http://www.indy.com/posts/6599 en-us deb5683 This was a great post - I always am looking for inexpensive ways to spend quality time with my kids. My best places are any park with trails and water! Tue, 29 Apr 2008 08:10:59 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_21519 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_21519 laura99in I found something for you!!! Friday, May 16, 2008, 12:00 PM. 'Kids Bowl Free' Day at Royal Pin Leisure Centers. Ages 18 and under can bowl two free games every day, Apr. 20 to Aug. 23, at Woodland Bowl, Western Bowl, Southern Bowl, Jubilee Bowl, or Expo Bowl. Family passes $19.95--same terms up to four people. Info: See Web site below. Royal Pin Leisure Centers, Multiple Locations, Indianapolis, Marion County. www.kidsbowlfree.com Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:48:13 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_21515 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_21515 vla815 Some of the festivals on this site require road trips, but a friend of mine runs a site called www.FestivalFriendly.com. It's a great resource for music and music festivals throughout the US and Canada. Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:56:01 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19774 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19774 Allison What a great Post!! I totally needed this as well! Thanks mikiembry Sat, 05 Apr 2008 20:59:07 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19771 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19771 deb5683 The BEST are : The free evening at the CHildrens Museum (get there early and be prepared for crowds though) Any Indy Park - hiking and tramping on the trails. If it muddy, the kids love it better (though it means more laundrey chores later!) Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:10:52 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19755 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19755 quincy Sorry for the lack of details. The Harrison Center is at 1505 N. Delaware Street downtown. They have an opening tomorrow night. You can check out info. at harrisoncenter.org. It seems to me that there are always an abundance of activities throughout the summer. I think this place will be the site to find them. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:23:32 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19521 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19521 rictor Well, fish don't really turn water into oxygen. Water is made out of oxygen and hydrogen. They just have the ability to strip that oxygen out of the water. Humans actually do something similar when we breathe air. We strip the oxygen and nitrogen out of the air we breathe, which is made up of more gases than just oxygen and nitrogen. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 12:12:27 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19519 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19519 mikiembry I really appreciate all the feedback guys - i'll ask the girls about baseball - i used to love to go when i was a kid - i remember taking my mitt and wearing it the whole time @ the old Busch stadium - lol. shows my age! Harrison Center? is that at Fort Ben? we go there a couple of times a year and play and hike around the woods. Last year my kids fell in the river (on accident for once) and when we tramped out of the woods, they looked like they rolled around in a pig pen, but they got to ride home in their skivvies and had a blast. I just wanted to be able to do more this year than parks only - you don't know how much I appreciate ALL the ideas - thank you! Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:24:58 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19507 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19507 laura99in Take the kids tonight to the Children's museum. It's a free night from 4-8pm. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:09:35 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19504 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19504 quincy I forgot. First Fridays if you are into art are free. I know that the exhibits at the Harrison Center welcome and usually cater to children with fun activities! Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:23:35 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19475 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19475 quincy My wife and I have five kids so I know how you feel. Recommendations: Even though money is tight I can always (ALWAYS) recommend getting a membership to the IMA (regular exhibits are always free but if you want to get into the travelling shows you now have to pay-hence the membership. Also, artsy and free, you can go to the Indianapolis Art Center and walk around the sculpture park. You and the kids can even walk down to the river and play there if you want to get wet. Also priceless is a membership to the zoo. It would pay for itself in 2 visits. Pack a lunch and hang out with the animals. Same deal for the State Museum. Another cool thing to do all summer is Indians games. Go to their website and check out "Knot Hole Club." I think it is like $16 per child and they get a shirt and into every (EVERY) home game for free. You can buy yourself an $8 ticket and your whole evening is planned. Along the lines of what Joe was saying about parks alot of people go to Holliday Park. You could also get out the bikes or walk the cultural trail. That should help...maybe. Thu, 03 Apr 2008 00:22:00 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19473 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19473 KJ1981 When it gets warm out you should take them to parks. I always thought that was fun when I was little. Additionally, I think that the Children's Musuem has a couple of free days, but you have to look at the website for those. Crown Hill Cemetery is also interesting. It has a lot of history, if they like history and stuff like that. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:10:03 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19412 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19412 mikiembry I can't stand to eat anything that turns water into oxygen :) but i'm sure they would like to try. I remember my grandparents teaching me...the worms....blech! Does anyone use this site to keep track of upcoming festivals? Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:26:03 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19404 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19404 rictor There is a free fishing weekend at Eagle Creek and other Indiana parks on June 9-10. A lot of places will provide your kids with a fishing pole, bait, and some one to teach them how to fish. It's fun to learn and a good skill to have. If you're a good fisherman, you have a nice source of free food. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:58:47 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19402 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19402 joe.shearer It won't help you until it gets warmer, but there's a pretty awesome park in Fishers hidden in back of a housing addition off of 116th St. It has great slides, bridges, tubes, swings, a whole area for younger kids to play (though my son, who is 3, likes to alternate between them). It's great, and it's relatively clean. We've taken our son there probably half a dozen times in the past couple of years. It's worth the drive from the east side on a weekend. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:59:05 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19387 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19387 michael22blue Go Fishing! Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:53:14 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19384 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19384 laura99in Yep, the IMA is free. Just make sure you don't point at anything in the African section. They don't have the objects behind glass but they are definitely under a touchy alarm system and will bring a guard fast. haha. All I did was extend my arm and point and the alarm went off, it freaked me out! I was telling my friend about it the last time I was there and when we walked through that section the same thing happened to someone else. Glad I'm not the only one! The guard told them it happens multiple times a day. They need to put that stuff in glass cases, what a pain in the butt! The kids would like the contemporary section because they can actually touch and stand on some of the stuff. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:42:35 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19364 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19364 mikiembry The IMA is Free? I didn't know that. Last summer we went to parks a lot and lots of hiking, which we loved, but i thought we would try something new. thanks for the indy.moms idea! also the ima....that would be cool - thank you all so much! Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:17:28 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19361 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19361 laura99in Did you check out indymoms.com yet? They have all kinds of stuff to do on there. I'm not sure where you live so I don't know how far away you are to these places but these are free ideas, you'll just have to pay for gas: Indianapolis Museum of Art, walking the Canal downtown (parking might be hard to find free), Garfield Park & Conservatory, Children's Museum has one free night a month (first Thursday of each month). Let us know what side of town you are on and maybe we can give you places closer to home. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:13:25 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19358 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19358 AbominaNoel IMA is a good bet for kids too. We took our kids there last summer when we were looking for something free to do, we weren't sure how they'd like it but they really got into it. The youngest one (6 y.o. at the time) kept declaring that every portrait of a man wearing a white wig was George Washington. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:08:23 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19356 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19356 joe.shearer If you have a sharp enough eye, you can score passes to Saturday morning premieres of kids movies. There aren't that many, maybe a handful a year, but they're super fun, and you get to see the latest, hottest kids movie before it opens and often you get fun prizes from the studio. Saturday morning screenings are often the most fun because there are just so many kids around and they do prizes and games, and they'll LOVE it. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:53:53 -0400 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19348 http://www.indy.com/posts/6599#comment_19348