Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Works for Me Wednesday: Free Kid's Programs

For the last year and a half, K- and I have attended the Lowe's Build and Grow Building Clinics. We have made tons of projects and enjoyed them all. I plug Lowe's today for giving such a neat opportunity to kids. We have built numerous cars, games, holiday items, bird feeders-- all kinds of cool stuff. It's great to be able to go in with K- and build something together that we can actually use. And! They get an apron to put a project patch on for each project that they complete. (Home Depot has a similar program.) Here's K-'s apron:
This week's project-- A Tabletop Basketball Game.

Even before the economy tanked, we took advantage of free programs offered for kids. K- started in her first library program at 12 months. We've done a ton of park sponsored programs, as well. Our local park district has their annual Fall Family gathering, which is a big party for the community with hayrides, music, movies, food and hands-on exhibits-- all of which are free. Among other things, my husband's park district offers Pioneers Park and an annual Fishing Derby for kids. Pioneers Park is a great learning experience with free and minimal cost items available for sale. The Fishing Derby, which Hubs is in charge of, is a great way to encourage children to get out and spend time together with a big person catching fish and getting prizes. While we haven't been to the Kinderealm park program since the fall (the visitor center is temporarily closed and it has moved to a different park, we don't do Little Gym anymore and aren't around the corner and we had major crappy weather for a while.), we intend to go back soon. We've even gone to parties at Toys R Us (Geoffrey's birthday is in September and they do a Trick or Treat at Halloween.) They were celebrating Barbie's 50th birthday this past weekend where K- got a fun crown to make and decorate, as well as a coloring page. We may also do a few Vacation Bible Schools this summer. We have one, so she'll be attending there. K- loves being with kids, she's a churched kid so she knows the VBS ropes and will probably love doing a few differently themed programs than just ours.

So, that's what works for us. How about you?

4 comments:

~*Michelle*~ said...

OH I totally dropped the ball as I had planned on taking my two youngest to Lowes this past weekend for that project! But I thank you for reminding me to put it on my calendar.....also Michaels does Kids' crafts ($5) on Saturdays that we sometimes participate in!

have a great day
*~Michelle~*

Rach said...

We were just getting to the point where Han was old enough to begin the Lowe's thing. However, we had done the library thing from the time she was about 18 months old. Lil now does the library thing and we're looking for other freebies in the area.

K is a busy kiddo with all those patches on her Lowe's apron, LOL! :o)

Wani said...

sounds like fun!

Annikke said...

We do these workshops too and the Home Depot ones. They are all awesome!!