Summer 2017: Summer of Kid's Freebies

During the summer you seem to see a lot of bored kids around. I found a few things online that was pretty awesome so I wanted to share what I found to help ease off that boredom and the whining that quickly follows.

Kids can bowl for free! That's right FREE. The only thing you pay for is shoe rental and that would vary by whatever location you sign up for. In our area it was $5 a kid, so it would be more cost effective for me to buy them a pair of bowling shoes off of ebay than pay $5 per kid each time we take them bowling FOR FREE. You get 2 free games per day and they come in the form of a coupon through email. I signed up for 3 of the 4 kids. Last summer I actually bought bowling shoes from Offer Up for $10. So I wound up with 3 pairs of bowling shoes, the only kid I have to rent them for is the 3 year old. :) 

As a bonus you can also add a "Family Pack" that allows for up to 4 adults (and older children) to bowl those two games for free as well. It was only $30 which pays for itself!

Kids can skate for free! That's right FREE! (See a trend here?) These also come in the form of a printable coupon and it looks like you receive two free skate coupons per week. This is for kids under the age of 14, and there are only certain days you can use the coupons.

Kids can take Microsoft Summer Day Camps for FREE! This is an awesome offer. You can sign your kid up to take free Microsoft classes, some can last up to 4 days (a few hours each day). And there are a few that are only 1 day. I find the class topics fascinating as they are teaching kids how code games like Mindcraft. This year they added a DigiGirlz two-hour Workshop, which is awesome for girls aged 14-18. Last year the classes were all filled up but we spoke to the representative who handles the classes in our area and they told us to just show up that 9 times out of 10 several kids wont show up to the class. 

Kids can take a Apple Camp class for FREE! This is another awesome offer from a great company. Here is the blurb from their website:

Apple Camp is designed to help spark the imagination of kids ages 8 to 12. They’ll learn to make movies by storyboarding ideas, shooting video, and creating an original soundtrack. Or campers can create interactive books complete with their own illustrations and sound effects. At Apple Camp, kids and their creativity are the focus.

It sounds like a blast and it's completely free! This is great for keeping kids engaged and using their imaginations as they get older. You can't register yet but you CAN sign up for an alert when registration begins.

Saturday June 3rd, from 9:00am to 12:00p,  Home Depot will offer a free Tic Tac Toe build. This is pretty awesome as it is COMPLETELY free and they provide all the tools and items the kid need to make the project. They do this monthly.  Here is the blurb from their website:

 Join our hands-on workshop and you and your child can build a wooden tic-tac-toe game to play with family or friends almost anywhere. Once the project is complete, your child can personalize their game board and pieces with paint and stickers. All kids get to keep their project, receive a FREE certificate of achievement, a Workshop Apron, and a commemorative pin while supplies last. Children must be present at the store to participate in the workshop and receive the kit, apron and pin.

NOTE: You will want to change the store to your  most local store to register you child. They haven't released what the July build will be.

Watch this page at ToysRUs they often have in store events, such as TODAY they are doing a Pokemon Trading card event. They do a lot of different things throughout the summer as well as the Geoffrey Birthday Club.







The Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program is here to help you on your way, encouraging you to read books of your own choosing and earn a FREE book, simply by following these three easy steps:


1. Read any eight books this summer and record them in your Summer Reading Journal (English or Español). Tell us which part of the book is your favorite, and why.
2. Bring your completed journal to a Barnes & Noble store between May 16th and September 5th, 2017. Find a Store
3. Choose your FREE reading adventure from the book list featured on the back of the journal.

The books your kid can get for free are:

GRADES 1 & 2
Amelia Bedelia Means Business (Amelia Bedelia Chapter Book Series #1) Herman Parish 9780062094964
Big Shark, Little Shark (Step Into Reading Series) Anna Membrino 9780399557286
Chase’s Space Case (PAW Patrol™) Kristen L. Depken 9780553538861
Eva and the New Owl (Owl Diaries Series #4) Rebecca Elliott 9780545825597
Inspector Flytrap (Inspector Flytrap Series #1) Tom Angleberger 9781419709654
Jorge el curioso construye una casa en un árbol (Curious George Builds a Tree House) H. A. Rey 9780544974623
Pinkalicious: Story Time (I Can Read Series) Victoria Kann 9780062410726
Plants vs. Zombies: Save Your Brains! (I Can Read Book 2 Series) Catherine Hapka 9780062294968

GRADES 3 & 4 
Completely Clementine Sara Pennypacker 9781423124382
Double Vision (Twintuition Series #1) Tia Mowry & Tamera Mowry 9780062372871
How to Tame a Triceratops (Dino Riders Series) Will Dare 9781492636175
Journey to the Orange Islands (Pokémon™: Chapter Book) Tracey West 9781338175653
Judy Moody Was in a Mood (Judy Moody Series #1) Megan McDonald 9780763648497
Las aventuras del Capitán Calzoncillos (The Adventures of Captain Underpants) Dav Pilkey 9780439226486
Ms. Joni Is a Phony! (My Weirdest School Series #7) Dan Gutman 9780062429292
Where Is the Great Barrier Reef? Nico Medina 9780448486994

GRADES 5 & 6
Fablehaven (Fablehaven Series #1) Brandon Mull 9781416947202
Gabriela (American Girl: Girl of the Year 2017 Series #1) Teresa E. Harris 9781338136982
Project Mc2™: Smart Is the New Cool Jade Hemsworth 9781250098917
Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin Liesl Shurtliff 9780307977960
The School for Good and Evil (The School for Good and Evil Series #1) Soman Chainani 9780062104908
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer John Grisham 9780142417225
The Thing About Jellyfish Ali Benjamin 9780316380843
The Unwanteds (The Unwanteds Series #1) Lisa McMann 9781442407695

Kids can send a letter to Mickey or the Disney Princesses and receive a signed post card back from

the characters. This is more for the younger kids. I was hoping you could do different characters but it looks like for all the responses I've seen posted online it's either Mickey and Gang or Cinderella and gang. We have two letters going out this week so I will post a photo with what does come back. 

You would want to mail the letter to:

Walt Disney World Communications

PO Box 10040
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830 – 0040

Next up we have printables! I've found so many printable activity sheets and coloring sheets online it's ridiculous. At the bottom of this post I will link a few.

Here are some great printable sites:

Scholastic Printables - Last year this was free, this year there is a 30 free day "Trial".

Education Worksheets You only have a few pages you can print out per month unless you sign up and pay the yearly fee.

Crayola Coloring Sheets They also have some awesome printables for different topics such as Science and Social Studies, they even have Disney coloring pages.

Disney Coloring Pages

Barbie Coloring Pages Coloring pages AND activity pages. I love these. They are so easy to make "travel packs" for kids to take on road trips.

Hasbro Printables  Hasbro has My Little Pony, Baby Alive, and more!
Nick Jr Printables This includes printables from Shimmer and Shine, Paw Patrol, Blaze and Nella. They have coloring pages and activity pages. An AWESOME Shimmer and Shine printable for tracking the brushing of your child's teeth. So cute! They even have BIRTHDAY printables. And don't forget to sign up for your child's free birthday call from a Nick Jr. character. Sign up here!

And last but not least...we are introduced emailing to Eli last summer (he was 10). We emailed his favorite sports teams to see if they can send a fan pack. He sent out a total of 100 emails. and a few responses on the same day from some teams saying weather they will or will not send out anything. He was excited to the mail. With Alexis only being 7 I've yet to find something for her in this vein that would be interesting so if you have any ideas let me know!

The teams that responded back positively were: Los Angels Dodgers, the Los Angeles Clippers, Minnesota Timberwolves,  and the Milwaukee Brewers. We created a spreadsheet so he could keep track of what teams he had emailed as well as their responses. This will help him with his spreadsheet skills so it's a learning activity as well. 

We did get a really cool response back from the New York Jets asking him to write a letter through snail mail (Yay another learning experience!) to his favorite player to receive an autograph. 

Here is the address we were given:

Player Name

1 Jets Dr.

Florham Park NJ 07932

So do you know of something for the kids this summer that should be added? Let me know!