dollar store and take it to a park to fly.

Lake – Play on the beach, swim, or fish.

Movie Night – Rent a movie, go to a cheap movie theater or drive-in, or host your own backyard movie night.

Nature/ Neighborhood – Explore the area around your home whether that is nature or a neighborhood park.

Outside fun – Teach your children some of the fun games you used to play as a child such as: capture the flag, freeze tag, or hide and seek.

P. Photos – Take family pictures. Take goofy pictures. Go for a walk down memory lane by looking at old photo albums or make a new album or a collage.

Q. Quality Time – Go on an outing with just one of your kids at a time so you can spend one-on-one quality time together.

Relatives – Visit your relative and extended family together.

Service Projects – Contact your local church or non-profit and see how you can serve as a family.

Tent – Go camping in your backyard or make a tent fort in your living room.

Undercover Secret Spy Missions – Anonymously do random acts of kindness. For a fun twist: try writing a secret note in white crayon on white paper. Then, attach watercolors and instructions to paint over the paper to reveal a secret message.

Vocal Talents – Recite a verse, perform a musical, or have a karaoke night. Make sure to get it on tape!

Water is Wonderful – Your kids can play for hours with just a kiddie pool of water. A few creative ideas to change things up:

  1. Have a water fight with balloons, water guns.
  2. Sponge fun: Give everyone a bunch of cheap yet absorbent sponges and a bucket of water to play with. (Get the car cleaned while they are at it.)
  3. Make your own sprinkler.
  4. Give you preschooler a bucket of water, a durable paintbrush, and a shady spot on the cement and let her paint pictures with water.

“X”-treme Sports - Try something a little more adventuresome like mountain climbing, rock climbing, or rappelling.

Yard Sales – Go to yard sales, thrift stores, and consignment sales. You can find great and entertaining items for the price of pocket change. Or, have your own yard sale. This is a great way to clean out and simplify and, if your kids get to keep the money they make, the will have more incentive to de-clutter!

Zoo - Visit the zoo or a nearby farm.

Free Printable Summer Fun from A to Z List

If you’d like to refer to this list summer long, you can download the free printable A to Z list here!

What are your favorite frugal fun activities for summer?

Sarah Holmes – The Character Mom – is a former teacher and current stay-at-home mom of three characters. She’s also a local columnist, blogger, and speaker. She loves to encourage and equip moms to grow Christian character in their families through fun and simple ideas and insight. Find more fun family-friendly character building ideas at TheCharacterMom.com.

photo credit

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202 Summer Activity Ideas for Kids

by Crystal on June 08, 2012

Download a free printable list of 101 Summer Activities for Kids from My Blessed Life.

Read a great post with 101 Ways to Embrace Summer from Life… Your Way.

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9 Ideas for Planning a Fun Summer Vacation

by Crystal on June 05, 2012

Playing at the beach – free

Guest post from Tiffany of Don’t Waste the Crumbs

Summer is here!

We moms tend to dread those three words since planning activities for ten straight weeks can be overwhelming and seem expensive. But don’t let a budget ruin your family fun.

Here are some suggestions to help make your budget-friendly summer a little more fun:

1. Make going to the park a challenge.

Are the kids tired of the same swings and slides? Create a list of local parks and make it a point to visit one for each week that the kids will be off. Include state parks, beaches, playgrounds, hiking trails, and skate/bike parks for the kids that are beyond swings.

Create a chart to put on the fridge with simple graphics and let them rate the park with thumbs up or thumbs down. Maybe you’ll have a new favorite park when the summer is over!

2. Pretend to be a tourist.

Use a search engine and look up the “10 best things to do” in your city. If your list is relatively short, make it a point to do or visit everything! If your list is long, ask your kids to pick one or two activities that sound interesting to them.

Kids are much more likely to have more fun when they have a choice in the matter. You can even stretch “their” event into “their day” and let the child that chose the activity choose what to have for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

Visiting Parks in San Francisco – free

3. Do a little legwork.

Call the event locations, ask your neighbors, email your local chamber of commerce and/or visit your library to see if discounted or free tickets are available for locals. Our local library offers free passes to the aquarium on the first of every month (to locals with a valid ID).

4. Borrow season or “with a friend” passes.

If your friend’s family enjoyed an attraction so much that they bought season passes, there’s a chance your family will enjoy the attraction, too. If your kids have a good time and want to go again, see if your budget will allow the price of season passes.

Most season passes pay for themselves in less than two visits and will last beyond the summer time frame. You can also team up with another family and be their “friend” on a take-a-friend day, or “suggest” season passes to family members as a birthday gift to the kids.

Season Passes to Local Amusement Park – passes were a family Christmas gift and free admittance for kids under 3

5. Don’t be afraid to ask for discounts.

As a local, I know I can park for free if I’m willing to walk a few blocks. I also know that walking a few blocks with a car full of kids and gear can be tiring.  Ask the parking attendants if locals get discounted parking, or if parking can be validated with certain establishments.

6. Set a budget for each event and have fun.

You’d be willing to splurge a little if you were truly on vacation, so loosen the reigns just a little bit. Save by packing a lunch or eating at home beforehand, but have fun with an ice cream treat afterward.

7. Mix it up for a day at home.

Take board games outside on a blanket or picnic table, spend the day “camping” in the backyard or create a scavenger hunt outside with their favorite toys. Allow the kids to get messy with chalk or finger paint.  Dress them in their swimsuits and turn on the sprinkler! Go for a nature walk and create a picture list of things to “find” along the way.

Watching the airplanes take off and land – free 

8. Check local movie theaters.

Local theaters often run a summer special where kids movies will play at the same time, the same day of the week. Tickets are usually inexpensive and this could be a great for rainy days, or when you need a break from the sun.

9. Send your kids to someone’s house for a day.

Team up with other moms and take turns planning a home activity each week that involves all the kids. This would give you a day off and the kids are still having fun while being supervised.

Don’t take on planning the whole summer at once. Start small by planning for one or two days each week. For example, make every Monday a park day and every Friday a field trip. Visit a new park each Monday and a new “event” each Friday and see where the fun leads you!

Tiffany is a full-time mom navigating the bumpy road of food, money and motherhood, while trying not to waste (or lose) crumbs along the way. She blogs about her experiences at Don’t Waste the Crumbs.

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