This summer I nannied two adorable kids ages 7&4 in Kansas City. It was my first time every nannying and it was technically my first real job I’ve ever had. The family was wonderful and the kids were so fun. I immediately began taking them to all the super fun places I could think of spending time (and money) with them. But after a few weeks, even days, in I realized that it was going to be a very long and expensive summer if I didn’t figure out fun things to do with the kids around the city that were cheap or even free. We ended up doing some pretty awesome things and were able to stay pretty busy most days all summer long, so I thought I would make a blog post sharing some of the top fun free/cheap things to do in KC in the summer! Most of these are the things I did with my kids but then I decided to even throw in some of the places I went with friends throughout the summer. Enjoy!
~ Nelson Atkins Museum of Art: Free and you could spend a good few hours walking through the galleries and outside in the gardens. You could even pack a picnic and enjoy that out on the front lawn!
~ River Market: Free to walk around and see all the cool vendors while taking lots of pics but then still pretty cheap if you want to buy any produce or knick knacks. A classic in Kansas City is to buy a bouquet of flowers to pose with :p
~ Deanna Rose Farm: Super duper cheap!! Cheaper than I remember it being. I took my kids here one day and we spent almost the entire day at the farm seeing all the animals, playing on the playgrounds, fishing and feeding the baby goats with only $20! We did pack snacks though so that we didn’t have to pay for any food and could instead spend our money on the activities for the kids.
~ Theatre in the Park: Pretty cheap tickets (only about $12) and some pretty awesome shows happen all summer with a new show every few weeks. Pack some snacks and a picnic blanket and enjoy!
~ Crown Center Friday Night Movies: Free movie to enjoy on a Friday night down at Crown Center. Again, bring snacks and a blanket to sit out and enjoy! There also is usually live music and food trucks. The movie always changes but this event also doesn’t happen every Friday night.
~ Walk the Plaza: Free!! That is if you’re just going to walk around. My friends and I would go down to the plaza and just window shop and enjoy the scenery without spending any money. Best time to do this was around sunset or later in the evening. If you want to actually buy stuff, that’s gonna cost you!
~ Picnic in the Lavender Fields: CHECK OUT PREVIOUS BLOG POST
~ Thrifting: Super cheap shopping for only the trendiest of people. I’ve been able to snag some pretty awesome finds from thrift shops and there are lots of trendy thrift stores down in Westport area. However, there is always the classic Goodwill or Savers to go to as well.
~ Boulevard Drive-In: Awesome old-fashioned drive in movie theater in Kansas City! Tickets are only $10 for adults and kids 11 and under are free! They play the newest movies in theaters and they play two movies a night with the movies ranging from PG to R. It is, however, a cash only place.
~ First Fridays: FREE!! Lots of live music, street vendors, art galleries, and great food so you can grab a group of friends to just walk around the streets of the Crossroads Art District in KC and enjoy! Great to take lots of pictures. Happens every first Friday of the month all year long.
~ Arboretum: Cheap and free on Tuesdays! I took my kids here, luckily on a Tuesday, and we were able to just walk around the beautiful gardens and the gorgeous lake. They loved looking at all the fish and the ducks. Plus there’s a section we like to call the train town with an old-fashioned train car the kids loved going into and exploring as well as watching all the electric toy trains go around the town on the tracks. Beautiful place to take pictures at as well.
~ COFFEE SHOPS!!!!: Kansas City is loaded with these. This summer a new one called Monarch Coffee opened up and it was beyond gorgeous! Coffee shops are pretty much a go-to for me and my friends to spend a couple hours catching up. Plus, the pics are great for the Instagram aesthetic :p I also would enjoy going to a coffee shop on my own sometimes to go get some work done or read a book. Depending on where you go, the price of the coffee will vary.
~ Berry Picking: A great summertime activity! And it’s on the cheaper side depending on how many berries you end up picking. This summer my mom and I went strawberry picking in late May and picked almost 20 lbs of strawberries and then in July, I took one of the kids I nannied to the blueberry patch. She really enjoyed picking the berries straight off the plant and putting them right into her mouth :p All of the patches will usually have a gift shop to buy pre-picked berries, jams, pastries, and other berry themed items. Additionally, most of the patches have playgrounds for the kids to enjoy and picnic tables so that you could bring a picnic lunch to enjoy a day out there.
~ Wonderscope Children’s Museum: My kids absolutely loved this place. When I first started nannying, this was the first place they asked me to take them to. It’s fairly cheap and you can spend a good afternoon in there. There’s a garden outside and a huge jungle-gym room that my kids loved as well. Definitely worth taking a trip there if you have younger kids.
~ Antioch Park: The go-to park for my kids this summer. We spent quite a bit of summer just bouncing from park to park but this one was the favorite. There’s a huge fishing pond that the kids loved to walk around and spot all the fish or watch the fishermen for a while. There’s even a stepping-stone bridge that my kids would spend half an hour at just going back and forth across the creek. Up on the playground there’s the standard playground equipment plus a life-size town complete with the bank, the jail, and the hotel that my kids loved to play hide and seek at. We spent many a days packing a picnic and heading here for the afternoon.
~ McDonald’s Play Place: Ok, I know, surprising. But, my kids were able to kill 3 hours here one time. I discovered that going here was a good place to kill time on one of those ridiculously hot summer days where there was absolutely no way they could spend any time on the playgrounds outside. So when we went here for lunch and there was a playground indoors, it became the perfect place for them to let off some steam. Plus, the food is cheap (as it is McDonald’s) so your not spending big bucks to use the jungle gym. One time I think I even just bought my kids some juice and took them here for a few hours. Trust me, next time you have to watch kids for a few hours, try it!
~ Aquatic Center: There’s loads of these around the city too, which I did not know. These are pretty cheap admission and you can bring in outside food so you don’t have to buy lunch or snacks. It’s better than just your average pool because there’s tube slides, a lazy river, diving boards, and other fun pool equipment so the kids won’t get bored after only an hour or so.