I was recently put to part time work and pulled my daughter out of daycare to help with our finances, but I feel that she's getting bored being at home or grandmas all the time without other kids to play with. I don't have a ton of money to spend and want to spend as much time with her as I can, so I'm looking for some fun and affordable activities we can do together. She's only 2, so something in that age range would be best. Also, my son started full day kindergarten this year and loves it, but I would like for him to have something else to do at least once a week to get out of the house and expel some energy. Also, something cheap and in the Salt Lake/Sugarhouse/Millcreek area! Thanks ladies!
I am all about taking my kid to the library. He loves to read books and look at all their fun decorations. I know some libraries do reading times for toddlers, so you might want to check into that as well. Quite often they schedule activities that families can go do together. The best part is that it's free. I don't mind taking my son there for an hour or so once a week.
HI K.,
One thing that I have loved, is our neighborhood does a play group once a week. We do ours on Mondays at 10am and most of the activities are really simple such as going to the park, riding bikes at someone's house, planting seeds in a cup of dirt, doing a craft project. There are 6-8 mom's who get together with their kids--all ages, but mostly under 8 years old--the mom's trade "hosting" and one of the mom's makes a monthly calendar. The calendar let's us know 4 weeks out what we are doing and there are some fun "theme" parties for Halloween or for the 4th of July. It's cheep and fun and my kids get to interact with others and so do I.
Another thought is to check out activities such as gymnastics, in-door soccer, basketball, swimming and such at a community rec. center. For fairly inexpensive you get a month's worth of activity on another day of the week.
With these 2 days of activities and Pre-school, we keep busy and my kids have something fun to look forward to. Good luck!
:) M.
Hi K.,
I don't live in your area, but when my girls were little we went to the local library at least once a week for the activities there. They are usually free and fun. They have story telling that is combined with a craft or musical activity. It is a good place to network with other Moms in your area too. We also enrolled them in tumbling and music classes through the community school catalog from our school district. Whether you are Granite or Salt Lake District where you are, there are classes through both. They typically have music, sports, karate, tumbling, arts and crafts, you name it. They are very reasonibly priced and last for 8-12 weeks so you aren't stuck in a huge commitment. You can find these catalogs at the library or online.
And, lastly, we have also signed up for a lot of activities through our recreation center. Each center has different activities but they range from sports to swimming, music, acting, crafts, bowling, even yoga and aerobics for kids.
Take care,
B.
Get a year membership to somewhere - Hogle Zoo, the Childrens Museum, the Living Aquarium - that you can take the kids to a lot. When you have the membership (it generally costs less that going 2 times with regular admission) you can go for just an hour or two, see what you want to, and leave without feeling like you wasted any money. And kids also find lots of things to do over and over again there.
Join a gym that has a kids area. They get to play with other kids, away from mom, while you exercise to stay fit (yes, you can when pregg, just ask your doctor if there are any restrictions). I love 24hour fitness - great Kids Club staff, pool, tons of equipment, and classes too! It's fun for both me and my kids.
