Thursday Thirteen: 13 Free Fun things to do with the kids

This is today's post from my new website, in addition to this one, called Get.Out.And.Play.  It soley focuses on great ideas and things to do with kids and ways to save money doing it, in the South Jersey/Philadelphia Area and surrounding suburbs. Check it out and give me your input!

Having fun with the kids shouldn't always run your pockets empty, so here are 13 FREE fun things to do with the kids.

1. Go to the Library and Join their Summer Reading Program. In most cases you don't have to be able to read alone, you can be a family reader. We entered the program at our library and they have weekly prizes you can enter to win. The first week my son won a Fun Summer Reading pack: 4 free books, a bubble wand, and some play dough! Nice. Many libraries also have story times and crafts.Check your local branch for specific times and information.

2.Free Summer Movies. Regal Theatres are offering Free Movies for kids, and no charge for adults either at theatres across the country. AMC is offering $1 moives (close enough) every Tuesdays! Check out their websites for locations and a schedule of movies.

3. Barnes and Noble. The store offers weekly story times for kids. And check out their website for a monthly book reading by authors and celebrities that you can watch online for no charge. This month is one of my son's favortie book series, Smash, Crash, read by the author himself, John Scieszka. Click this link to check the date and time of a location near you.

4. Lakeshore Learning Store. This educational store offers a free craft for kids on Saturdays from 11am to 3pm. They really have some super cute crafts, this Saturday, make a Summer Memory Keeper.

5. Play a family game. I know this one requires staying home, but some of the best memories I had as a kid was playing games as a family. Our favorite was Trouble. We'd get so competitive and my mom would always cheat, sorry mom!

6. Whites Road FREE Concert Series for Children and Teens. Whites Road Park offers a Free Children's night out July 12th at 7pm with the Middle Earth studio, an interactive and improvisational people- puppet show. They also have concerts for teens and adults. Check out the schedule at the Lansdale Borough Website for more information.

7. Go to the park. This area has some great parks across the regions. Some of my families favorites are the Upper Gwynedd Park in West Point, Pa (this is the same place my mom teaches her summer tennis camp for kids), Smith Playground at Fairmount Park in Philadelphia and Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, NJ.

8. AC Moore and Michael's have FREE Crafts. Both Craft stores have free crafts for kids. Most Michael's are offering a Knack Free Family Event Summer Fun on July 31st, join your kids to create "Green" environment friendly crafts! Check out their websites for locations near you and a schedule of in store events. At AC Moore

9. Home Depot and Lowes offer a FREE monthly workshop for kids. These workshops are a great way for your kids to curiosity with some of the simple tools you use around the house, under supervision of course. They often make great items with wood that you can take home and decorate later with paint and markers. The next Home Depot Kids Workshop is August 10th, get ready for school and build a super cute School Bus Pencil organizer. Jump on over to Lowes this Saturday, July 10th and build a ball and cup game.

10. Toys R Us. Toys R Us has some fun in-store events for kids. Check your newspapers flier or the website for more information.

11. Attend a FREE scavenger hunt at Skippack PikeVillage. Bring your child to this free event Saturday, July 10th from 11am to 4pm for an afternoon of clues and prizes!

12. Merchantville Car Show. Walk the stereets of Merchantville, NJ (just a 10 minute ride over the Ben Franklin Bridge) and browse through the serveral hundreds of vintage and antique cars , trucks and motorcycles on display at The 12th Annual Car Show. Free live musical entertainment as well. This is a must if you have a car enthusiast living in your house, big or small.

13.Starlight Movie Series sponsored by Chick-Fil-A. See a Free movie, every other Friday evening at Lindenwold Park, in Lindenwold,New Jersey. All you need to bring is a lawn chair or blanket. The next movie is July 16th, Monsters V. Aliens and July 30th is Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs, one of our favorites. Check their website for more information.


Phew! That's alot of Free!

Know something in the area that is free that you'd like to mention?

Leave a comment below!

And don't forget to hop on over and visit my other website. Whether you live in the area or are just visiting we'll give you some great ideas for things to do and place to go!