17 Ways We Had Fun Without Spending a Dime

We had a blast when we used our imagination to create our own adventures! Before video games and phones, we were able to have the time of our lives with all the resources in our backyards. I sometimes wonder if kids today understand how good they have it. So many stories could have been created, and memories made with nothing other than our wildest dreams and the neighborhood junk. What memories do you have of the adventures you created that didn’t cost a thing?

1. Building Forts from Found Materials

Instead of going to the store and buying a playhouse, we built our own with everything that we could find in the neighborhood. We made our own furrniture out of the junk we had, and built big enough forts to last through a rainstorm.

2. Pickup Baseball Games

To create fun and exciting games, all we needed were some old sports items. We made bases out of old coffee cans, and created our own rules to make it as fun as possible. These creative games would last until someone had to go inside.

3. Collecting Lightning Bugs

Nights spent outside catching jars lit with fireflys, and keeping them in our bedroom was as good as it gets. Before going to bed, we’d let them go, and the warm summer nights always had magic in the air.

4. Hopscotch Championships

All we needed for hours of fun was a piece of chalk and a flat rock. We would draw elaborate courts on the sidewalk or driveway, make our own house rules, and host tournaments for the whole neighborhood. Things could get pretty serious about who’s foot went over the line!

5. Bike Riding Adventures

Our bikes were freedom. We would spend entire days riding all around our neighborhood. We made jump ramps out of wood and bricks and put the jumps all over the place to make obstacle courses. Racing and jumping was a thrill, and we never wore helmets or pads, just the thrill of riding on two wheels.

6. Playing Kick the Can

This game was a mix of tag and hide and seek. We would play this for hours every night after dinner. All you needed was a group of friends and a tin can for this neighborhood classic. Sneaking back to kick the can without getting caught was the most thrilling part.

7. Making Mud Pies

From our backyard “kitchens” we created mud food masterpieces, and decorated them with flowers, leaves, and grass. Using pie tins and muffin pans from mom’s kitchen made it feel like a real mud bakery.

8. Marbles in the Dirt

We would draw circles in the dirt and then pull out our prized collections of “shooters” and “cat’s eyes” marbles to see who would win. Every marble had a name, and winning someone’s favorite marble was the top prize. Games would get serious with arguments about whether someone’s knuckle crossed the line.

9. Paper Airplane Contests

Using notebook paper or even the previous day’s newspaper, we hosted complex flying contests. Each child had their unique technique for folding the paper, and we would trial our planes to see how far, and how accurately they could fly, and what tricks they could do. Different areas of the school sandbox were set as zones for different competitions.

10. Tree Climbing

Every kid remembered that one great tree in the neighborhood where you could climb super high in the branches. You could turn the area high up into the leaves into your own little “house” as you played fun games with your friends.

11. Bottle Cap Collections

Every kid in the neighborhood collected bottle caps. Not every bottle cap was the same. Everyone traded and shared stories based on where they found the caps. Most kids created games and played contests with the caps in order to have the caps be part of a track.

12. Red Light, Green Light

Kids could spend hours playing a game in which the goal was to move as far as possible without getting caught. Once an adult saw you move, it was game over, but the adults would usually just let you play until it got dark. Each round of gameplay only got more intense.

13. String Games and Cat’s Cradle

Every child joined in the fun as the group played with string to make a new pattern. We loved the string games and played them while the adults were busy doing things in order to keep us quiet.

14. Rock Collections

When kids played outside they started a collection of “unique rocks” that they found on the ground. Kids spent hours digging in the dirt to find the best rock. In their room, boxes full of the “rocks” turned into treasure chests.

15. Jump Rope Games

All you needed was a rope to create endless fun by making up new jumping challenges and singing rhymes. Double Dutch was the hardest to master and we would spend hours learning how to get the timing perfect. The sound of the rope and our voices was a common sound of summer.

16. Cloud Watching

As we lay on the grass on hot summer days we spent ages staring at the clouds and trying to imagine different shapes. We saw dragons, castles and all sorts of creatures and loved sharing our finds. These moments of imagination and creativity were free but became some of our greatest memories.

17. Story Telling Circles

Campfire stories around the backyard fire or down in someone’s basement were the best. Each child tried to top the last with stories of local legends and spooky experiences. The best of these children became famous around the neighborhood.