Ideas for Our Playgroup?

S.,
I know this was posted a while back but I wanted to pass along this info. I own an indoor play room and we also do private birthday parties. If you get some time, I would love for you to stop by and look around. Please visit my website www.mypartystation.com. We are located in Schertz.
Thank you:-)

What ages are you boys?

Ideas...
the mall(s), swimming (if it is indoor), Bear Creek Park (has a small animal area and you can feed the ducks), take a tent to the park and pretend to camp, take bikes to the park. As it gets warmer, those with splash pads are great because kids can run and play.

Hi S.,
It would be great to get the kids together and go visit a retirement home or assisted living facility. I know whenever I take my son to see his great-grandma, everyone in the building dotes on him and gets so excited! Maybe you could call ahead and see if they have any activities that the adults and kids could do together. Good luck!
-V.

Jumping Party/Let's Jump
Let's Jump
Fort Worth Stockyards
Fort Worth Nature Conservatory
Fort Worth Children's Museum
Fort Worth Zoo
Parks
In Southlake they have a place where kids can make a piece of pottery. Usually for younger kids they make tiles.
Michael's Krafts has Art Classes I think Wed & Thurs from 9-11 for 3+ and it is like $3/class
Ridgmar Mall and North East Malls have play areas (Though Ridgmars is more fun)
Kidsmuze
Green Meadows Petting Farm
Fort Worth Public Libraries have reading times
Fort Worth Arburetum
Forest Park Mini Train
Log Cabin (they read to kids, I think Art too, it's by the Zoo)
There is a place called Clubhouse for Kids in Plano
There is a local church with a treehouse too, but I can't remember it off the top of my head.
Indoor swimming: http://www.kellerparksandrec.org/aquatics.htm
there is a site called gocitykids - it has some events

There is Paradise Pond in Grapevine.

We used to have a play group. We went to Planet Pizza (3000 Custer Rd. Plano, Tx. For around $8.00 the kids had all sorts of rides and a huge tunnel slide set. Then we all split a pizza. We also all became a Chuckee Cheese member, you get excellent coupons online, for tokens and pizza/drink combo's. Plus during the day the staff would go around and give out extra tickets. It was entertaining for hours.

Our nanny sometimes takes the kids to Toys R Us on cold and/or rainy days. There is a playscape inside that helps them get energy out. We've also done the mall with kiddy playscapes for a change of pace also.
Good luck!

Not sure where you are located but I live in HEB and the websites for the recreation centers and the community websites always have events posted like movies in the park, upcoming events. Last year the kids and I went to a free easter egg hunt. It was great. They also went to a open house at the police station and rec'd free hot dogs, snow cones and got to visit with the police about saftey and it was all free. You can also check out www.arlingtonparent.com and www.guidelive.com. Your local library should have an event calendar as well.

I am involved w/ a playgroup at my church and the girl who arranges it has set up numerous fun activities. One of them was going to Cinnabon at Memorial City Mall and making cinnamon rolls. (We had about 6 2-3yearolds rolling out the dough following the Cinnabon cook) This was absolutely free and the children got to eat their cinnamon roll after! Maybe they offer this at other Cinnabons?? I don't know. Another idea (we were unable to go to this one, but I heard it was great) is take a "tour" of the local fire station. This, of course, was free too.

:) Dave Ramsey is great. We are following his budget, too!

Hope this helps! A.

We live in an older neighborhood and we have the older people passing away and the young generation buying homes and starting their families. We have formed a mom's group and have a great time. We try to get together at least once a month and we do a pot luck luncheon. We have a pot luck lunch and we sit around and get to know each other and we always have new families join as we meet them through out the neighborhood. Everyone takes a turn hosting the luncheon and we try to have these on the weekend for those that have to work and we also have something every holiday. Crafts are always a great time filler and the kids get to use their immagination.

PM me. I used to manage a playgroup for my daughter for about 2 1/2 yrs. It was a lot of fun! The kids all just started Kinder, so it's a little too crazy to keep it up now. I have tons of ideas that we did/ or wanted to do and can give you some resources. How old are the kids?

I'm not sure where you live, but we like to take our boys to monkey bizness (blty 8 near west rd.). They have open play from 10-6 each day. I think it is $7.50 for one child, and the sibling is $5. ITz is also great...a little pricey, but fun. Itz is located off of 249 near 1960.

In the Austin area:

The Nature Center at Zilker Park is free. It has animals--it's like a mini-zoo--and a sand pit with fake dinosaur bones they can dig up. My kids love it! It has two small indoor exhibit areas, too--things to look at under microscopes, TX ecosystem exhibit with "fake" landscape.

When we really need an indoor playscape for free, we go to Chick-fil-a or Toys 'r' Us. If we're really desperate and willing to spend some money, or for very special occasions, we go to Chuck E. Cheese's.

So what you need to do is find activities that are indoor based. Try getting some their old clothes and some fabric markers and see who comes up with the best designs. Let them wear them out to the park when you got blow bubbles. Create games like take a hula hoop and throw it as far as you can and then give them a rubber ball(since they are little as they get older get a frisbee) and make a game and see who can throw the ball into the hula hoop or get the closer. Either find out what motivates them to try and use it as a reward for all who plays that day. I spent alot of time with my girls making crafts out of stuff at home or from things I got from the clearance aisle of the craft store or walmart. You be surprised. My girls are older 19 and 15 1/2 according to her(she is actually 15 going on out the door!LOL)but I have two young step daughters 11 and 10. I had them for the summer as my hubby worked long hours. I spent quality time with them doing stuff they like building doll furniture out of box, scraps of materials and staples(no sewing), we make clay food for the doll and clay structures. The air dry clay by Crayola is the best and easy to clean. Have each parent bring a different item to cut down cost and come up with ideas as you go. How about individual pizza days! Get a toaster oven, aprons, toppings and small pizza crusts, english muffins,tortillas, french bread,whatever they like . Let the kids pick out the toppings and have them make their own pizzas and have them serve you as in a restaurant. Kills two birds in one stone lunch and fun.
I had some serious fun raising my girls and still do with my step girls. I am full of fun for I am still a kid just grown up.

Is there an indoor pool in the area? That usually only costs two or three dollars a person. My girls like to go to the farmer's market. Some malls have really neat indoor playgrounds. You could even take turns watching the kids and let one or two moms at a time go to the food court for a coffee or something to enjoy thirty minutes to themselves!

In Flower Mound, we go to Barnes and Noble for story time, www.goingbonkers.com, Open Play at Excite Gym, Open Play at a bounce house. Good luck!

Going Bonkers in Lewisville has been a huge hit with our playgroup. It's a huge jungle gym with a toddler area. The prices are well worth the money!! It's $5 for kids 3 and over, $2.50 for kids 2 and 1, and $1 for an adult. Yes, you can get up in the gym and play too. Hope this helps!!

It's been awhile since I've had a playgroup as my kids are older now but low cost/no cost activities are out there!

Owen's Farm on the border of Richardson/Plano has a free petting zoo. Bring some carrots to feed the animals.

Any of the fast food playgrounds are great to keep little ones confined plus have an ice cream cone when you're finished! Great for a rainy day.

All libraries have story times for preschoolers.

In the warm weather, Allen has a little water park with sprayers and fun things to run through. It's a free park. I think it's called Angel Park???

Some museums have FREE days so check their calendars.

Play at different parks each time as it's fun to be at new places.

Hope these help.

How about taking them to the Fire Stations and Police Stations. They allow the kids to check out all the equipment and trucks. They also learn fire safety and have lots of fun. Baytown also has the Wildlife Refuge, i think it is off Bayway somewhere, it has a park and they do classes (for free) on certain days of the week.

In Austin there are so many place to go. Our motto for many years was if it's free we can do it. Check out family magazines and you local paper. Ask moms with older children what they did.
http://www.cafepress.com/delladesigns
http://www.badartbaby.etsy.com

hi! I.m not sure what area you live in, but i live in houston and we have a childrens museum that is really good for ALL ages. For the little ones there is a infant/toddler zone. It's about 5.00 for ages 3 and up but it's free on thursdays. Also, you should get an Entertainment Coupon Book.. there are great coupons in there for all kinds of places! We also have a zoo, and they offer free events daily. You can always check out the websites. I don't know if you have a Lakeshore Learning store near you, but they offer free crafts on certain days. I know the public libraries offer story times and crafts. The chick Fil a in my sisters neighborhood offers ALL KINDS if fun stuff to do for free at their location on different days. Also, if you have a Gymboree or a little Gym or something like that near you, all those places offer a Free preview class for your first time.. maybe y'all could all sign up for a free preview on the same day. We have a really good mall not too far from us that has a great play area that my friend and i go to and let the kids climb. Also, i'm not sure what age you have, but i have twin 2 year olds and we have taken them to the movies and they did shockingly and surprisingly well!! lol Matines shows are cheap and in the summer they offer kids clubs for really good deals. Mine love to ride trains and the bus, so we have a train by our zoo/park that is fun and cheap, and also we have a metro-rail system and bus system and we have gone to ride that on occasion and went to the park after. Our theatre district here offers some kid friendly performances on certain days. Places like chuck-e-cheese are always free to play and y'all could split a pizza. I hope this helps a little! We survived dave ramsey financial as peace as well!! lol

You can play boards games with the boys like Chutes and Ladders, memory games, exercise games(kickboxing,jumping jacks,etc), dancing to music, get leapfrog games and allow the kids to play on the computer or Televsision, they can have fun with it as well as learn. Phonics Pathways by Dolores Hiskes has alot of fun games as well. Hope this helps.

Pump It Up JR in east Plano has a pop in play time that is only $5. The best part is that it is only for little kids (I think 5 and under). We usually go on Tuesdays because it is 9:30-12:00 that day and there are truly only young kids there. It is on the northwest corner of E Park BLVD and Los Rios.

S. you sound so much like me, I too am a sahm mom to a 2.5 year old little girl and a 3.5 month little boy. My husband is also working long hours so that I can stay at home. Our budget is also tight and I am looking for a group so that my daughter (and my self) have some interaction with the outside world. We have been here (Hempstead) about a year and a half and have been driving to Cypress and College Station do join playgroups, but recently the driving (time and cost of gas) have pretty much worn me out. I would love to find something closer to home. Since I am fairly new to the area I dont know much about fun stuff to do.

Hey
I am not sure what area you are in , but try Nickelrama. It's a huge place where you can have parties and there are a tone of arcade games. Each game is a nickel. Hopes this helps.

Our MOMS group is taking the kids on a tour of McDonald's in a couple of weeks. Try to find some places that will engage the kids and take some tours. Maybe even the movie theater.

K. :)

I am a member of our local chapter of MOMs Club, a national organization that supports stay-at-home moms. We have monthly calendars with lots of things to do, so consider hooking up with one of those groups...usually about $20 for the whole year to join. Anyway, you didn't say how old the boys were, but my kids are 2,4,6 and I do this stuff with the younger ones.

Often we get one of our churches to let us schedule a room and have popcorn and a movie, or we have themed craft days. We have done winter crafts like making snowmen from cottonballs on paper or filling a sock with rice, tying it, folding a cuff, putting a pom pom on it and gluing googley eyes on for a snowman bean bag. We have had festivals where each mom brings a game, (buckets and ball toss, bean bag toss, clothespin on a string tossed behind cardboard with a mom putting dollar store gifts on it for a "fishing game") the possibilities are endless. We usually each bring a snack to share so it isn't too burdensome for one Mom. Also we called the local pizza place and they let us come in for a "tour" and let us make our own individual pizzas...they just charged us the cost of the pizzas. We have gone bowling (bumpers and ramps are usually available for the littlest ones) and if you are with a Moms group, usually they don't charge the little ones for shoes and bowling is relatively cheap. If you need other Ideas I can send you some of our calendars from previous months, just e-mail me back. H.

Try contacting your public library to see if they have some type of storytime for preschoolers. I take my 3 1/2 year old to storytime at our library and they have it for 1 hour and they read 4-5 short books about a certain subject, then they sing songs and do a craft. My daughter loves it and it is no charge to you.

Thanks,

T.

Perfect solution. Go to the Houston Mamas website. They also have a new book coming out. It tells of all the free places to go. If you sign up on the website they will send you weekly e-mails letting you know what is going on around you. Love it!

Check for free museum days and open days at churches with gyms or auditoriums. Also, the libraries often do great storytimes, or you can just meet there in their kids areas. In addition, check with other members of your group to see who has museum memberships. A lot of times families can share if the kids are young enough.

It has been LONG time since we did playgroups but ewvery spring, we would take our children to the Arboretum and take lots of pictures and let them play in the play areas and have picnic lunches. It is beautiful there. It is not that expensive to get in, you can take you own food, the grill does have good food at reasonable prices. We went to Jack Carter Pool and the Plano pool over on Jupiter/Spring Creek. Now Allen has a very nice Natatorium.

Our children always liked Planet Pizza in Plano on Independence and Custer.

I know there are tons of new things that have opened up by now, those were just fun things we did. WOW, time has flown by for me....my daughter is now going to the movies and weekends off with friends.

Susan

I don't know where you are located, but in Arlington there is a rec. center that is $1.oo per child to play in their gym once a week for an hour or two...maybe a rec. center near you would offer the same. Also, there is a church that has an awesome play area indoors free of charge. I wish I could remember the name of the place, but it is in Grapevine...maybe you could find it with a Google search.
~K.

Hey S.,
I know how you feel! We live in an area where the temp can drop 30 degrees in 1/2 hour so finding other playgroup options besides a park was important when my children were small! Couple things I used to do when my girls were small was go to the local library during their children's reading hour. They got to sit with their playgroup friends for story time and do a craft together. Sometimes we volunteered to be the story teller which made it all the more fun for the kids. You can also do this if there is a Barnes & Noble near you. Even if you go as a play group when there isn't a scheduled story time, you can get a coffee(or not) and sit and visit with other mommies in your group while the children sit on the floor with the sample books and "read" to each other. VERY CUTE! One other thing we did was meet at the zoo for a free class. Sometimes a local zoo will host special 1 hour discovery classes in an enclosed classroom for little ones. We did one that was hands-on discovery of reptiles, at our particular zoo we can also feed giraffes at 10:00 am every Saturday morning. That was a favorite and a great memory for our group. Check your zoo and see what they have like that. Finally, our church had this thing called Sew-n-So's. It was a weekly time to gather as a moms group with free childcare. 3 weeks of the month we did projects that helped ministires/departments in our church, like mailings, or stuffing bulletins, or helping sew costumes for a play, etc. We sat together for 3 hours doing something to help others and enjoying some very rich, deep conversation about life, marriage, parenting, etc. On the 4th week, for all our "contribution" we were given a free day to leave campus and go out to coffee or breakfast or something fun. I can't tell you how much great parenting advice I picked up from doing all these things with moms groups. Many of us are in other states now but we stay in touch regularly as our kids are all teenagers now!

i don't know how old your kids are, but a great indoor place to play is a gymnasium... maybe your church has one? if not, call another, and see if you could use it during off-hours. some good bouncy balls are about all you need. also, the playgroup thing.... just for me personally, i found that the smaller the group, the better. better for moms, so they can really talk, and better for kids, so they don't get overwhlemed. i like three families, max. if you do that, houses don't seem so small anymore...

Hi S.!
I am a registered child care provider in flower mound. I have not been here but just a couple months but I would love to share one place I've found where your playgroup (depending on the ages of the children) will have plenty of fun. Petland in Lewisville on FM3040 (in plaza behind Christina's restaurant)They have many open "pens" with all kinds of animals. You can pet rabbits, ferrets, chinchillas, guinea pigs, different kinds of hamsters, mice etc... They also have open pens w/many types of birds from the smallest budgie to the large macaws. These too you can handle! They have snakes, lizards and tarantulas behind glass for viewing and a very nice fish section. They have puppies behind glass but if you ask they will bring one out for you to pet. There are several staff that float around the store, I am sure they would be happy to tell the kids about any of the animals. They have a party room for b-day parties but I am sure that is one thing that is not free.
Other Free things I've done w/children in the past 20 years are Library events: Check all the libraries they all have different activities througout the year. Some Retirement or Senior Citizen homes welcome children visitors during Senior craft activities, mealtimes or other times during the week.
Of course you'll have to consider the age of the children for each activity. For pre-schoolers you can visit grocery stores (some will give tours of particular areas of interest (cake decorating, meats, etc... and pretzel/chip/candy factories are usually low cost as well.
All of the above should be little or no cost whatsoever. Hope these ideas help you and your group! Have Fun!
D.

The Wiggle Play Center in Frisco is fun. It's $8/kid (if you keep your child's wristband, the next time it's $5), adults are free.

Check out their website: www.wiggleplaycenter.com

Jumpn Jungle costs $7 but they can jump for a really long time. It is open play on weekdays and a good alternative for dreary weather.

http://www.jumpnjungle.com

If you are anywhere near Irving, check out Irving Bible Church. They have a wonderful indoor playground that is FREE to the public. My kids have loved it for years. You can even bring lunches and sit at tables within eye and ear shot of the playground.

My kids always enjoy doing an art project with friends. I have done birthday parties with my son where we made our own homemade pizzas. It could work with a playgroup in someones home. Just make some homemade pizza dough and roll it into personal sized pizza's. Each mom could bring an assigned pizza topping. Then let the kids have fun making their own pizza's. At my sons party we had 10 children. We kept track of whose pizza was whose by laying them out on parchment paper with their names written on the parchment with a sharpie. I know the kids really had fun with this. Not to mention, they had a tasty pizza all their own!

Yeah Dave Ramsey!!! We love him!! My husband taught Financial Peace last year!! We are on baby step two! Keep on working!!! Beans and rice -- Rice and beans!!

D.

S., you may want to check out Wiggle Worm in Plano.

You could go to either North Park or Ridgemar mall to there indoor playgrounds. There is pottery painting that is not to expensive, children's musuem, leaps and bounce, story time at libraries, story time at Barnes and Nobles, our group went to the stock yards as well.

A Treasure Hunt -

Give the kids the first clue, which leads them to the second and so forth.

This will take time on your part, but there is not cost.

You will need something for the prize! But this can be anything from their usual snack of cookies and milk, to a yo-yo for everyone.

There are many variations that can be use for LEARNING as well - depending on the age group. Make the clues as easy as "look in the dryer" or "Where do clothes tumble and dry?"

Have Fun - Kids of all ages love this game!

D.

When I homeschooled my 6 and 4 year old, we used to all get together at one of our houses and let the kids do a craft. There are lots of ideas if your'e near a Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby has craft kits so each child has everything togehter. Or if the budget is tighter, I would just copy-cat the ideas and find cheaper ways of doing the same thing; like paper masks. You can buy a huge bag of feathers and glue some onto a paper mask.
If it is a messy, we'd go outside in the yard or take it all to the park to do. More inexpensive craft kits in bulk are found in Oriental Trading Company catalogue or online.
We used to always visit the local firehouse by calling ahead of time to ask if we could come for a little fieldtrip and tell them how many. Sometimes, local businesses, big or small, will give tours even if you're a playgroup and not a school orginization.

Look for places that do memberships, like zoos and aquariums. We live just north of Corpus Christi, and are members of the Texas State Aquarium. Kids are free until age 3, so we were able to get a 2-person membership for only $45 (with the $10 military discount). Since it cost $14.95 per person for admission plus $3 for parking--with membership you get free parking--the membership paid for itself in 3 visits. It's a bit more of an upfront expense, but if you have places near you that offer that, everyone can join and you can get out of the house, have fun, and even help the kids learn something. We also have story times at our local libraries and Barnes and Noble and a children's museum--those are all great places to check out.

S.,

I am not sure how old the kids are we are talking about. My daughter is 4 (almost 5) and on the first Saturday of every month our group goes to a childrens workshop at home depot. it is totally FREE. Each child gets a super cute home depot apron and a 'project' then you help the child put the project together. Most all home depots do this (and I believe Lowes does a similar project on the 2nd Saturday) afterwards we get the kids a happy meal at a place with an indoor playground, that way us adults can sit for sometimes a few hours and talk. My daughter and I always paint our projects afterwards. great fun!!

My grandkids, 3 and a half year old twins, love to go to the play area at the mall. I live in Plano, so I take them to the Shops At Willow Bend. They have a great time and it doesn't cost anything. We've also been to the Parks Mall in Arlington.

There is a place in Watauga called "let's Jump" that has a bunch of inflatables there for the kids to play on. They have a room with some tables to eat in(bring your own ofcourse), and play family friendly music. It is very reasonable price wise too.

Also, Chuck E. Cheese always has coupons in the paper. That may work as well.

Hi S. - A few ideas for your playgroup during the wet or cold days. The Inflatable Wonderland jumping store in Lakeline Mall is a great place to go and it wears the kiddos out. On Tuesday's and Thursday's, it is half price ($5/kid) and adults are free. It can get a little busy but it's a great reliever for kid cabin feaver.

Another idea there at Lakeline Mall is the indoor mall park. The great part of that activity is that it's free and located in the mall outside the Dillards men's department. After a few hours, my 2 and a half year old daughter is pooped from playing with all the kids. Then we'll run upstairs to the food court and grab a slice of pizza for lunch.

Lastly, the Cedar Park Library offers a variety of things throughout the week. Story time, puppet shows, art projects, etc. And it's all free. Hope these help.

Just some ideas:

Library - storytimes are FREE

Visit local fire or police station

We had one meet up where we made Christmas or V-Day cards for the residents at a retirement home and another meetup where we delivered them along with some baked goods

Krispy Kreme does tours

Bowling - like at Alley Cats or someplace similar

Arlington has a very cute paint ceramic place called Creative Hands...you could paint something for as low as $0.50 on up and they have a small play area in the back with a TV for the kids who finish early.

Petting Zoos

Arts & crafts days

Ice Cream Socials

Mall play areas

I hope these are helpful and not too repetitive!