Dresses 'n Messes

I thought I’d post our list of CHEAP (or FREE) activities to do in the summer.  We will not be doing ALL of these activities, of course, and I will be adding to the list frequently so check back.  If you have any ideas, please leave a comment or shoot me an email or FB me, and I will add it!

I hope your summer is full of many memories!

Food

Snowcones (buy some or make your own)

Cupcakes at your local cupcake shop (Dippidee, for us)

Cupcake Ice Cream Cones

Ice cream in a bag or homemade ice cream

Slurpees at 7-11

Ice cream at the BYU Creamery

Ice cream at Thanksgiving Point

Buy candy at an old-fashioned candy shop

Make taffy (recipe to follow soon)

Homemade popsicles (ideas here or here)

Have a lemonade stand

S’mores

Make rice krispy treats together

Ice cream at Macey’s

Mia’s (our local italian ice cafe)

Make cinnamon bun popcorn

Make a homemade, healthy Happy Meal for your kids (complete with surprise toy) and have a picnic

Local Hikes

Battle Creek

Bridal Veil Falls

Stewart Falls (check back for a post)

Cascade Springs (check back for a post)

Alpine Waterfall Slide

This site has a whole bunch!

If you’re hiking in any national parks, be sure to check out the Jr. Ranger Program

Local Field Trips/Museums

Fishing at Vivian Park (this park is a stocked pond for children)

Wheeler Farm

Gardner Village

Thanksgiving Point (There are free activities, as well as paid activities. Check frequently.)

BYU’s Bean Life Science Museum

Children’s Exhibit at Church History Museum

Kennecott Copper Mine (Currently this is closed. I’ll leave it on for future trip ideas!)

Dig for geodes

BYU Astronomy Club (Planetarium shows every Friday night for $2 a person, and then rooftop viewings afterwards with telescopes)

BYU’s Mornings at the Museum

Water Activities

This site has a whole bunch of local water parks and features and pools in Utah

Visit a different pool than your norm

Splash Pads (For us: Highland, Springville. And this website and this site list a whole bunch around the whole state of Utah.)

Host a swim party with the neighborhood kids (Water Activity Ideas: sponge bombs, kid wash sprinkler, water squirters, trike/bike wash, sprinkler freeze dance)

Crafts

Sidewalk paint

Oobleck

Gak

Tie dye t-shirts

Have a craft party with friends

Science experiments

Inside Activities (to beat the heat)

Home Depot Kids Club (did you know your children can attend this for FREE once a month?)

Pet Store

IKEA

Story time at your local library (get your kids their own library card!)

Cinemark Movie Clubhouse (Movies for a dollar. This site lists all participating states.)

Local bookstore (Check for story time or other literacy activities, especially for reading incentive programs.  My kids and I enjoy just hanging out and browsing the books.)

Bowling (our local Fat Cats does bowling for 99 cents per game during the summer; some places do it for FREE: go here to see if there’s a participating one near you. Thanx for the link, Meridee!)

Science experiments (go here for some we’ve done)

Anything else

Look for 4-leaf clovers in a clover patch

Find pictures in the clouds

Visit a carnival

In Utah, almost every city has their own unique celebration (Here’s the updated list for 2013, compiled by Randy and Natalie at Utah Valley Family Adventures.). We love to participate in many of the activities.

Parks (We like to visit a different one each week. For locals, here’s a list.)

Watch a parade

Go ice blocking

4th of July Balloon Festival (info to follow)

Go camping (any recommendations?) (We like to camp in our backyard sometimes!)

Jr. Ranger Program at National Parks across the nation (read my post on our experience)

My list of 100 simple activities. They range from food to crafts to educational to outdoor stuff.

Blog Links (these are other blogs that share great ideas)

Utah Valley Family Adventures (This family gives great reviews on things they have done as a family in Utah Valley. I am always coming up with new adventures from this blog.)

Here is another Bucket List and a simple summer schedule.

Utah Mama (I’m always finding deals and activities from this site.)

Enjoy Utah! (Another favorite site! The link to her summer list is included in the comments. Her 2013 list here.)

Hands Free Mama (ideas for more face time with your kids)