No Spend Family Activities: 31 Ideas

Whether you’re watching the pennies or just because you prefer wholesome family fun, here’s a list of No Spend Family Activities.

I was chatting with a friend recently, and we both agreed that our favourite childhood memories were not only spent as a family, but they were also free. It’s too easy to get caught up in having to book this, that and the other to entertain our kids. Sometimes we just need to remember that all they really want from us is time and a little effort. It’s easy to have a memorable weekend together if you have a list of no spend family activities in your back pocket!

Time and a little effort always results in ‘Do you remember when… that was brilliant!’

So here’s some no spend family activities that have created fond memories over the years (*Spoiler alert, check what is being sold at a yard sale… Grandpa’s collectibles, for example.)   

31 No Spend Family Activities

1. Play Pooh Sticks
2. Feed the ducks (or any local wildlife… we have a local park full of squirrels who will eat out of our hands!)
3. Visit the library
4. Do a family quiz. My husband actually started this in lockdown and it was a huge success! We never actually got anything right, but it was pretty hilarious!
5. ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt…’ Extra points if you’re committed enough to run ahead and hide a teddy!
6. Host a living-room Talent Show
7. Make a Pirate Treasure Map… and follow it!
8. Create a Nature Scavenger Hunt (then delve into Pinterest craft ideas for what to do with your finds)
9. Fly a kite
10. Home Cinema (especially excellent if you happen to have a projector… Harry Potter marathon anybody?)
11. Puppet Show. This usually ends up a little more Punch and Judy than intended…)
12. Game night… Charades to Scrabble. A kid-made trophy makes for an extra special win!
13. Go for a picnic (Don’t forget hot chocolate in the cold months!)
14. Create a family movie… script, costumes, the whole shebang!
15. Bake a cake
16. Go for a family bike ride
17. Have a camping holiday in the garden
18. Learn a card game together and have a tournament. Also works with Chess… only my 11 year old can now beat me. (Allow extra time at the end for cleaning up the tattered remnants of your child’s respect for you)
19. Build a den, outdoors or indoors – it’s a crowd pleaser. Always the first request when it comes to no spend family activities!
20. Create a time capsule
21. Go foraging for blackberries, then make a pie or crumble with your haul
22. Water gun/nerf fight (For the faint of heart/sensible among us… just break out the paddling pool!)
23. Set up a potion/mud pie station
24. Make wrapping paper, cards and gift tags. The children painting their best efforts onto brown paper ready for wrapping Christmas presents for the grandparents has always gone down a storm)
25. Create a Shadow Puppet theatre
26. Ice-cream sundae station with whatever is hiding in the freezer and cupboards
27. Visit the museum
28. Set up a back-garden obstacle course/sports day. Think egg-and-spoon, three-legged race and whatever other glorious creations/torture your kids can dream up!
29. Create a comic book with a superhero of your own invention
30. Set up a yard sale (also fantastic for encouraging the children to part with toys they haven’t touched in years without you having to smuggle them out of the house in the dead of night like a drug lord.)
31. Have a family Bake-Off.

There you have it – at least a month of weekends or a whole summer holiday sorted. I’ve found that the more you approach time with the kids this way, the easier it becomes to come up with new ideas. As they get older. I like to limit screen-time to let them get a little bored, as that tends to be when they get creative and ask me to join in.

Having teenagers can fee a lot like you’re the last to be picked in gym class on a daily basis, but there’s nothing like a three-legged race to make them forget to be surly!

I would love to hear any suggestions or family favourites you have up your sleeve in the comments –

Love, Helen