Memorable moments don’t have to be expensive or make you travel for hours. With a little research you can find lots to do around your town. The (usually) slower pace of the summer gives us an opportunity to take advantage of some of the fun around our community.
One of our first activities this summer was a visit to a traveling circus that was performing in our town.
It wasn’t big and flashy like Ringling Brothers, but the kids loved every (sometimes cheesy) minute. We had free kids admissions thanks to a coupon that was at the check-out counter at Staples. Does a circus visit your town during the summer?
The local library system always holds a summer reading program.
Not only are there prizes offered for the children to rack up reading minutes, but they host some fun events throughout the summer as well. There are craft days, magic shows, puppet shows, visits from local farms and the zoo, and science experiments (which means someone else is cleaning up the mess!). Have you looked into what your local library has to offer?
We’re blessed with many pick-your-own opportunities.
We have nearby farms (Glade Link, Baughers, and Mt. Joy) that offer, strawberries, sweet and sour cherries, blueberries, peaches, and apples. Last summer we picked lots of fruit and preserved just over 40 pints of jam. This summer we’re a little behind, but have picked blueberries for the freezer and we are looking forward to peaches soon. Do you pick and preserve local fruit?
Just about every town around us has a week-long carnival.
It’s been a number of years since we’ve attended one but as long as it is summer we can find one in any of the towns near us! Funnel cakes, fresh-cut fries, and a chance to bring home a pet goldfish. 😉
There are free rodeos at a local Christian camp each Saturday.
I’ll admit we’ve only made it in time for one of the rodeo shows, but we try to get down there each June on the day of the big fireworks display. River Valley Ranch also has a GREAT corn maze each fall.
I’ve also mentioned in our Summer Bucket List posts about enrolling in the Kids Bowl Free program. Have you looked to see if your local bowling alley is participating?
While you are out and about enjoying what is around your town you can also take advantage of Kid’s Night specials at local restaurants! What better way to end a day of fun than with a meal you don’t have to prepare (or clean-up from)? Two of our favorite Kid’s Nights are at Buffalo Wild Wings (kid’s meals for $.99 and 2 punches on their VIP cards, 6 punches = free regular priced kid’s meal!), Texas Roadhouse (free kid’s meal!!), Pizza Hut, Denny’s, McDonald’s and IHOP often run kid’s meal specials during different days of the week, just call your local restaurant and ask if they have a kid’s night! Restaurant chains around the country vary so just try calling what is near you.
This is week 6 in our Family Connections {for Summer} blog hop! The theme this week is Around the Town Fun. Join Missional Momma, TheDaisyhead, Walking in High Cotton, Our Good Life, and me (CreativLEI) by adding your link to your post about local summer or family fun. Please include the button (you’ll find the code to copy/paste in my sidebar) and a link back to the hop.
We’re staying local for most of our summer too so simple local fun is right up our alley. I didn’t think about bowling, but I bet our kids would love it.
The only draw-back to the ‘free’ bowling was the shoe rental. 😉
Fabulous ideas! We haven’t been out and about too much this summer(extreme heat and we’ve been busy), but you’ve given me some great ideas for the remainder of our summer!
It has been much too hot to really enjoy the outdoors, hopefully we’ll have more tolerable temps soon.
My kids LOVED going to the circus a few years ago. Thank you for reminding me about it. I normally do things aimed at my older kids, but I should also take in some library activities like puppet shows, which my 7-year-old would love.
Since we have a very wide range of ages we try to balance the activities we attend too. It’s a challenge to keep them all happy all of the time. 😉
These are great ideas 🙂 We would love to see the circus, but only the big ones come to us, so we are waiting for another year or so. I can’t wait to get out and pick some fruit!!
We hope to get to the big circus sometime that it is in Baltimore, we just haven’t made it yet.