With school finishing up this month, I wanted to share some *mostly* free summer activities for kids to keep them entertained and busy!! These are activities or programs that are available all around the US, and some you can do from home!
Kids Bowl Free is a program that offers kids 2 free games of bowling, every day, all summer long! There are more than 1,300 participating locations. Parents can buy a pass to play with kids throughout the summer, but it’s not at all mandatory. Sign up was easy!
FREE Museum Days – Lots of museums have free days of the week, which you can find through a quick google search.
If you live in Houston:
- The Children’s Museum Houston has a free day every Thursday from 5-8pm
- The Houston Museum of Natural Science is free on Tuesdays from 5-8pm and The Museum of Fine Arts Houston is free all day every Thursday. These are a great air-conditioned option for hot summer days!
Cinemark Summer Movie Clubhouse is a program that offers movie tickets for only $1.75 for 10 weeks over the summer. The showings are normally around 10am Monday-Thursday and they are all kid-friendly (a little bit older) movies. We went to a handful of them last year, and it made for an easy, indoor activity. Bring snacks from home, and you have a very budget-friendly outing!
AMC Theaters Summer Movie Camp is similar to Cinemark’s program. From late June until August you can see a different favorite animated movie each week for only $3 a ticket (plus tax). Showtimes are on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 at participating theaters.
Barnes and Noble Summer Reading Journal – 1st through 6th graders who read and record any eight books this summer get to select a FREE book from Barnes and Noble. Be sure to redeem before August 31st.
Free Outdoor Movies- lots of towns and suburbs have free outdoor movie showings going on during the summer. If you are in Houston, check out this blog post for a complete list of showing in Houston and the suburbs.
Marathon Kids Walk and Talk– This is a free program by non-profit, Marathon Kids, to encourage connection between parents and kids. You can register to walk a mile every day with your kids and you will receive a special mileage tracker and a conversation starter for each day. By the end of a month, you will have walked (and talked) a marathon!
Michael’s Camp Creatology is a 10 week online series of craft classes for kids 6 and up. Each week they will send you a supply list and then the link for the virtual class. They also have in-store craft classes that are less than $10 depending on the craft, check out the calendar here.
Hopefully, these ideas for free summer activities for kids make your planning slightly less daunting! Be sure and save or pin this post to come back to when you are stuck looking for something to do come July! I will be updating this list with any more activities that I find!
Taking lots of photos of your kids this summer? Check out the link below to download my guide for taking great photos using your phone!
