**Updated for 2024**
Keeping your kids entertained does not have to cost a ton! Here is a list of free and very low cost ideas to do with kids in and near Takoma Park and Silver Spring, Maryland this summer.
Check out MacaroniKID Takoma Park-Silver Spring for more fun local ideas to keep your family busy all summer long! Or follow us on Instagram and Facebook for more!
- Visit Wheaton Regional or another great local playground
- Take a stroll around Brookside Gardens
- Take a hike in Northwest Branch or any of these other local spots
- Ride your bike on a section of the Sligo Creek trail closed to motorists on the weekends
- Grab art supplies from the Takoma Art Library and create
- Look for turtles at the Maydale Conservation Park
- Have a water fight with your friends
- Hear live music at a free local concert
- Get rid of your old stuff by hosting a free sale in your yard or at a nearby park
- Watch a free kids' show with Montgomery Parks Playhouse Jr.
- Find a new book at a Free Little Library near you
- Make giant bubbles
- Visit the Silver Spring B&O Train Station on Open House Days
- Find the Giant Acorn in Silver Spring
- Complete the Montgomery Parks Summer Challenge
- Ride the Longest Escalator on the Western Hempishere at Wheaton Metro Station
- Enjoy the Takoma Park 4th of July Parade
- Make nature art with items from your neighborhood
- Reserve a Discovery Room at a local library
- Complete a summer reading challenge
- Ride the metro (up to two kids under the age of 5 ride free with a paying adult)
- Explore the Brookside Nature Center and hike the trails
- Visit a Montgomery County Library for to find new books or attend a story time
- Window shop in Old Town Takoma Park
- Visit the horses at the Wheaton Stables
- Have a backyard camp out
- Play Pickleball at a local court
- Watch the pups run at a dog park
- Write to a penpal (or email your teacher from last year)
- Complete a rainbow scavenger hunt around your neighborhood (look for items that match each color of the rainbow)
- Enjoy a story at the Yard Dramas every week at the Crossroads Farmers Market
- Watch a free or cheap movie
- Visit a farmer's market
- Make popsicles at home
- Create a craft at the Takoma Park Library Kid Art Days
- Play indoors at the Ellsworth Place Play Space
- Enjoy Shakespeare at MLK Jr. Park or at Brookside Garden
- Read to a dog at the local library
- Go on a mural or local art hunt
- Check out one of the Silver Spring festivals in Veterans Plaza
- Play boardgames at White Oak Library
- Play with legos at a local library branch
- Meet your local law enforcers at a National Night Out event near you (August 4)
- Throw a neighborhood block party
- Splash at the Takoma DC Recreation Center Splash Pad or at any of the other water zones in the city
- See the animals at the National Zoo
- Read or try the story walk at the Noyes Library for Young Children
- Make a free creation at Michael's, Home Depot or J.C. Penney
- Watch the planes fly in at Gravely Point
- Visit a free Smithsonian Museum
- Go bowling in Columbia
- Skip rocks at Rock Creek Park
- Celebrate love at a local Pride Event
- Go fishing in a Montgomery Park
- Play in the mud kitchen at Locust Grove Nature Center
- Go birdwatching or play on the nature playground at the Nature Forward Woodend Nature Sanctuary
- Tour the Kingsley School House to see what school was like for children long ago
- Immerse yourself in history at the Oakley Cabin
- Splash in the water at Greenbrier State Park
- Visit the Lake at Rio
- Say hi to the animals at the Old Maryland Farm
- Celebrate and learn about Juneteenth (June 19)
- See a baseball game in Baltimore (kids under 9 can get free ticket to see the Orioles)
- Watch fireworks to celebrate Independence Day
- Find a shady playground
- Go for a hike around Lake Needwood
- Attend this year's DC Folk Life Festival
- Take a picnic to the Agricultural History Farm Park
- See the plants in the Children's Garden at the U.S. Botanic Garden
- Watch the planes at the Gaithersburg Airpark
- Climb Sugarloaf Mountain
- Drive a bit to visit a great playground
- Climb a waterfall at Cunningham State Falls
- Visit the National Arboretum
- Visit a DC monument
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