Top Free or Low Cost Activities on a Budget

During various lockdowns and restricted movement weeks and months you might be trying to think of free or low cost activities for yourself or for your family. We’ve put together some ideas for indoor and outdoor activities that hopefully might alleviate the boredom and pass some time without costing too much money.

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Free Outdoor Activities

Now more than ever we are looking to the outdoors in our areas to help us entertain ourselves. The great outdoors can reap so many benefits as well as being a free or low cost activity including;

• Improving your mood
• Reducing feelings of anger, stress or depression
• Helping you take time out and feel more relaxed
• Improving your physical health
• Helping you be more active

Some ideas to help you enjoy the outdoors could be Walking, Cycling, Gardening or Outdoor Games.

Free Walking Activities

If you are new to your area or have not had much chance to explore beforehand you might pick up some great walks from some of these webpages and groups to help inspire you to get out in the fresh air. Walking is a free, cheap activity that can be done near to your home in line with COVID-19 regulations.

Walking Britain – This site contains over 2,000 walks and 23,000 pages of free walking information across England, Wales and Scotland. 
Walking Routes – Pulling together information from across the web here you’ll find walks from across the UK to enjoy free.
National Trust – Choose from hundreds of walks across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The National Trust for Scotland – Choose from lots of different walks to suit your ability.
Walks with Wheelchairs – This website aims to help Wheelchair users with routes suitable for them.

Free Cycling Activities

Perhaps you have some bikes in the shed gathering dust and want to get some use out of them? Here are some webpages to help you to find some local routes. Before you get going, its important to check your bike is safe – we found this useful safety check blog via Bike Radar.

• The National Cycle Network – Find a UK wide network of Cycle Paths suitable for Cycling, Walking and Wheeling outdoors.
• Cycling UK – Cycling inspiration for all abilities.
• Let’s Ride – ‘Great routes for every kind of ride’

Low Cost Gardening Activities

If you have a garden at home maybe you would like to spend some time sprucing it up and exploring by growing some plants or foods? Kids especially like to grow their own plants so depending on the time of year perhaps you could have a sunflower competition and see who’s sunflower becomes the tallest or maybe they’d find it satisfying to grow their own herbs or vegetables!
Here are some beginner growing kits and Seeds we found for under £8;

• Mr Fothergill’s 24804 Garden Time Herb Garden Windowsill Kit, £7.95
• Johnsons 12033 Vegetable Seeds, Lettuce All The Year Round, £1.25
• Mr Fothergill’s 23203 Vegetable Seeds, Carrot Chantenay, £1.30
• Mr. Fothergill’s Sunburst Sunflower Seeds, £2.05
• Pack of Maincrop Seed Potatoes – Maris Piper, £7.99

If you are unsure as to when the best times are to plant different seeds or plants you can look at Thompson Morgans Seed Calendar here.

Family Friendly Games on a Budget

If you live with friends or family you might like to play some outdoor games to combine exercise with social time. Here are some games we have thought of that might give you some inspiration for free or low cost outdoor activities for Adults and Children.

• Football – Have a simple kickabout with friends or family, a Football can cost just a couple of pounds but provide hours of fun for all age groups.
• Rounders – You’ll need a bat and ball and some posts or strategically placed Sweaters but this is a relatively low cost and again, a fun for hours activity.
• Badminton or Tennis – You’ll need a couple of Rackets and a Shuttle Cock or Ball but these are fun for all ages and can become quite competitive if you want it to be! Check Facebook Marketplace for second hand equipment before purchasing some new ones if you are looking to save a few extra pounds.
• Races – Get the heart pumping with some races, how about first to the tree wins or maybe give a sack race or egg and spoon race a go!

Low Cost Inside Activities

Wherever you live it is good to have a free or low cost indoor activity up your sleeve ready for those days when the boredom is kicking in or the kids are fighting and need something constructive to do! Here we list some of our ideas for free or low cost activities that can be done indoors.

Get Cooking!

If you are interested in Cooking or Baking and have the ingredients or can get hold of them this is a perfect low cost rainy day activity for Children and Adults. Here are some ideas of easy to make recipes the whole family will enjoy without it costing the earth. It could also be fun for kids to dress up, dress the dining table and host a Dinner Party or Afternoon Tea for the rest of the Family or their Friends with the food they have cooked.

• Home made Pizza – How about a Cheese and Bacon Scone Pizza or some Quick Pitta Pizza’s?
• Cakes – These Iced Fairy Cakes are fun to make and can be adapted with flavours and toppings to suit your taste buds! If you fancy something a little different how about trying this Lemon Curd and Blueberry Loaf Cake?
• Meals and Snacks – Take a look at our post here that gives some great ideas for cheap and easy meals like Pasta, Egg Fried Rice and Eggy Bread.
• Afternoon Tea – The BBC have put together a great bunch of recipes for Afternoon Tea for kids here.

Low Cost Craft Activities

There are a plethora of free, cheap and low cost craft activities out there but we have chosen some of our favourites to hopefully give you some inspo!

• Cards – You never know when you’ll need a Birthday or Christmas Card for someone so get prepared and make some Cards ready! These could be painted, drawn, stickers or a collage of all someone’s favourite things cut from a magazine!
• Slime! Kids love Slime, we found an easy recipe to make your own.
• Create a Cardboard Zoo with the help of some Cereal Boxes and empty Toilet Rolls.