Trying to stick to a no money challenge.

ZoeLouise

I have come to realize just how much money I spend on my daughter, when I could be enjoying spending time with her without spending. So I have decided to try not spend any money on her but look at free ways to spend time with her. So far I have come up with the following:

(She is 8 btw)

Make games, like skittles and stuff
Bake goodies
Paint pictures
Play in the park
Sleep over in the living room

Any one have any good tips or ideas?

hilstep2000

How about growing things? Quick ones like mustard and cress or radishes?

PasturesNew

We used to go out with a net on a piece of bamboo and a bucket .... and go catching tiddlers in local streams.

Also, fruit picking (free on the common and down some lanes).

Picnic alongside the (free) paddling pool. Picnic is a posh word - it was actually just orange squash and tomato sandwiches.

Down the library, reading books.

Occasionally we'd go to a local open place that had a slight hill - and we'd roll down that for an hour or so.

Collecting car number plates (but that might just be me).

Make papier mache masks (never did this at home, did it at school)

Thumbprint cake making (never did this at home, but I loved it at school).

Boardgames.

Byatt

learning to knit/crochet together, simple things, lots of vids on youtube to help.

crafty things, make cards, presents for birthdays/Christmas. Could find stuff in charity shops/jumble sales. Some small outlay at first, of course.

picnic in the house, make a tent with a sheet...

gardening, but just something small, grow one thing to start with...

museum, are they still free...start a project, learn about an animal, period in time and make a scrap book.

ZoeLouise

Thanks I will write these down :j

hermum

Any crafts, there are loads of ideas online. http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/ just one I found quickly on Google.
Salt dough is always a good cheap one.
Kite making & then flying on a windy day.
Making papier mache money box, so that she can save her pennies, get her off to a good start.
Playing the old playground games, hopscotch, skipping, make stilts with cans & string.
Get a few other parents together & go to local park for a sports day & picnic.
I walk my dogs every day in local woods, fields where a river runs through. When the kids are on holiday there are always loads of families, with the kids playing & splashing round in the river having a great time.
Hope you have a great time.

midnightraven3

take photos of everything you do
then find one of these 100 prints free offers, they are around all the time
and you can make a scrap book of all your adventures

dont limit it to photos
if you go to a museum, they have leaflets of the exhibits
press a flower from when walking the hedgerows
all sorts of things

Millie2008_2

Another small outlay, but if you search for pony beads on ebay (cheap plastic beads, large holes) they can be threaded onto elastic or stretch magic to make cute bracelets. If you supervise and wrap them up nicely, they could also make pressies for any upcoming friends' birthday parties

I still like making them now and I am *cough* thirtysomething

optimistic

Feeding the ducks with any stale bread/cake.;)

big5

We have Lego contests with a young relative - someone picks a thing to make (e.g. make a giraffe) and everyone races to make it using as few bricks as possible. Usually it ends up with the kid choosing the category and laughing his head off as us grown-ups scramble for the best bricks and arguing about why our own model is better than someone else's.

tylers_mum

my 9 yr old daughter n i have just made a sock zebra we used a kit from the works £2.99 and she really enjoyed it , we have made a sock monky before using a pair of socks and stufing from the inside of old teddy bears and a few buttons i dare say if you search internet youll find free instructions for both x hope you enjoy the school holidays x