Summer 2018: Kid's Freebies

It's here! Summer is arriving in fine fashion. I haven't seen snow in a few weeks so I don't think I'll see any more until October. This also means that kids only have a few weeks left of school and it's time to start looking at FREEBIES and FREE activities for them! So I'm going to start today. Make sure you get your child registered as quickly as possible as things do fill up fast.

1. Lego has a Monthly Lego build. For June 5th and 6th, your child can build a LEGO® Surfer Dragon model and take it home for FREE after! Registration opened up today (5/15) so hurry and get your child registered for this awesome free event at your local Lego store! They do this monthly and registration always opens up on the 15th.


2. 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. A few summers ago, 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 4-year-old. :)

Last year as a bonus, you could 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 paid for itself! Not sure if they are doing that this year though.

3. 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 Minecraft. 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 won't show up to the class.

4. Saturday, June 2nd, from 9:00am to 12:00pm, Home Depot will offer a free vintage General Motors-style wooden car 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:

Share the nostalgic pastime of car modeling with your child in our classic car hands-on workshop. Together you can build a vintage General Motors-style wooden car to put on display or take for a ride “with no particular place to go. Once your vehicle is built, your child can customize it with paint and stickers. All Kids Workshop attendees must be accompanied by a parent or adult at all times. Recommended Ages: 5-12. All kids get to keep their craft, 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 your child. They haven't released what the July build will be.

5. 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
The Absent Author (A to Z Mysteries Series #1) by Ron Roy
Fancy Nancy and the Delectable Cupcakes (I Can Read! Series) by Jane O’Connor
Flat Stanley at Bat (I Can Read! Series) by Jeff Brown
Jorge el curioso construye una casa en un árbol (Curious George Builds a Tree House) by H. A. Rey
Pete the Cat: Pete’s Big Lunch (My First I Can Read! Series) by James Dean
Sunbeam’s Shine (Unicorn Princesses Series #1) by Emily Bliss
The Stories Julian Tells by Ann Cameron
Weather (National Geographic Kids Series) by Kristin Baird Rattini
Where Is the Amazon? (Where Is? Series) by Sarah Fabiny

GRADES 3 & 4
The 13-Story Treehouse (The Treehouse Books Series #1) by Andy Griffiths
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Haunted House Next Door (Desmond Cole Ghost Patrol #1) by Andres Miedoso
I Survived the American Revolution, 1776 (I Survived Series #15) by Lauren Tarshis
Judy Moody and the Bucket List (Judy Moody Series #13) by Megan McDonald
Judy Moody está de mal humor (Judy Moody Was in a Mood) (Judy Moody Series #1) by Megan McDonald
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien
The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White

GRADES 5& 6
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Book Scavenger (The Book Scavenger Series #1) by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
The Fairy-Tale Detectives—10th Anniversary Edition (The Sisters Grimm Series #1) by Michael Buckley
Greenglass House by Kate Milford
Jack: The True Story of Jack & the Beanstalk by Liesl Shurtliff
One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
A Tale Dark & Grimm (Grimm Series #1) by Adam Gidwitz
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

While you are at it sign your child up for the Kid's Club. Your child gets some benefits including a Free Cafe Treat on their birthday.

6. Kids can send a letter to Mickey or the Disney Princesses and receive a signed postcard 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. 

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 a few summers ago (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 whether they will or will not send out anything. He was excited to the mail. 

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!