We're bored!

[Family Fun Mom]

GREAT suggestions! Thank you, everyone!

 

[marthachick]

Several have mentioned free bowling...many of the businesses around our town have "free bowling compliments of <our business name>." You can get however many you need. You pay for shoes.

We also have "free music" or "free movies in the park" on the weekends. And we live in a very small county. Check your local paper for things like this. You can take chairs or a blanket & food in a cooler for a cheap night out! And you might make new friends.

Borrow free movies at the library. Something like the Indiana Jones Trilogy or something that you'll all watch but maybe everyone hasn't seen before. Several years ago we borrowed "Green Acres" & DS saw them for the first time. He thought they were awful but we loved watching them together & laughing at how corny they were. Or get newer ones for free or cheap from Redbox and Blockbuster Express. Buy some popcorn & pop it the old fashioned way (on the stove- lol) & watch the movies with your kids.

 

[cornflake]

If you have girls, I bet they would be interested in baking. You can decorate cupcakes and cookies. Maybe even learning how to sew or knit.

Boys wouldn't be interested in baking?

OP - if there are littler kids in the neighbourhood that your kids know and you know the parents you guys might enjoy organizing something for them too. Not as a job just as a let's all have fun outside kind of thing, though it depends on your neighbourhood/block.

Could do a neighbourhood scavenger hunt - if there are a bunch of younger kids yours could plan it, hide stuff, run the thing, etc. That can take a couple days - planning clues so all different ages can look for stuff, where to hide things, what unhidden things to find (you can have people look for a piece of paper you hide with a number on it and hide a bunch or have everyone have to tell what colour some porch chair is or find a specific kind of leaf or etc., etc.), then how long they'll have, rules, what prizes there'll be... silly little prizes for lots of things, first to find everything, last to find everything, shortest competitor, you can get dollar store stuff everyone likes, like a thing of bubbles (like to blow bubbles), glow stick, and everyone gets popsicles at the end.

You could do a neighbourhood newsletter, and task your younger ones as reporters/photographers, to go around and find out the neighbourhood "news" and ask littler kids if they want to draw a picture or write a poem or something and they could publish the stuff - the older ones would write, lay out, scan, etc., make it look goofy fancy. Stick it under everyone's door.

Or if you have any elderly neighbours, you could all adopt one for a day if you call and ask if you could visit - make cookies or banana bread or whatever, a pitcher of iced tea, go over and ask if you can help out with some chores in the yard or around the house they might not have done because it's hot - ask them about what they used to do when it was this hot out when they were your kids' age, ask them to teach you all a card game from their childhood, etc.

 

[bethy]

Speaking of neighborhood kids - some older kids in our cul de sac are organizing a 2 day Olympic games event for the smaller kids next week. It will just be simple stuff but should be a blast for everyone and maybe even a little eductional, too.

 

[mom2cookies]

how about seniors nearby, invite three healthy hearty seniors over and have a cook off. We did something similar to this for someone birthday that just loved burgers. So the kids and i each came up with a secret recipe for the ultimate burger. He did a blind taste test and chose which he liked most. IT was fun to research and plan and try to decide a unique fun combination.
I have ( well had ) for teens at the same time and we would play board games, do improv ( with cousins), bake, play the wii games and have teams to challenge each other.

 

[lady9]

On the same lines of Geocaching, my family and I love Letterboxing. It is a cheap thing to do, you need a rubber stamp, ink pad, and notebook. We have visited some very interesting places looking for the letterbox. There are also different levels of boxes so you can try to find an easier box for your younger child and more difficult boxes for the teens. We love it because it is an outdoor activity found just about everywhere. You can google "letterboxing" to get more information.

 

[arihillfarm]

Go to a pick your own berries place (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, etc.) and spend the afternoon making homemade jams and jellies. If you want to keep it simple, make some with grape or apple juice and skip the berry picking. They also make great gifts for the holidays in a basket.

-Astrid

 

[Gigi22]

Are your kids at an age where they would be interested in scrap booking?

 

[stsomewhere]

I have a 14 and 11 yrs olds.

They enjoy gong to the beach. Sterling State Park on lake Erie or Lake Port State park on Lake Huron.

Many libraries offer free passes to local museums and zoos. You could visit The Henry Ford, DIA, etc.

Biking trails at local Metro Parks. hiking,

Lincoln Park skating rink offers cheap skate night.

Slot car racing. I think is is $5 an hr including car rental. You should call for more info.
http://downriverspeedway.webstarts.com/index.html


frisbee golf is offered at some parks.