Your kids’ extracurricular activities don’t have to break the bank. You just have to get creative! Here are 7 places to find affordable extracurricular activities for children.
Compared to my peers, I did not participate in many extracurricular activities as a child–unless you count making up stories in my head, playing dress-up with my sister and attending church.
Besides that, I spent two years in Girl Scouts, two years in recreational gymnastics, a few years in piano lessons and a splattering of time playing sports at my small Christian high school.
And I didn’t begin participation in most of these childhood extracurricular activities until I was an older child–or preteen. My preschool and young elementary years were spent…playing, imagining, creating.
Perhaps because my parents did not push extracurriculars with my siblings and me, I haven’t felt the need to rush to enroll my own children in a plethora of outside-of-the-home activities. Sure, my three are all age five and under, but I’ve been surprised to find many of their friends already active in an assortment of lessons, classes and leagues.
And, quite frankly, a major reason for my reticence is the cost involved in enrolling our children in extracurricular activities.
Currently, our 3 and 5-year-old daughters participate in two extracurricular activities beyond preschool and church–Awana and gymnastics through our local recreational center.
Both are low cost and fit within our family’s priorities and purpose.
Through these, I’ve discovered that it is possible to find affordable children’s extracurricular activities. You just have to get creative.
Check out these 7 places to find affordable children’s extracurricular activities:
1. The Library
Our local public library was one of my most favorite places as a child! Most libraries host summer reading programs, but many also offer activities for children of all ages year round. The best part is that these classes are usually free!
2. Community Recreation Department
Community-sponsored recreational departments often offer a plethora of activities for both children and adults. These extracurriculars are usually affordable and likely cheaper than private lessons and leagues, and, sometimes, classes are even paid for by the community–making them free!
Our community offers fitness programs, swimming lessons, gymnastics, Spanish, children’s sports teams–and the list could go on!
3. Schools
Even if you homeschool your children, some public and private schools actually allow any child who is a local resident to participate in extracurricular activities. Be sure to inquire at the school before just showing up, though!
4. Co-ops
Homeschool co-ops abound in many communities. They not only offer elective classes–like Spanish or art–but many homeschoolers also band together to play sports, etc.
The gymnastics studio that provides classes through our recreational department also offers a homeschool “squad.” We recently enrolled our oldest daughter in this class. The homeschool “squad” is half the price of the regular gymnastics classes!
5. Community Colleges
From cake decorating to sewing, community colleges go far beyond academics! Some colleges allow teenagers to take these more elective-type classes. It’s worth looking into–especially since auditing them can be quite affordable!
6. Churches
Our church does not offer Awana or any extra children’s activities at this time (beyond Sunday school), but I had heard such good things about the program that I decided to look for another church that hosts it.
I found a great church in our town where our girls have been attending since the fall. They love it!
It costs about $67 for both of our preschool-age girls to attend for the entire year–but that is very affordable compared to what we would pay for other activities.
The best part is that our girls are having fun while memorizing scripture and learning truths from the Bible!
Another church in our area actually offers free dance classes for girls!
7. Friends
Are you gifted in art while your friend can speak fluent Spanish? Why not form a weekly playdate where you take turns teaching your children? Perhaps an athletic friend could even form a physical education class!
Even if you can afford expensive extracurriculars, I often wonder if the money we as parents are prone to pour into such activities could be better spent elsewhere.
What if instead of spending thousands of dollars in activities to entertain we put that money into a college savings fund–or gave it to missions agencies–like Dress a Girl Around the World or Hope 4 Women, International?
What if instead of dropping our children off to be entertained for an hour we took them to the local homeless shelter once per week to serve a meal?
I’m not there yet–but I am praying that God continues to prick my heart to make our priorities (serving God and giving to others) a tangible, realistic part of our children’s childhoods.
Kelly @ The Nourishing Home
Terrific ideas! I’ll definitely be sharing this post this week via social media. Churches and community rec centers are definitely two places we’ve found some great summer programs for our boys. We’ve also found some through our local newspaper’s website in their calendar section. Thanks so much for sharing this helpful post! 🙂
Cindy
We don’t participate in a lot of extracurricular activities on purpose. I was involved in a lot growing up and while I think it helped us. We were very booked. I want more family time. We are also very busy with two children who have special needs. My children are learning a lot of medical stuff and they also learning compassion.
Sarah @ Little Bus on the Prairie
It’s refreshing to read about someone else who doesn’t feel the rush and pressure to enroll their kids in EVERYthing that comes along. I also didn’t partake in every activity under the sun as a kid – mostly because there were five kids in my family and those activities can be expensive! My oldest is in kinder this year and so far we’ve done Daisies and choir and that’s about all I’m planning on for the rest of the year!
It also leaves our schedule free and clear for great opportunities when they arise – we’re not a slave to our schedule.
EM
I love these suggestions, but I am running into a problem now. We have not done anything other than church and homeschool things for either of my children until this year. My son wanted to play soccer so we signed him up through our community association. The problem is my 8 yr old daughter. She has been begging me to take dance lessons, but there are no beginner level lessons being offered in our area. I am discovering most girls start dance at age 4. I have found two places run by Christian women that use music we consider ok and modest costumes. They have both said she can try a class with the younger girls. There is nothing offered at a beginner level with her age of girls. She is sad and feels like she will be teased or treated like a baby in the younger class. We have asked and don’t know anyone that could give her private lessons to get her caught up, plus we can’t afford the ones I’ve looked into. Any ideas?
Rachael Gregory
Are you anywhere in Michigan, by chance? My whole family started ballet with a Christian ballet teacher just over 4 years ago. I started with my kids. We had lots of older kids start with us, and many have joined us over the years.
Tasha @ Real Imprints
I love the Library too! It has always been one of my favorite places to visit! I love sharing the simple ideas with each other. Thank you for helping each of us remember how to take some time with our family in a fun and inexpensive way. The simple things are what truly matter most!
EJ
I too do not pressure my kids into every activity. We try a little bit of everything, when it fits the schedule and budget, and I figure that by high school, they’ll find something that “sticks”!
I second the library and rec center suggestions. Our local library branches offer a Summer program that has free classes on everything from making sushi to yoga to arts and crafts, plus storytimes, music, and puppet theater for the little ones. They also have an artist in residence program where a community member teaches their craft to teens for just a few dollars per drop-in class. Often there are retirees teaching sewing, woodcarving, and other “lost arts”. It’s neat to see the generation gap bridged.
We also purchased an annual pass to our rec center. The monthly cost is about the same as the drop in cost for the five of us to go swimming there 3 times, and it covers swim, rock wall climbing, fitness classes, drop in craft studio, basketball/volleyball/racquetball where there are always more experienced people happy to help with pointers. Just today I got certified to belay on the rock wall…no cost beyond the annual pass, and a class that would have run me $50+ elsewhere. And don’t overlook older neighbor kids/friends with older kids. My kids learned to skateboard one summer from the older boys down our street. I paid them in popsicles and ice cream sandwiches!
Lindsey
A lot of the museums around us actually offer some well priced classes. Our art museum has $5 art classes and our science museum offers two 3hour classes for about $30. So it is certainly worth looking into. I also know many of our parks host free classes every now and then, especially our favorite community park. Everything from free yoga classes to entire mornings where kids can play with massive blocks on a large lawn. Check out surrounding city website calendars.
Rachel
Money is a big part of what has held us back from putting the kids into stuff too. We LOVE the library! Both have done storytime classes. My daughter’s current story time class (4&5 year olds) is geared to preK K objectives. Rather than allowing Mum and Dad to go to the class, the children learn to line up and follow the teacher to their area. They then have a story, response time, and play a game. Sometimes they have special guests like a dental assistant who talked about brushing your teeth, an eye dr who talks about eye care and will do a free eye chart exam, a fireman, etc…
Mom and Dad can go read, use the internet/wifi, or go get coffee some where. (They don’t have to stay.)
We also go to church and vbs. My son for does Cloverbuds (jr 4-H. ) This year we are hoping to let him play soccer with a local club.
We have a Boys and Girls Club, but you have to be a member to play the sports offered and that is too much money if you only want to do the sports. I’m a stay at home mom so I feel it is rificulous to pay someone to watch my child after school when I’m home, especially since I chose to be a SAHM so I can raise our children.
Paul’s school also offers an after school reading program for free. Homeschoolers would probably be welcome.
My mom also offers private piano lessons in the community for 2-12 grade. Hopefully when my kids take them she won’t charge us 😉
Suzanne
Speaking of affordable activities….if you homeschool in the Southern California area, check out www.Playgroundpass.com where you can find many affordable activities. The list keeps growing so you can sign-up for a free newsletter to remind you!!
Danielle
Community theater! My 3 kids ages 6, 11, & 13 are all involves in area theaters. It usually doesn’t cost anything to audition and perform in a show. Get on te local teaters mailing lists to find out about upcoming auditions and such.
khushbu
omg. this article helps me big time. tell me stupid, but i had no idea that our local library offers activities for toddlers. i am glad i read this article.
Abhi
Extra – Curricular activities help kids to grow in a diverse way. This post is really very helpful for me, this will help my kids alot.
Sharon
I have 4 kids and we live off of one income. I am always looking for free or almost free activites. There is a church in our area that has free choir for children and free week of choir camp in the summer. Library programs and nature centers are good too.
Erin
I love free church programs, and the library has always been one of my most favorite spots! Thanks for sharing!
Emily
YMCA is a good one, too.
Sumit
Great Article! As a parent of two kids now 8 and 6, I ran into this issue last year. We are also trying to work on a solution for this by creating neighborhood learning corners called as Talentnook.
I am hoping this platform will hlp parents like us. We are going to launch soon during Summer 2017! Stay tuned @ www.talentnook.com
Monowara
Thank you for this wonderful blog post. You have really inspired me to think of other cost effective ideas to keep my kids entertained. I came across your blog post looking for affordable extra curricular activities but you have actually made me realise that money is better saved towards their tuition fee. May Allah bless you. Monowara