OS things to do with children. CHEAP

Jay-Jay_4

Another vote for cardboard boxes . My Dad used to get them from a local 'works'. They were really thick and needed a bread knife to cut out doors and windows but they were indestructable. I also used to pin a sheet onto the stairs and sit underneath, like being in a tent.

Also those litle china tea sets are lovely for little girls. I must've drunk pints and pints of water out of a tiny china cup while sat in a box or under the stairs.

MATH

I like my kidz outside as much as possible (especially if I'm indoors:D )
We are very lucky to have lanes, woods, resevoir, streams, scramble runs etc within a stones throw of the back door here in the emids and spend all non term-time at the coast with loads of beach and dunes to explore so I hardly ever pay for entertainment.
Reading some of your posts I'm feeling a bit nostalgic, yearning for the days when a cardboard box was a rainy day of fun-filled opportunities. My older two just give me a jaded look and go back to watching MTV now when I suggest making a pasta collage.:rolleyes:

Spendless

Hide and seek indoors. Especially good if you've got tots you can get no end of stuff done whilst you're pretending you can't really see them under the table:D .

Also hiding an object and doing 'hotter' and 'colder' as they try to find it.

Skintmama

My two used to love planning a holiday for their toys.
This could involve washing all the dolls clothes, drying and packing them (wonder where they got that from? Manic mamas prep for hols!). They then used to make an engine from large cardboard boxes, big enough to sit in. The carriages were every chair in the house one behind the other with entire very large soft toy collection perched or strapped on, all dressed for the occasion of course. Contents of the log basket fuelled the train-we lived near a Steam railway! They all needed food so that got consumed enroute so to speak and handily dealt with lunch!
Once they had all arrived at the seaside and played their games it was back on board for the journey home. Sigh.... those were the days eh.
The only bit that wasn't such fun was all the tidying up!