Entertaining your toddler or preschooler on a budget - Page 2

Arts and crafts! I love doing that with the kids! I'm always looking at Pinterest for cheap and easy ideas!

Drive to a different park. It will just cost a little extra in gas, but will be a change of scenery for you both.

These indoor trampoline places are really popular here.  Most of them have a "toddler time" when the big kids are in school.  It's just a couple dollars (instead of $7-$10) and there are no bigger kids to push the little ones around.

We got a kite for $1 at Walmart and used it for several summers. We just kept it in the car, so if we were at the park on a windy day, we could pull it out. We definitely got our money's worth out of it!

Cardboard box tunnel.  We used a couple used moving boxes and cut holes in the side using an exacto knife.  Then the kids helped decorate the boxes and we taped them together into a long tunnel.

Dinosaur feet prints.  We used M's collection of small dinosaurs and a few squirts of different paint colors and made dinosaur feet prints all over the place!  Afterwards, she gave her dinosaurs a bath to wash the paint off.

Hippos in the Mud.  We played this game at my daughter's birthday party a couple years ago, but left the tape up for a while after because my kids kept wanting to play it all the time.  You tape a circle on the floor, and tape a blobby-shape of brown paper or an old grocery sack to be the "mud".  Then, the game works kind of like musical chairs.  You play a song while the kids crawl or walk around the circle.  Then, when the music stops, whichever hippo is stuck in the mud is the winner!

Roll down the hill! Bonus of wearing your kids out really well.

I just get some old pots and pans and some spoons and let Amari drum on them. He loves being a "drummer" and making noise and it keeps him busy all day!

I just get some old pots and pans and let Amari drum on them with some cooking spoons. He loves being "a drummer" and making noise. It keeps him busy all day and it's free!!