Free Thinking: West Jordan and South Jordan451

Families in the cities of West Jordan and South Jordan have a lot of options for keeping their kids amused, fed, and entertained without spending a fortune. We've been searching for free things to do around this region and the following list should help keep your family happy while allowing you to keep some of your cash in your wallet.

Let's start with the restaurants that offer free food or special discounts for kids and families. Kids ages three and under can always eat free from the salad bar at Sizzler with an adult meal purchase. Joe's Crab Shack hosts $2 Tuesdays on , you guessed it, Tuesday nights; Kids' menu items (except the snow crab) are all just $2. Also on Tuesdays, Fazoli's hosts Kids' Night from 5pm to 8pm. The evening features crafts, games, and 99-cent kids' meals. Fazoli's also offers food specials on Mondays and Thursdays - Meatball Madness on Monday and Pizza Sampler on Thursday. Denny's lets kids eat free on Tuesday and Saturday nights after 4pm; up to two children can eat for free off the kids' menu with each adult meal purchase. Wednesday night, families can head to Chick-Fil-A where it's Family Night; kids can do a craft, play in the indoor play area, and get a four-piece kids' nugget meal free with an adult combo meal purchase. And, finally, Carl's Jr. offers a Kids Eat Free program; on Wednesdays from 4pm to close, get a free kids' meal with the purchase of a regular combo meal.

Libraries are a great source of free entertainment. Not only can families borrow books and movies for free, but libraries also frequently host free events such as puppet shows, magic shows, concerts, live animal visits, book clubs, and storytimes. Libraries in the West Jordan and South Jordan area include Bingham Creek Library, South Jordan Library, and West Jordan Library. Weekly storytimes also take place at Barnes & Noble. We list these venues' upcoming storytimes and events on our calendar; check the "events" section of their venue pages for direct links to the calendar items.

Budding astronomers might be interested in attending free star gazing parties hosted by the Salt Lake Astronomical Society (SLAS) each spring through fall. The parties are held in the parking lot of Harmon?s. Watch our calendar for dates and times.

For crafty kids, or kids who just like to "tool" around, Home Depot offers free Kids' Workshops on the first Saturday of each month from 9am to 11am. Lowe's hosts free Build and Grow Kids' Clinics a couple times a month.

A couple museums - the West Jordan Historical Museum and the Gale Center of History and Culture - offer free admission year round. The Gale Center is an educational center featuring items from South Jordan's past, including an old school, an old home, a store from the late 1800s, a family garden, a post office from the 1920s, and even a house resembling grandma's house. Outdoor exhibits include the Granary, the Dugout, and a variety of old farm tools and machinery. The center offers a great hands-on experience for children, and hosts several special events throughout the year. The West Jordan Historical Museum is a small homestead museum featuring several out buildings (including a dairy barn and a blacksmith shop), live chickens, antique farm equipment, one of the original carousel horses from Saltair, and many more historical treasures from the area. The museum grounds can be reserved for private functions such as birthday parties, wedding receptions, and family reunions.

Gardner Village is a quaint little shopping area where it's fun to take a stroll and window shop. Several free events are offered throughout the year; watch our calendar for details. If you head into the stores you should expect to part with some money; a lot of the items are hard to resist.

For days when you want to get the family out into the great outdoors, consider a visit to Veterans Memorial Park & its Wild West Jordan Playground. The park is huge and offers lots of recreational opportunities for families. Free outdoor movies are shown in the park during the summer months, and the city's annual Easter egg hunt takes place here. As for the playground, it can't be beat!

Another great outdoor offering is a free treasure hunting game called Geocaching. Geocaches are hidden containers that can be found using coordinates and a GPS unit. If you choose to remove a "treasure" (stickers, toy cars, postcards, pencils, crayons, bubbles, etc.) from the cache, be sure to leave an item to replace it - all of those kids' meal toys laying around the house make great treasures for the cache. Thousands of caches are hidden throughout the Salt Lake area, and some are right here in West Jordan and South Jordan.

Do you know of more free stuff, events, and activities for kids and families around West Jordan and South Jordan? Add a comment below and we'll get right on it!

Note: Our editors make every attempt to keep this list as current as possible, but changes to these programs do happen. We recommend that you visit the venue websites for exceptions, other qualifying details, and any updates before visiting the venues themselves.