Spring is here! How many of these 88 cheap and easy fun activities for kids will your family do? Many are free. Some can be done in your own backyard, while others involve field trips to fun places. Check out the section highlighting top last minute springtime weekend vacation cities, just in case you get the urge to splurge. Enjoy!
Organize a scavenger hunt. Give each person or team a list of things to find that are easy to get, and a large paper bag to put it all in. Examples would be to find a maple leave or handful of pine needles.
Create a backyard movie night by tying up a white sheet to a few trees and using a movie projector to watch a video. Make popcorn and invite the neighbors.
Plan a fire department field trip. Contact your local fire department to see if it gives guided tours and small seminars on fire safety. You might even get to ride a fire truck.
Build a butterfly garden. Plant flowers to attract butterflies and put a small dish of water with a rock in it so butterflies can sit on the rock and drink.
Go to a free concert. Many community parks have outdoor concerts when the weather starts to turn warm. Check local calendars for events. Plan to bring blankets and portable chairs.
See a free play. Check with your community to see if a theater or school is presenting a play.
Set up a backyard water park. If a warm day is in the forecast, set up a water park in your own backyard by collecting water guns, sprinklers, slip and slides and water balloons. Just make sure to clean up the broken balloons so they do not harm pets or wildlife. 
Take a local city tour. Many cities and towns have their own points of interest. Contact your local Chamber of Commerce to see if you can arrange a walking tour, bus tour or road trip around your own town.
Make soap bubbles with dish soap and glycerin and blow them all over the yard. Put a little food color in them to make them colored bubbles.
Take the family to enjoy a game of miniature golf at the local putt putt golfing center.
Fly a kite. Spring is the traditional time to fly kites because the wind is usually stronger than in the summer. Make a kite or buy an inexpensive one at the dollar store and go to the church parking lot or playground to fly it.
Play a team sport. Enjoy the spring air by organizing a family or neighborhood baseball, soccer or volleyball game in the back yard or at the park.
Or go to a movie on a rainy spring day. Many theaters have very inexpensive ticket prices during the day.
Clean up. Spring is the traditional time to clean out the garage or house. Make a game of spring cleaning. Whoever gets done with their chores first, gets a prize and you can donate your used toys and clothing to a worthy cause.
Make a family video using a video camera or cell phone. You can put it online for the extended family to see.
Go bowling. Check for open bowling times and introduce the kids to a fun experience.
Go to the local appliance store and ask them to save you some refrigerator or stove boxes. Let the kids cut out windows and decorate with markers. You can also build a fort with cardboard boxes.
Host a spring fling where you invite neighbors to play games and break open a piñata outside. Tell guests to bring their own picnic baskets and blankets.
Send the kids out to the yard to see how many different bugs they can find. Have them make a list or draw pictures of each bug.
Put up a lemonade stand and sell lemonade. Consider donating the profits to your local food pantry.
Don’t like lemonade? Have a bake sale instead.
Check out local gyms to see if they have special Spring Break camps.
Explore the Great Outdoors
Take a walk in the park or visit a botanical garden to see what is blooming. Create a scavenger hunt where the kids have to find each spring flower and check them off a list to win a prize.
Take a hike in the woods. If you are lucky enough to live near a National Park, you can hike the trails to see the wonders of nature.
Go on a scenic bike trail and see the sites.
Purchase a cheap set of binoculars and a bird book and set off to do some bird watching. Keep a list of all the birds seen and heard.
Kids love to camp and will have as good a time in a campground or in the back yard. Set up a tent, build a campfire (if it’s safe and allowed in your area) and enjoy the outdoors at night.
Many local parks and lake areas have designated areas where you can feed fish or the waterfowl.
While at the local park, play a game to see who can spot the most turtles, dragonflies, etc.
Go fish! Spring is the perfect time to go fishing. The weather is not too hot or too cold and the fish are looking for a treat after a long winter.
Visit the playground to allow kids to run, play and let off steam. They might even find some friends from school to play with.
Use sidewalk chalk to make a family masterpiece on the driveway.Get out in the Garden
Kids enjoy digging in the dirt so plan a garden and turn over the soil. It doesn’t have to be a big garden, just large enough to plant a few vegetables and maybe some flowers.
Gather seed catalogs and go through them with the kids to decide what they would like to plant in their own garden. Kids are more likely to eat their vegetables when they grow them.
Find some really unusual fruits and vegetables to plant. Cherokee tomatoes are purple and some watermelons are round and the size of a baseball.
Start seedlings by purchasing seeds, seed trays and sterile soil. Once the seeds sprout you can plant them in pots or outside in the garden.
Paint flower pots using patio or acrylic paint. Be sure to spray with a clear acrylic glaze once done so the paint doesn’t wash off. Use stencils or paint free hand.
Make a pizza garden. Take a visit to a local garden center. Get small plants, such as peppers, tomatoes, onion, basil, and oregano, and plant in a small space at home. Make the garden round, like a pizza, and plant in wedges.
A fairy garden is not necessarily utilitarian but it is fun to have. Plant a variety of flowers in the garden around a miniature house, a small table and chairs and a small tea set. Make pathways with aquarium gravel so the fairies know where to walk.
Make a living tee-pee by gathering 6 foot bamboo poles in a tee-pee shape, leaving an area clear in which to enter. The bottoms of the poles should form a circle and dig the bottom into the ground. Plant sunflowers, peas, or pole beans next to the poles so they grow up them and cover the poles to make a natural tee-pee that the kids can sit in and play.
Collect flowering tree or bush branches, put them in water and watch them bloom.Make crafts
Use old magazines, glue and poster board to make a collage of things the family would like to do during spring break. This will give parents good ideas of fun filled activities that the kids will enjoy
Collect stones, clean them and paint them with acrylic paint using an acrylic sealant to seal the color on. Make pet rocks or markers for the garden.
Build a backyard tee-pee using bamboo poles and tarp, canvas or blankets. Kids enjoy whiling away the hours in their own tee-pee.
Make bird feeders from pine cones rolled in peanut butter and then rolled in bird seed. Hang the cones from the trees.
Source: Flickr/Tony Alte.
Decorate hard boiled Easter Eggs with a commercial dye or make dyes from nature items. Use grass for green, beet juice for purple and onion skins for a brownish yellow.
Tie Dye a white T-shirts using commercial dyes in a bucket and rubber bands. Make sure adults supervise this activity so no one gets dye all over themselves.
Gather fresh spring flowers that are flat like pansies and violets. Place a paper towel in the pages of a large, heavy book and put the flowers on top. Put a paper towel over top and close the book letting the weight press the flowers until they are dry. Make a garden diary or press them between sheets of wax paper to make a light catcher.
Set up some easels and let the kids go wild with tempera paint on some paper. They can finger paint or go more sophisticated with a Jackson Pollock-like splatter painting.
Make puppets from old mismatched socks, buttons, yarn and other items and present a puppet show.Have fun with food
Source: Flickr/joe
Make sandwiches for a picnic outside; the first one of the spring. If it rains just put a blanket on the floor inside and have your picnic.
Organize a tea party using real china and fancy sandwiches. Invite relatives and stuffed animals.
Pick strawberries and make strawberry shortcake.
Make ice cream in an old crank ice cream freezer with some rock salt, cream, sugar and flavorings.
Make your own butter by putting sweet cream in a mason jar with a tight fitting lid and take turns shaking it. It will take a long time, but it will turn into butter.
Have an adult get the grill going and grill out hamburgers and hot dogs. You can also use a fire pit to make hot dogs and toast marshmallows.Learn
In some areas of the country, tornadoes are prevalent in the spring. Many communities have educational opportunities to learn about tornadoes and how to stay safe when one occurs.
Check with your community center to see if they have classes on bicycle safety. These seminars are often fun and informative to both children and adults.
Check local DIY stores for workshops that cater to kids. Some Home Depot stores offer inexpensive workshops for kids 5 to 12 on the first Saturday of the month.
Many craft stores also have kid’s workshops that are fun and informative.
Conduct science experiments with the kids. Kids love to do projects like build a volcano or launching a rocket and you can find tons of things to do on the Internet.
Learn a language by going online. You will be surprised what you can learn on YouTube.
Set up an obstacle course in the back yard and have contests to see who gets through it fastest and without any mistakes.
Schedule time to visit a retirement home and play bingo with the residents.
Go to the local farm cooperative and see the baby animals and how a farm works.
Many museums have no or inexpensive admission fees. See art, natural history or science as it applies to our past, present and future.
Contact your local fire department to see if you can arrange a tour to see a fire truck.
Check local listings for festivals and street fairs. Spring is the time they start up again.
Visit the zoo and watch the animals frolic in spring weather.
Contact a radio or TV station and see if you can arrange a tour.
Take a trip to the airport and sit in an approved runway viewing area to see planes take off and land.
Go to the library for special reading programs for kids.
Attend craft classes at the local craft store.
Go to a local baseball game and cheer on the local team.
Many communities have bouncy gyms which are like bouncy castles, but indoors and a little safer.
Visit the beach and collect shells and stones that have gathered during the winter.
Volunteer for a city wide spring clean-up day.
Volunteer to plant flowers at city hall or throughout the city.Volunteer at a local food pantry.
Have a family car wash.
Have a family or neighborhood garage sale.
Have an outside dance party and invite the neighbors asking them to bring snacks to share.
Give each child a couple dollars and take a trip to the dollar store. They can’t get any more money and have to decide what they want most.
Make get well or Easter cards from construction paper and take them to a local children’s’ hospital.Get a Vacation Deal
If you want to spend a little more money to take the kids on a vacation, the following attractions have special rates during the spring break season. (Note that these rates can change at any time).
Visit Colonial Williamsburg for as little as $79 per person, including accommodations at the Williamsburg Lodge.
Walt Disney World Orlando has 30% off select hotels.
Source: Flickr/Richard Stephenson
Visit Chattanooga and the Chattanooga Aquarium for 2 or more nights for as little as $169 per night for a family of four.
Visit the Rocking Horse Ranch Resort in the Hudson Valley in New York state. Fees can be as low as $179 per adult per night and include accommodations, meals, activities and entertainment. Check for early spring deals where kids may be free or half off.
*Splurge* The Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington, DC occurs in spring and the luxurious Hotel Monaco caters to families for rates of $299 per night, which includes bubble toys and a credit for parking or dining.What are your plans for the Spring?
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