A List of Winter Break Activities For Kids

What To Do With Kids Over Winter?

With Sidney off of school for the next two weeks I've been busy trying to come up with fun activities to do. Unfortunately, I can't spend a ton of money so we are limited. However, our region has a strong focus on family and offers many enjoyable things to do with your kids. 

I know first hand that a lot of young moms aren't exactly rich. We are dealing with school,  starting a career, saving for a house and our children's college funds plus so much more. Money is tight, but we still want to enjoy our time with our little ones while they are young. So hopefully you can get some ideas out of my list and even though a lot of my listed activities are specific to the region we live, in your city might have similar programs. All you have to do is look it up online.

Things we might do that cost us basically nothing:

• Free skating at the mall (my mom bought Sid skates for $2 at the thrift store)
• Free skating at Central Park downtown
• Drop-in craft program at the library
• Rent a movie from the library (popcorn and juice is the only money we'll be spending on this!)
• Play at McDonald's indoor playground (costs me the price of a coffee and hot chocolate)
• A trip down to the farmer's market (spending money is optional, however I can't turn down delicious food - especially local produce!)
• Tobogganing (if we even get snow! Haven't seen much yet.)
• Play at the park, all wrapped up nice and warm
• Baking at home
• Walk the trails through Riverside park and feed the birds
• Playing with all our new Christmas toys of course!

Things we might do that cost us a little more:

• Drop in pottery class ($10)
• Indoor playground ($5 on Tuesdays)
• Indoor mini-golf ($5 each = $10)
• Region Museum all day pass ($5 for Sid, $10 for me = $15)

Things we might do that cost more:

• Tubing ($20 each = $40)
• Movies (about $10 each plus popcorn = $30)

There is a lot more around here we can do, but we only have two weeks and our funds are limited. I try to find and think up as many amusing things that are free, or cost very little. 

What are some things you like to do with the kids over the holidays/winter?

Thanks, 

PS - Because Sidney is on winter break now, I might not get around to blogging as much for the next two weeks.

Best Free Activities Are At The Library

photo credit: artsjournal.com

If you are anything like me than I'm going to assume you like free things. Because really, who doesn't? And the best kind of free, is free fun - at the library!

I don’t know much about other community libraries but I do know that the chain of libraries here in my city have so much fun, free things going on all year round.

They have:

• art exhibitions,
• plays,
• children drop-in activities,
• art programs,
• family reading nights,
• speeches,
• art sales,
• contests,
• and so much more.

Every March Break, PA Day and Winter Holidays there are fun events planned for kids and teenagers to participate in. And to top it off, the friendly staff at the libraries are always introducing new and exciting programs all the time!

That’s not even including the fact that you can take out books, DVDs, magazines and Cds for free.

BOOKS!

For someone like myself who is an avid reader I’m constantly in need of new books all the time. I take out fictional books, craft books, recipe books, business books, magazines and children’s book. Once a month I must take out at least 6 - 10 books!

MOVIES!

My daughter and I like to have movie nights on the weekend. We’ll go down to the library and choose a couple movies - one for her and one for me - and plan a family evening, and as long as you don’t return them late it’s absolutely free to take them out for 7 days. The movie selection is pretty good, too. Ranging from new releases to old classics like Breakfast At Tiffany’s, and television shows for kids and grownups.

MUSIC!

Bored of your CD collection? The library usually has plenty of those to choose from, too! No matter how often I go I always manage to find something new to listen to. Sure, I could hop on YouTube or listen to the radio, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to listen to an entire album without having to constantly go over and select a new song.

So why not check out your local library, if you haven’t already?

What’s your favourite part about the library?

Thanks,