50 Activities for Autumn

Fall = fun activities for families! We live in Texas where the temps are brutal in the summer, not much we want to do outside other than play in the pool – For us, Autumn means a chance to go on fun family dates. Each Saturday morning we do an activity together as a family. Here are just a few of the activities we are looking forward to doing together.

Autumn Activities for Kids

1. Pick a preschool fall craft to do together and have fun being creative together.
2. Pumpkin slime.  Goop is a blast to play with.  This goop is pumpkiny-orange.
3. Pumpkin pie play dough – this stuff smells SO good!
4. For an indoor kids activity, go on a spider hunt and see if you can find any cobwebs hiding in your house.  After you dust them, create your own spider web using popsicle sticks, yarn, egg cartons and pipecleaners.
5. Do your kids collect acorns?  Mine love to squirrel them away.  This is a great kids painting activity using acorns to make art.
6. Make an art masterpiece “tree”  by blowing a drip of paint across a page of paper.  Use a q-tip to “dot” some leaves onto your tree.  Discuss how the leaves are changing colors – it’s fall!!
7. Don’t have trees with colorful leaves?  We don’t so I especially love this activity suggestion, make your own leave with Tie Dyed Coffee filters.
8. Build a catapult, take it outside and put a pebble or two inside.  Watch them fly and measure how far the items went.
9. Create an owl craft with scraps of old magazines – my kids are in a cutting kick and would love this craft.<
10. Make a owl from TP tubes using feathers, scraps of fabric and buttons.  This craft for kids is adorable.
11. Create Fall Art.  Adding an outline can really liven up a picture.  Help your youngest tots paint and create wall-worthy art with some black glue.  They paint scribbles and you outline the work into the shape of a leaf.
12. Grow some fall herbs.  We love to start our fall herb windowsill “garden” each September.  This is a fun version, using the [plastic pumpkin heads as planters.
13. Watch your kids pretend and play in a “world” with leaves outdoors for your kids to explore through.  This family created a whole house with different rooms.  Afterwards, rake them up and have fun jumping.
14. Go on a nature walk to a new destination.  Bring a long a nature bag for the kids to help them document what they see.
15. Plant bulbs for the spring.  My kids love to get muddy - gardening with kids is dirty and fun!
16. Donate food items to a food bank in your area – as the holidays approach food banks are often strapped for supplies.
17. Make a pumpkin pie with your kids.  Have extra filling?  Add it to a smoothie with some yogurt.
18. Go bobbing for apples.  Fill a tub with apples and see if you can get one with your teeth.  Afterwards, make candy apples as a treat to enjoy with your kids.
19. Make smores on the patio with your kids – use a solar oven to warm them.  Try experimenting and adding extra ingredients to your smores like berries or bananas.
20. Make your own apple cider by adding cinnamon sticks, nutmeg and honey to juiced apples (if possible, get fresh pressed juice)!
21. Churn your own butter – this is a fun activity for a kiddo who loves to move!
22. Play games during a bike ride.  Use Chalk to create start and end points on a “race” or to make an obstacle course of sorts for your kids to weave through.
23. Make popcorn balls.  Ooey-gooey carmel popcorn balls shout fall is coming to me.  These are one of our kids favorite fall traditions.
24. Go camping in your own backyard with a DIY PVC pipe Tent.
25. Take a collection of leaves and make leaf skeletons – soak the leaves in washing soda until the chloroform disintegrates and you are left with the leaf structure.
26. Go on a hayride – we love to visit the local orchard, pick apples and go on a hayride.
27. Practice fractions as you chop up apples and mix ingredients while baking an Apple Pie with kids.
28. Take crayons and some of your favorite leaves and layer the leaves between pages of paper.  Rub on the pages with a crayon to see the leaf pattern emerge.
29. Set a pumpkin outdoors and journal about the pumpkin’s decomposition as it rots.   Be sure to take pictures of the pumpkin in it’s various stages.
30. After you prune your trees, chop up the logs and the twigs, clean them off and bring them inside to make tree blocks.
31. Bake pumpkin seeds.  I love carving out our pumpkins each year and using the “guts” to create a magnesium-rich snack for the kids and I to enjoy.
32. Make Jack-o-lanterns from items in the recycle bin, orange paint and black foam stickers.
33. Feed the birds with a kid-made birdfeeder craft using toilet paper tubes or pinecones, peanut butter and seed.
34. Make Candy Corn Cookies.  Layer three colors of sugar cookie dough and follow these instructions to make your own wedged treats.
35. Do a Halloween craft with your kids.  Here are a dozen projects you can create with your kids.
36. Create your own costume for Halloween – there is a whole pinterest board filled with simple costumes you can make with your kids.
37. Go trick or treating with your children.  We love saying hi to all our neighbors!
38. For a fun kids activity, have your kids carve your own arrowheads using a bar of soap.
39. Make your own candles by dipping yarn into wax – this is a great stormy afternoon craft activity for the kids.
40. Fun Halloween Kids Activity - Make Eerie sounds – all you need is a plastic cup, a paperclip, string (wool is best) and a piece of papertowel.
41. Spooky and slimy sensory… spaghetti???  Dye some spaghetti bright orange and dark black, add a bit of veggie oil so they are extra slimy and have fun squishing and squeezing:
42. Have fun with food and the kids – Make a Snakey Jello.  This activity uses jello (Jelly for UK folks) and toy snakes for some squishy fun.
43. Bake some Ginger-Dead men together.  The best part of this edible kids activity is that you *have* to eat the cookies as you work!
44. Do some simple Kitchen Science experiments  with the leftover Trick-or-Treating candy.
45. Bake a batch of pumpkin Chocolate Chip cookies - this recipe is a loved favorite of more than one quirky family!
46. Spend the afternoon at a bookstore researching a project for the winter months.
47. Afternoon craft activity: Make matching scarves for you and your daughter to enjoy together.  Here is a collection of no-sew scarves you can make in an afternoon.
48. Stuff old clothes to create a scarecrow for your front yard – a children’s thanksgiving craft.
49. Bake apple chips.  Thinly slice apples, spray them with oil and sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on them.  Bake them in the oven till they are crispy.
50. This is a great family craft for Thanksgiving, make a thankful tree detailing all the things you are thankful for this past year.

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Do you have a fall bucket list?

Thanks to Tinkerlab for inspiring our post.  Check out the acitivities she hopes to do with her kids fall 2012!  Thanks also to all the people who contributed TERRIFIC ideas last year during our It’s PLaytime Link-up.  You gave us so many activities to look forward to!  Want to be featured on our site (or our pinterest boards??)  Link up every Wednesday afternoon to our weekly round-up, we love to promote from the great posts we find.