How Parents Can Make The Most of Summer With The Kids on A Budget! Free Admission to The Museum!

Summer is finally here!

School is out and now you have the time to enjoy your children all day long.  In some ways, that is fantastic.  More quality time with the kids.  In other ways, you might just be pulling out your hair within a few weeks or you will never see them as they are on the computer, on their smartphones on snapchat and other social media sites.  What can you can do with the kids to get them out of the house without breaking the budget or your sanity?  You can take them to the beach but with the super warm weather, that gets old quickly.

One thing I always loved to do with my kids was to frequent the museums in the area.  Unfortunately admissions to the most popular museums can be quite expensive.  That is why I wanted to share an affordable family option perfect for mom and dad as well as grandma or grandpa.

For those not familiar with the ASTC Science Center Free Reciprocal Program, you will love this!  Simply become a member of a local hopefully more affordable museum or science center included in the program.  That membership will give you free access to all the other museums that participate in every state in the United States!  Some states have limitations that the museum or science center must be a certain distance from the home museum, but that is not the case in Florida where I live.  In Florida, you can visit ANY of the locations listed!  (Confirm this with the location you will be visiting in case there are changes)

Here is an example:

Join the Charlotte County Historical Society Museum in Port Charlotte, Fl.  Memberships for an individual are just $25 a year or $35 for a family or grandparent membership.  Grandparent membership includes spouse and grandchildren 18 and under.

With that membership, you are now able to go many museums, 22 in Florida alone including the Orlando Science Center, (highly recommended!) for free or the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa, (MOSI) for free!  Not bad since admission to the Orlando Science Center runs $19 for adult, $17 for senior, $17 for student with id or $13 for youth age 3-11.  This could be quite expensive if you have many grandchildren or a large family like I do.  General admission at MOSI in Tampa runs $22.95 for adults, Seniors 60 + $20.95 and children 2-12 for $18.95.  Expect to save hundreds of dollars on admission and have a blast with your kids or grandkids this summer!  The great thing is this membership will be valid for a year so you can use this again and again during spring break, vacation days from school, during Christmas holiday time and any time you choose.  Here is the current list.

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