Perfectly Imperfect Family and Finances

Posted By Mrs. Imperfect on May 26, 2008

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“School’s out, School’s out…Teacher let the monkeys out!” our seven year old daughter gleefully sang repeatedly on Friday.

“I’m bored, what can we do?” whined the same seven year old girl on Saturday.

Already?!? I thought.

It is inevitable that once school has ended for the summer children get bored. The weeks leading up to the end of the school year are filled with anticipation of sleeping late, vacations and other fun filled activities-NOT hanging out at home and finding ways to entertain ourselves.

We live within an hour’s drive of a zoo, several amusement parks, numerous water parks, untold how many different tourist activities (all requiring that admission be paid), and at least three malls. Summers past, we have always bought season passes to the zoo and season passes to at least one of the amusement parks for the three of us. We justified these purchases with the idea in mind that these activities were so close that we could take a day trip and buying the passes would actually save us money. This was true as far as admission was concerned. What we never calculated was how much we spent on eating at restaurants, or in the park for three different meals, snacks and the inevitable trip through the gift shop (which could not be avoided since you have to walk through the gift shop to exit the attraction.) We always allowed our daughter to pick out one item; after all, how could we expect her to walk out of there seeing everything and not buy her something? We never thought twice about this or what we were teaching our child about moderation or self-control, but that is a topic for another post.

If you have spent time looking at our website, then you are aware that my husband and I are on a redefine our lives by spending less, getting rid of debt, and learning to save money. Suffice it to say that these decisions have impacted our daughter as well.

In the not so distant past, on such a beautiful day we would have hopped in the car and headed to one of the many attractions nearby. We would have proudly used our season passes (purchased with a credit card) to enter an attraction, spent the day enjoying ourselves while we purchased our meals and snack items (with a credit card), left the attraction with our daughter proudly holding onto her new stuffed animal or overpriced toy (that she really did not need, but that we could not refuse to use our credit card to buy her) and came back home that evening exhausted and ready for bed.

However, since we are redefining our lives, and realizing the error of our ways, this was not an option. So, on such a beautiful day…what could we do? What could we do that did not involve spending money? What could we do that would be frugal and still be fun?

We made bubbles! Yes, bubbles. This was oh so simple, but so much fun.

We used a recipe for homemade bubble solution that I had cut out of Family Fun Magazine several months ago. It worked great. Did you know that blowing bubbles is still fun when you are all grown up?

To make homemade bubble solution mix 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of water with 2 tablespoons of dish washing liquid and 2 tablespoons glycerin (you can find this at most drug stores for around $3.00).

Another perk of making the homemade bubble solution was the learning opportunity that was presented. Reading the directions (literacy skills), measuring the proper amount of ingredients (math skills), and mixing everything (fine motor skills) is just the beginning.

Do you want a simple science lesson? Make a bubble blower by rolling a piece of card stock or thick construction paper into a cone and securing it with tape. Evenly trim the narrow end so it measures about ½ inch in diameter. Trim the wide opening to even it out as well. Dip the wide end of the cone into the bubble solution and hold it there for a few seconds to absorb the mixture. Tap off the excess liquid and then quickly dip the cone again. With the cone pointed toward the ground, gently blow a large bubble. Leave it attached to the end of the cone, using a finger to cover the tip of the cone. Next, stick the point of the scissors (that were used to trim the paper) into the bubble. It should pop instantly. Try it again, but dip the scissor points into the bubble solution. They should pass right through the bubble without breaking it. What happened? There are two main ways the bubble pops. First: the watery wall evaporates. The second way is when something dry tears a hole in the wall (ie: you poke it with the dry scissors). By dipping the blades into the bubble solution, the scissors pass right through.

When I did this our daughter was amazed. At that point, nothing was safe! Her hands had to get soaked so that she could see if the same thing would happen! Toes had to be tried as well. Yeah, it got a little messy and we got a little sticky, but it was still fun!

We survived the first weekend of summer vacation without breaking every rule that we had made for ourselves and still had a lot of fun. We never even left the house. Amazing.

We will be posting on other things that we do throughout the summer that does not break our budget. Until then, do you have any fun frugal ideas that you do with your children to break the summertime boredom that seems to be inevitable?

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Category: Child development, Family, Frugality, Fun
Tags: bubbles, frugal fun, home made bubbles, summer activities