6 fun activities for your kids on a shoestring budget

Kids need to be constantly entertained, but luckily you don’t need to buy them expensive toys or gadgets to keep them busy.

Here are a few fun (and very inexpensive) ways to keep your kids occupied at home:

1. Putt-putt in a box

Host your own putt-putt tournament with this fun idea.

Although you can express yourself creatively, you only need a box, box cutter (or really sharp scissors), a permanent marker, and a few golf balls for this game.

After cutting the flaps off the box, simply cut differently sized holes along the edge of the box, and give them a point value based on their sizes.

Voila. You’re done. Now all you have to do is keep score.

DIY Putt-putt in a box. Image From: Princess Pinky Girl

2. Plastic bottle bowling

This fun game encourages recycling. Fill up ten 500ml plastic bottles with sand or water. Set them up in the traditional triangle format, and bowl away. To make it a bit more tricky, use 2l bottles filled halfway.

Your kids can decorate the bottles, or give them different values.
It’s that easy.

Photo from: Pioneer Settler

3. In- or outdoors hopscotch

You can easily create a hopscotch arena, inside or out. If you have pavements outside, draw the hopscotch game with chalk. You can even use different colours.

Indoors, simply lay it out with masking tape. This can work on any kind of flooring.

Hopscotch

4. Indoors spy training

If you have a stairway, you can turn it into an obstacle course for aspiring secret agents by tying string across it. The string becomes a laser beam obstacle course that your kids need to navigate without touching the string.

Alternatively, you can use a hallway, simply use Prestik and streamers instead.

Photo from: Viralnova 

5. Build a fort

All kids love building blanket forts. All you have to do is give them a pile of blankets and pillows, demarcate a section of your house, and let them go wild.

Brooms and chairs can be used for support pillars, but really, imagination is all they need to create their own ‘secret’ hideaway.

DIY Fort

6. Balloon volleyball

So easy. Simple tie a piece of string between two chairs, and give your kids a balloon to keep in the air while passing it to each other over the string. This can keep them entertained for hours.

Photo from: The Taylor House