I'm a mom with 2 young kids in North San Diego County and I don't spend a lot of money keeping my kids busy. San Diego County has a lot of free and low-cost ways to entertain and educate young children.
I'm constantly researching free and low-cost activities for my family. To help myself and other families, I've put together this online resource of free and low-cost events as well as venues and resources for families with young children. This website includes not only information I've gathered online, but events that I know about through word of mouth, local media, through Facebook groups or by calling or visiting local venues personally.
The Calendar page lists events in calendar format. The other pages have links to websites for venues, events and performers that provide free and low-cost activities for children, broken down by category (i.e. Music, Outdoors, etc). And the Home page has detailed information and photos on specific events and venues in the form of blog posts.
Free is pretty self-explanatory, but what do I mean by low-cost? When I talk about low-cost activities, I mean under $12 for a family of four. By family of four, I mean two adults and two children under the age of 12. Many places charge adult prices for kids over 12 years old and most events listed are geared towards children under 12 anyway. I realize many of these events will be attended by only one parent and may include children young enough to qualify for free admission, but by keeping the threshold low for my definition of "low-cost", I hope to ensure that most of the events listed are affordable for families of all sizes.
There are also some great venues in San Diego County that are not low-cost for a single visit but that sell family memberships that are quite affordable if they are locations you would visit frequently. For the purposes of this website, I consider "low-cost" any memberships that for a family of 4 works out to less than $12 a month, including any parking that is not included in the membership.
Disclaimer: This is by no means an exhaustive list of free and low-cost children's activities in San Diego County. I have attended some of the events, but not all, and my listing them here does not constitute an endorsement of any particular event or venue. Listing of events on the calendar does not guarantee they haven't been canceled so it's always good to confirm the event when possible.
If you know of any recurring events that aren't on the calendar, please let me know. Email me at msliz@freeforalls.com and include a link to the website with more information or a contact phone number for the venue so I can confirm the details.
