Things to do with your kids this summer on a budget

As the summer approaches finding things to do with your kids can be a challenge, especially if you are looking for things to do on a budget. If you are like me, you want to keep your kids busy during the summer doing fun activities, so they aren’t always on their electronics.  My girls are now teenagers at 13 and 14 years old. They love hanging out with their friends and this summer they will be busy playing softball, but on days they aren’t at the fields I wanted some go to activities I could entertain them with.  I have been doing several of these activities with my kids since they were toddlers and each year there are a few more things to choose from. It’s great to have more options. Here are a few of my favorites.

Since my girls are getting older they can now go to the gym and workout. We are fortunate to live in the city of Seminole and have a free gym at the Seminole Recreation Center. You have to be 12 years old to go with an adult, so they can both go with me. Be sure to check and see if your city’s recreation center offers free memberships to their residents. If you don’t have a free gym, you are in luck. This year Planet Fitness is offering free workouts for teens agers 15-18 all summer long from May 15 to September 1. You can find out more by clicking here. 

If your kids like going to the movies several of the theaters offer discounts on movies for kids during the summer. Cobb theaters offer Free Kids Summer Movie escape with free movies for kids starting June 11 and will continue every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 10am through the August 1. Some of the movies include Smallfoot, Smurfs, Curious George and more. We have several Cobb theaters in the area you can find out more information by going to their website by clicking here.  AMC theaters is offering a $4 special for kids and it includes a movie ticket and kids pack including a drink and popcorn. It is every Wednesday and the movies include Trolls, Lego Movie 2, Teen Titans Go and more. Here’s a link for more information click here. Studio Movie Grill offers movies for $5 on Tuesdays all year long and you can see any movie for $5.

If your kids like to fish the Kiwanis Club of Seminole Breakfast has several free fishing days for kids ages 14 years and younger. This summer mark your calendar for Saturday, June 1 and August 3 from 8am-11am. Fishing is done at Taylor Park located at 1100 8th Avenue SW in Largo. They provide the bait and the fishing poles. On August 10 from 9am-3pm Angler Armory is hosting a back to school free fishing day at Madeira Beach Recreation Center, 200 Rex Place, Madeira Beach. They will have bounce houses, raffles, food, prizes and more. Every kid 15 years and younger will get a free membership to Angler Armory. For more information go to their website by clicking here.  Gates open at 8am that day to register.

If it’s too hot to be outdoors or maybe it’s raining and you want to get the kids out of the house, there are quite a few deals to go to museums for free this summer. If your child is a fourth grader they can get a voucher to go to museums for free this summer. The program is called Every Kid in a Park. Kids can get free admission by visiting the website by clicking here. There is also a program called Museums on Us if you are a Bank of America, Merrill Lynch or U.S Trust cardholder. You can get a free ticket on the first full weekend of every month at over 225 participating museums including The Florida Aquarium, Tampa Museum of Art, Florida Holocaust Museum and Museum of Fine Arts. You can find out more here. Don’t forget Glazer Children’s Museum always offers the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County free Tuesdays the first Tuesday of the month from noon to 6pm. They are located at 110 W. Gasparilla Plaza in Tampa. The museum is great for kids ages birth to 10 years old.

I know bowling and roller skating is fun to do with the kids. Did you know you can do it for free all summer long? The Kids Bowl Free program offers two games a day of bowling all summer long. All you have to do is pay for the shoes. If you have shoes you don’t pay a thing. You must register here. Locally we have some great bowling alleys all over Pinellas County participating in this program including Seminole Lanes in Seminole, Liberty Lanes in Largo, Sunrise and Ten Pin Lanes in St. Petersburg, Maple Lanes Countryside in Clearwater and Dunedin Lanes in Dunedin. Go to the website for other participating bowling alleys. Kids must be between 2-14 to register. 

I found locally Astro Skate in Pinellas Park, 10001 66th Street N. offers free skating for kids 12 years and younger. Skating passes are good for Wednesdays and Saturdays from 6:30 pm- 8:30 pm. You can find out other participating locations on the website and register here. 

It’s important for kids to read this summer and if they read they can get a free book at Barnes and Noble. Kids grades 1-6 can earn a free book. Go here to register your child and start reading. My girls have done this the past several years and it does seem to motivate them to read. You print out the reading log and when finished turn it in for a free book. 

I found a few other ideas for the summer with Microsoft and Apple. They have offer free workshops and camps for kids. Apple has their Apple camp for ages 8 to 12. It is free and is at area Apple stores. They are 90 minute sessions and include coding and robotics, moviemaking or musical storytelling. To find out more click here. All campers must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian during the camp. Microsoft has a free camp at International Plaza. Most of their camps are for ages 8 and up and 13 and up. To find out more go to their website by clicking here and look for events for students. There you will find the different camps offered.

Younger kids can take part in the free Home Depot workshops for kids. The workshops are offered all year long, the first Saturday of the month from 9am to noon.  On June 1 the craft for the month is building a tabletop putting green. I know my kids loved going to Home Depot on Saturdays with their grandpa to make all sorts of wood items. Now they have outgrown it, but my sister and brother’s kids still go. It ’s a great place to learn basic skills of carpentry like how to use a hammer and how to paint. Kids get to build their item and either paint or put stickers on their craft. Kids receive a certificate and a workshop apron and commemorative pin all for free. 

I hope you are able to use at least one of these ideas. 

Making memories in the Florida cold!

Gaylord Palms Resort's ICE! Christmas Around the World

It’s not too often Florida kids get to play in freezing cold temperatures and throw snow balls. Even though we’ve had some bitterly cold temperatures lately, it’s nothing like the nine-degree temperatures in Orlando at Gaylord Palms Resort’s ICE! This year the theme is Christmas Around the World.  

The Tubbs Family at ICE! 

Recently my family was invited to experience ICE! It is in its fifteenth season and is self-guided walk through experience of a winter wonderland, where two million pounds of colorful ice has been carved into larger-than-life ice sculptures by some of the finest artisans from Harbin, China. This year the sculptures represent holiday scenes from various nations including a two-story ice sculpture with slides visitors can go down.  There’s also ice sculptures of the traditional Santa’s North Pole and a beautiful nativity scene created with crystal clear ice. The nativity is my favorite part because it brings in the true meaning of Christmas.

Graci and Randi inside ICE!

Kadi, Graci and Randi at the nativity.

My two daughters Randi (13) and Graci (11) are Florida girls, so feeling the freezing cold temperatures and seeing ice sculptures isn’t something they experience too often.  Even though their teeth were chattering at times, they loved it!

They could only stand the freezing temperatures for about a half an hour, still it was plenty of time to see everything and go down the slides, which probably was their favorite part.  It truly is fascinating looking at the details in the sculptures.  

The slides made of ice inside ICE!

Enjoying Christmas in the WILD

Christmas in the WILD at
Lowry Park Zoo

I love going to the theme parks during the holiday season. It is beautiful to see everything decorated and all the sparkling lights. This year we decided to go and see the Christmas in the Wild at Lowry Park Zoo. We went the first weekend it opened. You couldn't have asked for a better night. The weather was perfect!

Carollers performing
Christmas songs.

We have been to the zoo quite a few times, especially when my two girls were younger. They are 10 and 12 years old now and this was the first time my husband and I took them to a night event at the zoo.  It was a different experience because it was dark, but there were twinkling lights throughout the park with Christmas music playing. It was also different because you don't see as many animals as you do in the day time, but we still saw quite a few animals.

Randi feeding the giraffe!

One of the girls favorite parts of the night was feeding the giraffes lettuce. In my opinion, giraffes are some of the most interesting and beautiful animals. When you feed them at Lowry Park Zoo you are right up next to them on a platform and they eat right out of your hand.

Checking out some of the animals.

There are several animal encounters you can attend throughout the night. They include one called Presents for Primates with the Bornean orangutans and one called the Elephant Enrichment Social with the elephants. There is also one where you can say good night to the penguins.  And the one we really enjoyed was the Christmas Show. This was a show outside with some of  Santa's elves who brought out different animals for the kids to see including a snake, bunny, goose, turtle and goat.

Ready to ride the roller coaster!

The rides are also open during the night, so the kids were able to have fun going on the roller coaster and merry-go-round.

Riding the roller coaster!

Here's a money saving tip if you are planning on purchasing food or drinks at the park, the best way to go is with the couples or family dining plan. You can save at least $10 for five meals or refreshments or $34 on a ten meals or refreshments plan.   

Randi and Graci having fun with
one of Santa's elves!

Our highlight of the night was seeing Santa. They have a new location for him this year under a hidden tree canopy in the zoo called Santa's Tree Top Lodge. We tried to see him right when we got there, but the wait was about 45 minutes, so we decided to go back later in the night, which was a good idea because the line was shorter and about a 25 minute wait. We were greeted by a funny little elf who took us to see Santa inside a beautifully decorated house. The girls were each able to talk to Santa and give him their wish list. It was fun and we had a family photo taken with Santa and all the festive decorations.

Here's another tip...the photos with Santa are cheaper than the other photos in the zoo. At least they were the night we were there. Another nice thing about the zoo is the parking, it's free to park. So, if you are looking for a place to take the kids this holiday season I recommend the zoo. You can get some great holiday photos and it's a fun time for the whole family.

The zoo is still open during the day. The Christmas in the WILD runs select nights until December 30 from 4pm to 10 pm. To find the exact dates and  more information about Lowry Park Zoo visit their website at www.lowryparkzoo.org

Merry Christmas from our family
to yours!!!!

Students look grown up, practice life skills at Enterprise Village

This school year has just flown by. I can't believe summer is here already. My oldest daughter is graduating from fifth grade this year. A milestone in school, as next year she will be in middle school. It seems like just the other day she was in kindergarten. I bet some of you are thinking the same thing as your child is graduating from pre-k, elementary, middle, high school or college.

As part of the fifth grade curriculum, the kids get to go on an all day field trip to Enterprise Village. It is located in the Stavros Institute in Largo. Enterprise Village has been around since the 1980's and is a self-contained economic education program providing a hands-on learning experience for students. The kids spend 6 weeks in their classroom learning economics including how to write checks, use a debit card, keep a checkbook register, apply for a job and work with a group. When students go to Enterprise Village they put what they learned into action.

I was a parent volunteer. As a volunteer, we had to go for about an hour of training before the students arrived so we could help them throughout the day. What was interesting is some of the parent volunteers had gone through the program in school when they were in fifth grade.

I was amazed at the whole operation and impressed by the students at how serious they took their jobs. The layout of Enterprise Village is like a shopping mall. There are about twenty plus businesses in the village. Some of the businesses included: Home Shopping Network, Tampa Bay Times, McDonalds, Bright House networks, UPS, City Hall, Bank of America, Salvador Dali Art Center, Waste Management, Pinellas County Utilities and United Giving.

The students had to apply for their jobs in school before coming to Enterprise Village, so they knew where they would be working. My daughter was so excited because she was one of the disc jockeys for Mix 100.7. As a disc jockey she played the music throughout the day for everyone at Enterprise Village and announced commercials for all the businesses. The commercials were written ahead of time at school by the students who worked at each business. She also took song requests from students and played their songs. The students took 3 breaks throughout the day, received paychecks and had the opportunity to be consumers and make purchases at the other businesses.

Students were able to see that it took several people working together to run a company. The students were given Enterprise Village money for working and could spend it at the stores. They had to deposit their pay checks at the bank. I think that was the moment I knew my little girl was all grown up. When I looked across the room and saw her with her purse in hand standing in line to deposit her check. My heart sank, as I thought to myself how mature she had become.

After the kids deposited their checks they could purchase items at stores that sold merchandise. The kids each had a lunch break where they received lunch at McDonalds. Each student had a job, some were gathering stories as reporters for the Tampa Bay Times, others were reading meters for the power company, others delivering packages for UPS, there were television anchors on the Bright House station, some students were live on television selling items for the Home Shopping Network. One of the students was even Mayor of the city. The day was a great learning experience for the kids to understand what it is like to be a part of society. They even had to give money to charity.

At the end of the day, students working at the Tampa Bay Times put out a newspapers full of stories from the students and from the interviews the reporters did that day. This was truly amazing to me to see a six page paper full of stories completed in one school day. They did a wonderful job! The newspapers were sold for $.25 and most students saved money to purchase the paper.

Overall the kids learned a lot and most said it was their best day ever. Teachers also said it is one of their favorite field trips for the kids because of all the skills the students learned and they were able to put them to use.

The Stavros Institute also offers a program similar to this for high school students called Finance Park. I look forward to my daughter going on that field trip. If you want to learn more about Enterprise Village or Finance Park or maybe you want to volunteer,  log onto their website by clicking here. 

Things to do this summer that won't cost you too much $

What’s on your list of things to do this summer with the kids? I know a lot of kids go to camps during the summer, but what about the days the kids aren’t at camp?

I found some fun things for you to do with your kids that are either free or priced pretty reasonable.

If your kids like to bowl, you can register them for two free games of bowling a day. Yes, a day. This is part of the Kids Bowl Free Program. Bowling centers around the country participate in this.   Locally Dunedin Lanes, Twedt’s Bowling Center, Liberty Lanes and Ten Pin Lanes participate.  You register online and print out tickets each week. I have registered my girls the past two years for this and they love it. The only thing you have to pay for are the bowling shoes, but if you have them than it is totally free. The website to register is Kids Bowl Free.

How about taking the little ones to the movies? We love to go during the summer and watch the movies on the big screen. Regal Cinema’s Largo Mall 8 and Park Place Stadium 16 offer movies for kids during the summer for $1. You can’t beat the price. There are some really good movies this summer. Dolphin Tale, Kung Fu Panda 2, Chimpanzee, Rango, Arthur Christmas and Smurfs to name a few. The movies are G and PG rated and are offered on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at 10am starting June 12^th. To find out the movie dates and times at the theatre nearest you log
                                                      onto Regal Movies.

If you have teenage children, make sure you register them for the two free months of a gym membership at LifeStyle Family Fitness. Teens ages 12-17 can workout for free this summer starting now to August 15. I have friends that had their kids do this last year and they had a blast! You can register at Lifestyle Family Fitness.

Your kids can also go to a Tampa Bay Rays game for free over the summer if you have them read. The Rays Sponsor a reading program called Reading with the Rays. It starts on June 10^th. You need to go to your local library to get a score card to write down all the books your child reads during the summer. If they complete 24 hours of reading, they can get a free ticket to a Rays game. Both of my girls enjoy reading and love going to the Rays games, so this is extra incentive to read over    the summer.

If your kids like the water, the beach is a great place to take them. We are so fortunate that we live so close to the beautiful water. Take advantage of the beach over the summer. Check out your city’s recreation department too this summer. Most of the cities in Pinellas have aquatic centers with water parks and pools. The price to go for a few hours is usually a few dollars per child. 

I love having my kids out of school during the summer, but I have to find activities to keep them busy or they get bored. I hope some of these ideas help you this summer.