Great ideas! I'm not sure how this generation of video game addicts will like them. These were the things that I did as a kid growing up in the country becuase you had no money for entertainment. It was money for bills, food, gas, clothing and that was it. The only entertainment you had were your imagination, toys and occasionally television.

where can I get this book

it seems to me the less expensive  is the best for creative minds and one might be surprised at the thinking that goes on in a childs mind and it is very good  our 9 month old grandbaby showed us some of his own thoughts by taking 2 empty mixed nut cans and placing them on one another and repeated it as if it was nothing but you know what those wheels in his little head were working. getting children in nature is an nother inexpesive thing that needs to be done more. not just in parks but woods to hear the sounds and learn the names of trees and birds and get as much fresh air as there is. show a child how to bake and let them eat the rewards and watch them develope in science and in math. people need to remember things that they did as a child and sometimes one has to let the imagination out of the bag. the skills are being lost every day that this country needs and some of the old is better then the new look at the prices of food what are our children going to do when it is no more being creative with what one has to do with i beleive as lots of learning skills as well as basic survial. i hope more people stumble on this site and do some serious thinking about what is ahead in life.

I AGREE W/ MS. SHAWLEY ABOVE;( however she would do well to check spelling and apply some punctuation)    I chose NOT to bear children in this desperate and chilling current world scene.  However, I very vividly remember my own childhood in suburban Southern California.  On my block in the early 60's you always found at least 1/2 a dozen hopscotch templates on the sidewalk on any given day.  We kids could be found at any one of the homes of our friends playing any sort of game we could think of, or riding our bicycles(with playing cards attached with clothespins for sound effects) or skateboards(unbelievably without a "skate-park"). Often, we played tag football (badly) in the street and NOT ONCE did any one of us get run over.  Common sense is (to me) becoming a lost art.  WHY, I ask?

Because the current generation of spoiled rotten," get it for me right NOW, and I just HAVE to give my child more than I had" line of thinking is DESTROYING our future generation of developing minds.  My friends with children do not toss them out of the house on Saturday mornings with the old adage I always heard, "Go outside and PLAY".  They seem to cling to the notion that OUTSIDE is unsafe.  Well, if you teach your children common sense from the cradle, they would likely surprise most of you parents and be just FINE.  So Good Go to those of you who will either buy or read a book of such wonderful, and sadly, seemingly novel ideas of what your kids can do for fun without spending oodles of MONEY.  Money never has, and NEVER wil buy happiness.  Good memories of an activity filled and imagination fired childhood WILL however.

I hate how everyone always blames the younger generation about the spoiled kids. Why is it the younger ones fault for asking? It is the parents who are to blame for all the situation in the world today. The parents are the political leaders, creativity directors, and the people who give the kids what they want

Children only adapt to things that they have been exposed to. Im 27 years old, and growing up in West Virginia I appreciated all of the opportunities to go outside with my sisters. We explored the wild life and scenic nature areas that were all around us. Our father and grandparents taught us to appreciate animals and the enviornment. We played in the creek looking for minnows and crawfish. We looked under rocks and found salamanders and toads....We loved it and those things fascinated us. We even used to call ourselves exploring and go into the woods right by our grandmothers house. It was safe and times were different and I still value the experiences.  When I later moved to Baltimore, maryland i had priceless memories that could not be duplicated. And today my husband and I make our kids go outside and run and play. You're only a kid once.

Yup, sounds like my childhood.   We used to pop tar bubbles on the pavement,  drop pebbles in the sewer to hear them go "ker-PLUNK", and sit on our darkened basement steps listening to my older cousin tell wonderful ghost stories.  We chased each other with perrywinkles on the beach,  looked for horse-shoe crabs and screamed when we found one,  lay on our backs and described pictures in the clouds that floated overhead.  Hop scotch,  simple playgrounds with their intricate social hierarchy only understood among elementary school children,  dizzying swings and merry-go-rounds that made you struggle not to fall over when you finally leaped off and skinned your knees, after the playground "bully" had spun you into orbit while you screeched in terrible delight.  TV was black and white, with 3 main stations, and DAD controlled which one we watched (usually HIS favorite shows).  And you read, and read, and read wonderful books that took you far, far, away,  much further than the most imaginative, computer generated, specials effects TV/movie of today.

My children just don't know what they missed. I fear they don't even have the imagination to know what they missed.   Kudos to your wonderful list of simple activities.  As you can see,  they brought back a pleasurable flood of childhood memories to this 50 something baby-boomer.   I only hope that we will see that innocent time again.

No we can't just let our kids go outside and play. In my city a four year old boy was abducted, killed and put in a dumpster after he was sent outside to play.   The mother thought she lived in a safe neighborhood.

You don't just sent them out to play, you go out to play with them. They can still do all these wonderful outside activies with a grownup.

Kids can have the best of both worlds.  We live on 5 acres and my boys (6 1/2 and almost 4) go outside without me and have a lot of fun.  But then they come inside and play game cube a little and then they are off turning their K'NEX toys into the best fighter jets and alien space ships and then they go outside again.  If you want your kids to be able to go outside and play you have to make some sacrifices to live in an area where they can.  My husband and I have never put the kids in day care but our work schedules are opposite so we can be with our kids and raise them ourselves.  That takes some sacrifice.  My 6 1/2 yr old and I even did a 1/2 homeschool / 1/2 regular school for kindergarten last year since I wanted to retain the innocence he has.  I think playing outside by themselves has taught them some self reliance and shown them how you can have a lot of fun with a stick, some dirt and a few trees to climb, oh and don't get me started on bug collecting!  I'm glad we have made the decisions we have.  We might not have much in our retirement account yet but we have a happy family.