What Can I Do Today For Free? 17 Fun Things You Can Do Today Without Spending Any Money

Whether you’ve got bored kids at home during the summer holidays or are planning on enjoying a no-spend weekend, you might be wondering what free yet fun things there are to do? It’s sometimes hard to come up with new ideas of things to do to keep you or your children entertained on a budget, but that’s where we step in! We’ve come up with a list of some of the best activities you can do for free, today, without any planning.

You could even write each of these activity ideas down and put them in a jar so when you’re at a loss of what to do, you can just pluck a piece of paper out of the activity jar and enjoy something new!

Read on to find out some new, fun ideas that you can do today for free, and let us know if you have any you’d like to share in the comments below.

1. Go For a Walk/Picnic

family sitting having a picnic
Going for a walk is a pretty classic thing to do for free as it is an activity that can be tailored to any person or group, making it as long, short, gentle or strenuous as you like. Many of us have some interesting sights or surroundings right on our doorstep that often get overlooked when we’re busy with our day-to-day lives, so choosing to take the time out to admire your local area during a walk can be a great thing to do.

To jazz it up a bit (if it’s a beautiful day) you could even pack a picnic and head out for a longer walk, stopping off at a serene spot with your blanket and some drinks and nibbles to take in the view, dine on tasty treats and spend quality time with your loved ones.

2. Go Geocaching

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Geocaching is another way that you can make getting outside a little more exciting as it gives your walk purpose and intrigue. For those who have no idea what geocaching is, it is basically a worldwide treasure hunt in which Geocachers use GPS coordinates to seek out hidden ‘caches’ and track them in an app. Each cache is completely unique and includes a logbook and pencil for those who have found the location to log their name and date, before returning the treasure to its original position.

Geocaches started as little, waterproof Tupperware containers but as the phenomenon has grown, so too has the elaborate nature of the hidden boxes, with caches now being hidden in anything from ornamental frogs and bird boxes to fake pebbles and toy ferry geocache boxes!
This can be a fun, free activity for all the family to enjoy, and if your kids really enjoy it, it can become something to keep them entertained on the regular!

3. Go Forest Bathing - The ultimate free activity

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relaxing under some trees
A more peaceful practice to enjoy on a no-spend weekend is forest bathing, a form of nature therapy that works to improve your physical and mental health through the slow and mindful appreciation of nature. Instead of going out for a walk as a form of exercise or distraction, head out with the sole purpose of appreciating the beauty and ever-changing nature of the great outdoors.

Forest bathing asks you to see, feel, smell and hear the natural world around you, taking time to notice things that you might usually miss. Whether you opt to bathe in the forest solo or as part of a group, you’re sure to have a wonderful experience connecting with nature in a totally new way.

4. Draw/Paint Something

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doing some painting
If you have the materials at home – and everyone has some sort of paper and pen/pencil, right? – drawing or painting something can be a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Many of us claim that we’re not artistic or creative, but in actual fact, the sheer joy or art it that you simply can’t be bad at it!

Sitting down with some pens, pencils, crayons, paint, or whatever you have available is the first step, and the rest should just flow naturally. Try not to think too much about what you want to create and simply let ideas flow from your mind to your hand and onto the paper. While you might not make the next Michelangelo piece to grace the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, you might be surprised to see what comes out!

5. Write a Poem/Song - you can start today

writing in a book or poetry
Another form of creativity that is totally free is the art of writing. Letting your thoughts and feelings spill out onto a page can be both fun and sometimes emotional. While not everyone will have a natural flair for creating lyrics or writing Shakespeare-style sonnets, everyone can try their hand at songwriting or poetry.

Fun ways to start can be writing a Haiku or Limerick, poetry styles that have set syllabic formations. This gives you a structure to work with to help get your creative juices flowing. Limericks can be especially entertaining as these are known for their cheeky content which may contain an innuendo or two!

6. Create a Scavenger Hunt - Lots of Fun!

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Creating a scavenger hunt is an amazing idea that can be designed to suit any age group with simple clues and treats for kids or more saucy tasks and complex questions for adults. Each stop on the scavenger hunt could be a riddle or clue to lead you to the next, or you could create a challenge where individuals or teams have to tick off a whole host of tasks within a time limit. Either way, a scavenger hunt can be as cheap, challenging and unique as you like.

While the best scavenger hunts often take place outside, they can also be easily adapted for a rainy day with different clues being hidden in rooms around the house.

7. Do a Photography Challenge

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taking a picture

Similar to a scavenger hunt, a photography challenge is a fun, free activity that can be as wild and creative as you make it!

The concept of a photography challenge is that you write a list of images that the person or team must complete within a certain time frame. These could be literal, physical things such as ‘photograph the … monument’ or ‘take a picture of a bird in flight’, or they could be more abstract ideas like ‘capture joy’ or ‘photograph something for each letter of the alphabet’.

The more abstract the idea, the more it allows for interpretation which is interesting for teens seeking out their identity and tone of voice.

8. Go to the Library - No need to spend money

finding a book in a library
Libraries are a bit of a dying breed but supporting them is the only way we can help keep them alive! As such, the next time you’re at a loose end, why not head down to your local library and spend a few hours reading a book or researching a topic that interests you. Not only does this help keep you entertained on a budget but it also helps broaden your vocabulary, mindset and horizons.

Some smaller villages that don’t have a local library may have a form of swap shop such as a book swap in a phone booth so you can take along an old book that you’ve already read and exchange it for something new. This is a great idea to help save money and keep the circular economy going.

9. Visit a Free Local Museum or Gallery

looking at a painting in a gallery
When you start researching what there is to do for free in your local area, you might be surprised to learn that there are free museums and galleries around, sometimes hidden in plain sight on your high street! Whether you live in London or New York where there are museums in every borough or are in a smaller town with more niche options available, you’ll usually be able to find something new and interesting to do for free.

The thing with museums and galleries is that their exhibits are ever-changing and the passionate staff will always have something new to share so you can visit time and time again and learn something different on every occasion!

10. Host a Games Night

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hosting a games night
Most of us have one or two board games, or a pack of playing cards stashed somewhere around our homes, and all it takes is digging these out and inviting a few friends round to create a fun-filled, free evening! Board games are a fantastic way to while away a few hours and often times they induce a good laugh. With hard-to-guess Pictionary drawings, the questionable humming of songs in Cranium or out-and-out awful clues during a game of Articulate, good old-fashioned board games are sure to help you have a great time!

11. Teach Yourself a Card/Magic Trick

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doing a card trick
That trusty pack of playing cards may also come in handy if you see yourself as a bit of a magician as learning a new magic trick is both entertaining and free. Depending on the difficulty of the trick, the learning process may take a few hours, but the pride you’ll feel when you fool your friends will make it all worthwhile!

Card/magic tricks are open to people of any ages, with simple coin disappearance and guess-the-card tricks being favourites for younger children and more complex illusions entertaining people well into their eighties!

12. Pot Luck Cooking/Baking

cooking for a group
Another thing you can do today without spending any money is to look in your fridge and cupboards and come up with something new to make or bake out of the ingredients you have available. Sometimes we end up with quite a random selection of items in our kitchens at the end of a long week, but if you have some staples such as tins of tomatoes and pulses or baking materials like flour, sugar or fruit you might be on to a winner.

The joy of cooking like this is that it makes you step out of your comfort zone of cooking the same few favourite meals and asks you to get creative. Of course, if you find it super difficult your friend Google can come in handy with some ingredient inspiration but let your imagination run wild and see what you come up with. You never know, you might create a culinary masterpiece!

13. Learn to Juggle

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If you’ve got time to kill and fancy learning a new skill, why not get on YouTube and try and learn how to juggle. Most of us will have some sort of round objects within the home that we can start out with, be that apples, tennis balls or even a few pairs of balled-up socks.

Depending on your hand-eye coordination this could take you anywhere from five minutes to five hours to perfect, but if you find yourself becoming a master you can learn to add more balls into the mix or add tricks and flair to your performance! Who knows, circus skills might be your new favourite pastime.

14. Build a Den

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build a den

Building dens is a rite of passage for children with pretty much everyone having draped a sheet over a table or washing line or built a cardboard fortress when they were young. But building a den doesn’t only have to be reserved for children. It could also be a fun date idea for you and your OH, spending time together to create a secret space where you can enjoy some alone time.

Dens can be created with whatever space and materials you have available and can be as minuscule or grand as you like. It’s also great for children to use their teamwork, creativity and communication skills.

15. Make a Time Capsule

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Time capsules are a collection of personal items, put together in a box that is then buried or hidden away to be opened at a later date. You’ll want to choose items that represent your current life, perhaps newspapers or magazine clippings, photographs, receipts, letters, toys or greetings cards. You could even include a USB flash drive with photographs or videos of yourself or even a message for your future selves or the future person that may find the box! Again, these capsules can be as imaginative and creative as you wish.

Not only do time capsules give you the opportunity to reflect on your current life and what is important to you, but they also give your future self something to look back on, seeing what in the world has changed and what things have stayed the same.

16. Start Learning a New Language

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language flash cards
Many of us love the idea of speaking a foreign language, but it is often something that gets pushed way down the priority list when our busy daily lives take over. However, learning a language is a free pastime that not only looks incredible on your CV and keeps you entertained, but it also allows you to have much greater connections and experiences when travelling too!

Downloading an app or using podcasts/YouTube to learn a language is the quickest easiest way to start (when not in the country of your language of choice). You can pick up vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation at the touch of a button and an app will be able to track your progress and help you improve.

17. Create a Bucket List

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back a bucket list
Of course, we couldn’t have a free list of things to do on Bucket List HQ without mentioning our favourite pastime: creating a bucket list!

Absolutely anyone can create a bucket list, be that places they want to go, challenges they want to undertake or things they want to see and do.
Having an online bucket list allows you to keep all your ideas in one place without having to keep hold of an old scrap of paper. It enables you to tick off things that you have done which will help you feel inspired and accomplished.

Which of these free things are you going to do today? Let us know in the comments below!

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