Free Things to Do with a 2 Yr Old and 4 Yr Old

Dear M.-
Some cinemas have kid movies available for very little money. You may also wish to look into play groups. Some of the museums and zoos offer lowered rates to children and parents. MacDonald's has great play spaces. Weather permitting, the public parks and walks are good. You can make big alphabet letters or numbers to twnety out of thick paper, shuffle them, and enjoy putting them in order with your children. The public library has some great activities available for free.

The papers, like the weekly, publish free and low-cost family-friendly activities.
Have fun -S.

1 mom found this helpful

In our community the public library does a few story hours/week that are free. Our Natural History Museum is also free. Parks are, of course, free depending on the weather. We also have a farmer's market downtown on Saturday's and Wednesday's. Buying things at the market isn't free, but just walking around and looking at things and talking with people is free. There are always a ton of people there with their dogs, plus dogs from a local shelter for adoption so my son loves this outing.

You might want to look on your city's website to see if they have a listing of community events. There are often more things going on than I would have thought and everything isn't well publicized.

1 mom found this helpful

go to the park, have a picnic, make cookies, bild an insied fort with blankets and sheets and take a nap in it, teach them games like hopscotch, jump rope ring around the rosie etc. go to the library for story hour they also have a lot of ree fun activities,

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Go to www.momsclub.com or www.mops.org and find yourself a moms group in your area. They schedule group events for moms and kids and you'll always have options. Good luck.

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Hello,

AZCentral.com has a big section on things you can do with your kids that don't cost anything or very little. Just go to the website and click on Moms, and then Things To Do.

S.

1 mom found this helpful

azactivekids.com has a great source on the left side of site for free activities and all the story times.

Check your local library story times--my 3 year old loves ours. Parks are great---take sand toys and sidewalk chalks, even play dough along. Mall play places. Do a meet up playgroup (mmeetiup.com)--usually can find local mom's playgroups there.

There are several storytimes available at all the library branches around the Valley. You can get a schedule online. Also, at some libraries they have a weekly "Mini-movers" class, where they sing songs and dance. But- make sure you are there early to get a spot! They also do storytimes at Barnes & Noble.

The Children's Museum of Phoenix downtown is a lot of fun. My kids and I will spend hours there. It's a little pricey, but if you plan to go there a lot, getting a membership is worth it. A membership costs as much as going to the museum, I think, four times. We bought ours in September and it has already more than paid for itself.

You could also see if other moms from your church or neighborhood would like to get together for a playgroup or craft day. For craft day, you could rotate whose house you meet at and do a simple craft with all the kids.

Hope this helps!

at the ages of your kids, I'd suggest simple walks collecting things like leaves, rocks, etc. parks are amazing places for kids. I used to take my kids riding their big wheel and bike w/ training wheels to the park, we'd play then eat a picnic lunch and bike home again. every time you go to the park take a different ball or focus on a different sport.

the library almost always has a story time that is free.

I used to take my kids to the mall if it was cold outside and go play in the toy stores. We never bought anything but it was fun to look around and try out the remote control cars, etc.

check out the newspaper, their may be free concerts or art festivals to go to where there isn't an admission fee and you don't have to buy anything.

Hi,
I remember that time! There are free storytimes at your local library (downtown Chandler has one, Gilbert has one), free story times at Barnes and Noble, indoor playyard at mall, zoo membership (we would go once per month)- but bring your own snacks to save money. Gilbert Parks and Rec has cheap classes for 4 year olds, and at the McQueen location, they have puzzles and coloring while the little one waits.
K.

Hi M.,

If you're in the Tucson/metro area, the tucsonmoms.com group is a great low cost group. You pay a yearly fee that's about $40, and you can attend as many playgroups per week as you wish. It's broken down by location and child's age, like NW '03 for example. Many of the groups allow younger siblings, some groups are stated all ages.

We also did the library storytimes. Also the Tucson libraries do a free playgroup sponsored by The Parent Connection called "Stay & Play". I'm not sure where you call home on this world of ours, but as most the moms here have said, Give your local library a try.... or maybe a not so local library. It's a great excuse to go somewhere new for a change.

Happy 09!

M.,

Are you in Phoenix or Tucson?

When it's warmer, it's a lot of fun to go to Desert Ridge and let them play in the water fountains with the other kids. They have a nice place for you to sit and watch the kids play.

On Sundays in the fall through spring, the Adobe Mountain Railroad, http://www.maricopalivesteamers.com/, gives free train rides from 12:00 to 5:00. It's the same size train as at McCormick Ranch in Scottsdale. They're a train club and they offer rides when it's not so hot (usually from early Sept. to sometime in May). They ask if you can give a donation to help pay for it, but it's not required. I did my son's birthday party there and the kids had a blast riding the trains. They could go on as many rides as they could fit in the time frame. The cost to have the party there is a $50 donation and the rides are unlimited too. If you look ast the Web site it has a map. It's up on Pinnacle Peak and 43rd Ave (north of the 101). It's practically across the street from Waterworld.

If you get the West Valley View, they also have special events and stuff in there too. Like at the library they have readings in the mornings for kids. The Avondale and Litchfield Park libraries both have them on different days and usually in the morning. I think the Friday one has the "Nine Days a Week" section with stuff going on. Also some events place ads within the paper.

Hope this helps. If you're working during the day, the libraries' reading to kids thing may not work, but that's just an example.