17 Fun Ways To Entertain Grandchildren On A Budget
Becoming a grandparent is exciting and rewarding (and dare I say a little exhausting?) As a Grandparent you play an important role in the upbringing and education of your grandchildren. In fact, grandparents spend more time with their grandchildren than ever before. Whether it’s visits, babysitting or regular childminding duties, grandparents are now more involved in their grandchildren’s lives than previous generations were.
So how do you keep the little ones entertained without breaking the bank?
I’ve put together a few ideas for entertaining your grandchildren that are simple, educational and fun. They’re also budget friendly which is great news for your bank account.
Dressing Up Box
Children love dressing up and make-believe. You don’t need to spend a fortune on movie themed fancy dress clothes for the children to have fun. All you need is a big cardboard box and some old or second-hand clothes, hats, shoes and bags. Charity shops and car boot sales are great places for picking up things you can put into the dressing up box. You can often find used children’s themed fancy dress clothes too. Why not put some of your own unwanted things in the box?. Children have great imaginations and dressing up is a fun way to play make-believe.
A Good Story
Reading a story together can be fun. Even children that can’t read for themselves yet will get a lot of pleasure from a story book. Especially one with bold and colourful illustrations that help to tell the story. You can add a little extra fun by choosing a book that has a repeated phrase or chant that you can all shout out together. The Gingerbread Man is a good example of this ‘run, run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread Man!’. (I’m sure you get the idea). There are loads of books out there that are interactive without being’ technological’. They’re also easy to find second-hand which will help to keep you within your budget.
Traditional Games
From a very young age children are surrounded by technological gadgets and toys. I know it’s the world we live in, but traditional board and card games are still a great way to entertain and educate your grandchildren. The novelty value of traditional games adds to the fun.
Games such as Snakes And Ladders, Hangman and Tiddlywinks are simple, fun and educational at the same time. Children learn a lot through play. Games which include counting, words, colours, manual dexterity and strategy are an ideal way to learn while having fun.
Traditional card games like Snap, Pairs and Happy Families can be played by everyone and are cheap to buy in ‘pound’ shops and other discount stores and supermarkets. You can invent your own games using a standard deck of cards too.
Dead-fishes, musical chairs, musical statues and hide and seek are all simple indoor games that can be played on a rainy day and cost nothing at all.
Home Cinema
Another way to pass a rainy afternoon is to create your own home cinema. You can buy cheap DVDs that are suitable for children of all ages. Supermarkets often have offers on family friendly movies and you can buy used DVDs at car boot sales, in charity shops and online. Get some popcorn or snacks ready. Close the curtains so it’s dark, just like a real cinema, and put on a family friendly movie. It’s a great way to wind down after running around with the grandchildren all morning.
Get Musical
Children like to sing and dance and they enjoy performing the actions to songs. There are loads of nursery rhyme and children’s song CDs and DVDs around and you can pick them up cheaply. There’s also free music downloads for children online so do a little research. Singing along and performing the actions together is not just fun for the children it’s fun for the grown ups too.
Why not add a few instruments to your musical session? You can buy children’s musical instruments both new and second-hand but you can also easily invent your own.
Use upturned saucepans and some wooden spoons to make a drum set. A couple of saucepan lids can be symbols. If you have a griddle pan and a wooden spoon it can be used like the washboard in a skiffle band.
You can also make some simple shakers. Put some rice or lentils in a plastic cup, cover the end with paper and tape it down securely. You can do the same thing using the cardboard inners of toilet rolls. Get the grandchildren to decorate or paint them. Young children in particular love art and craft activities and all children love making a noise!
Get Crafty
Art and craft is another way to entertain the grandchildren that doesn’t need to cost much. Something as simple as a colouring book, some scrap paper and some crayons can provide hours of entertainment and creativity.
Paints, crayons and other craft materials are easy to find at low prices. Have a look in pound stores, discount stores and supermarkets. You can also get bundles of art and craft materials at a reasonable price online. You can find some really good ideas for simple and cheap craft projects for children on websites such as Pinterest and YouTube. Do a search for other sites that also have some fun craft ideas too.
Baking
Even if you’re not the best cook in the world you can still make a sweet treat with the grandchildren.
Make some simple cupcakes or biscuits together and give the children free reign in decorating them with icing sugar, sweets and sprinkles. If you really don’t want to cook, or the children are too young at the moment, you can make some chocolate cornflake cakes. Get the children to spoon the mixture into baking cases and decorate them. Pop them in the fridge for an hour or so to set. They’re really easy to make and you won’t need to worry about a hot oven.
Teddy Bear’s Picnic
You can hold your Teddy Bears Picnic inside or outside depending on the weather. You don’t need to go far, your local park or back garden is fine. You don’t need much for this, just a picnic blanket, some sandwiches, snacks and drinks. And, of course, some favourite teddies or soft toys.
If you’re holding your picnic outdoors you can include some games. The teddies can be the spectators or they can take part in the running around. Teddies also enjoy a turn on the swings and love a whooshing down the slide.
If it’s a rainy day or it’s just not picnic season you can still have a Teddy Bear’s Picnic by holding it indoors. Set up your picnic in your living room. Use your blanket and put your food in the cool bag or picnic basket as you would for an outdoor picnic. Put on a nursery rhyme CD or DVD and get everyone singing along and play some indoor games. This is an ideal way to pass a winter’s afternoon.
Make A Den
Making a den for young children is something you can make in the garden or in the house. It’s simple to do and costs nothing but will provide hours of fun and imaginative play.
If you have 1 or 2 clothes airers of the panel folding kind and an old double sheet or blanket you can create a den. Stand your airer(s) so that it will create a secret space once the sheet or blanket is draped over the top. Use clothes pegs to stop the sheet/blanket slipping off. You now have a den for the little ones to play in.
If you don’t have any airers you can use dining chairs. Place the dining chairs with their backs facing the inside of the den and leave a gap for the children to crawl through. Drape the sheet/blanket over the chairs and secure it with clothes pegs or similar.
Treasure Hunt
You can set up your treasure hunt in the house or garden or in both to make it more of a challenge to find the treasure.
You can decide what the treasure is going to be depending on your budget. It could be mini packets of sweets, pieces of fruit or small ‘pocket money’ or party bag style toys, for example. Hide them around the house and/or garden. Give your grandchildren a clue to what they are looking for and how many they have to find to complete the treasure hunt. If the grandchildren are very young tell them exactly what it is they need to find rather than giving them clues.
Children of all ages love a treasure hunt. The older the children are, the harder you can make it to find the treasure and the longer the games lasts.
Pavement Art
If you have a patio or even a garden path you can get the grandchildren to do some pavement art. Coloured chalk is cheap to buy and is widely available. You can buy pots of chunky chalk which are ideal for little hands to hold.
Give them free reign in their choice of designs and pictures or set a theme. Children will spend hours creating a colourful pavement. It won’t be a permanent fixture as a heavy downpour will wash it away but that does mean the children can create a new one another day. You can always take a photo of their artwork when it’s finished so it’s not lost forever.
You can also use the chalk to number a hopscotch grid and teach the grandchildren this traditional game. Simple games can be a lot of fun.
Nature Walk
Getting out in the fresh air us good for everyone. You can turn your walk with the grandchildren into a nature walk to add a little excitement. It’s fun discovering new things together.
Encourage your grandchildren to collect different types of leaves, feathers, acorns, conkers etc. Pop them into a bag and take them home. When you get home you can help your grandchildren to identify the things that they have collected. Either use your own knowledge, books or the internet to teach the children about each item.
Once you have done a little detective work together and have identified each item, use them to make a nature collage. Let the grandchildren glue them to paper and help them to label them once the glue has dried and the finds are securely in place. The unpatterned side of leftover wallpaper is ideal for sticking your nature finds to.
You could also do a bit of bird spotting as part of your nature walk. You don’t need to be a seasoned bird watcher to identify the most common types of bird. If you spot a bird you don’t recognise you can look it up with the grandchildren later.
Go On A Bug Hunt
Children are fascinated by creepy crawlies so they will find a bug hunt a lot of fun. The good thing about a bug hunt is that you don’t need to go any further than your garden or nearest grassy area to to find some bugs.
If you know a bit about insects you probably won’t need do any research. But if creepy crawlies aren’t your specialist subject it’s a good idea to print out some information from the internet, or borrow a library book, to help you to identify what the grandchildren find.
Bugs are easier to see if you put them on sheet of white paper, and a magnifying glass will come in handy too. Take what you need with you so you can do your hunting and identification in the creepy crawlies natural environment. And, of course, set the bugs free once your bug hunt is over.
Picnic In The Park
If you,re lucky enough to have a local park with playground equipment and plenty of green space then you have an ideal free entertainment arena.
You only need a picnic, a blanket to sit on and a couple of outdoor games to play. You can buy cheap outdoor childrens games in supermarkets and discount stores and they are easily picked up at car boot sales and on social media marketplaces.
Keep it simple, you don’t need to cart a whole toybox with you. Just take a football, frisbee, skipping rope, or bat and ball for example. Between the park’s play equipment, the picnic and a game or two of footie you can keep the grandchildren entertained all afternoon. And you’ll be keeping all those food crumbs outside too.
Local Museum Activities
Local museums often have family friendly activities going on during the year and especially during the school holidays. Most of the activities are usually free but some activities may require a small charge per child. Some activities may also need to be booked in advance so that you can reserve a place for your grandchild or grandchildren.
Museum activities are generally a combination of education and fun. They are often themed for the season or a particular period in history. Take a look at your local Council/Museum website for information about forthcoming events and activities. You may also be able to sign up to a mailing list so that you receive a ‘What’s On’ booklet regularly throughout the year.
Local Authority Activities
During the school holidays a lot of local authorities put on free/low cost sports activities for children of all ages. They’re usually held in local parks or sports centres. The availability and cost of these varies from authority to authority so you will need to check on your local Council website to see what’s available in your area.
Discounted Theme Park/Attraction And Cinema Tickets
If you would like to take your grandchildren out for the day, or to the cinema, you can keep within your budget by looking out for discounted tickets.
You can often get a discount by booking online for theme parks and attractions, you may also be able to get a bigger discount by booking well in advance.
If you shop at Tesco you can use their points scheme to get entrance tickets to a range of theme parks and attractions and some cinema screenings. Free or discounted tickets can be also often be collected from cereal and snack packets.
Keep a lookout for promotions throughout the year and you can make a saving on entertaining your grandchildren and also having a little fun yourself.
