Crafts & Activities,  Seasonal

10 Fabulous Fall Activities

October 3, 2019 / 40 Comments

The cooler air is arriving and the the leaves are changing colors. Fall is such a beautiful time of year. The temperatures and beautiful colors are calling you outside. What a wonderful time to explore the outdoors with your child and make new memories and traditions.

Fabulous Family Outings

Pumpkin Patch: All children get so excited when they start seeing big orange pumpkins around town. It is the perfect opportunity to visit a pumpkin patch to pick your pumpkins right off the vine. So many pumpkin patches have wonderful fall festivals for the children to interact and explore what fall has to offer. Most pumpkin patches have games and rides, mazes, arts and crafts activities to make it an amazing time for you and your children. However, my favorite activity is to take the hayride to the pumpkin patch and picking a pumpkin right off the vine. This is such a wonderful time to talk with your child about the life cycle of a pumpkin or just plants in general. They can see some flowers still on the vine and pumpkins at different stages of development and ripeness. Be sure to point these out to your child and discuss what they are seeing.

When you have completed your trip to the pumpkin patch there is so much still to do. Have you ever hosted a pumpkin carving party. Invite your friends over for a fun time decorating and carving your pumpkins. While doing this it is a perfect opportunity to discuss shapes and lines you are carving into the pumpkin. What emotion does your pumpkin show on his jack-o-lantern face? Why would he be feeling that way? Then you can help your little come up with a story to tell why the jack-o-lantern is feeling the way he does.

We cannot forget the math that goes along with our pumpkin fun. Children love to weigh and measure the height and circumference of their pumpkins and compare and contrast the different sizes. They can estimate how many seeds are in the different pumpkins and then during the carving they can count the number of seeds in it. Help them sort the seeds into groups so they can learn to skip count and it will keep them from loosing count as they are having fun.

Children also love to use their reading and math skills to cook. Roast the pumpkin seeds for a healthy snack and get some pumpkins specifically for making pumpkin pie and other pumpkin treats.

 

Farm: What a better time to visit a farm. Fall harvest is in full swing. Go out into the fields and pick fruits and vegetables that can be enjoyed when you get home. You can then discuss how fruits and vegetables get from the farm to the table in your house. Hopefully the farm you visit also has animals you can visit, pet, and feed. Littles love to visit and pet animals and you can discuss how to care for animals and what they need to survive. You can also discuss how caring for a pet and farm animals are the same and different. Your little will love running around in the fresh air and exploring the outdoors. Enjoy watching them have fun.

Apple Picking: Do your littles love to climb? Do they know where apples come from? Visit an apple orchard and have fun picking apples and exploring how they grow. Enjoy your day with a picnic lunch in the orchard, drinking apple cider and eating an apple you picked fresh from the tree. Many orchards have a tour of how to make apple cider. This is so much fun to see and usually you get to have a glass of the fresh pressed cider. Once you return home from the orchard enjoy making applesauce, apple pie, apple butter, or other apple items and use reading and math to help them learn that math and reading are necessary everyday. Your children will have fond memories and new traditions can be built.

Zoo: Now that the weather is cooling off. It is a great time to visit the zoo. Animals spend much of the summer hiding in the shade or sleeping and you don’t get much animal action. I would suggest going now. The animals have more energy and are out and about their enclosures. You can talk with your littles about the animals and their needs. Discuss how their needs are the same and different from those of farm animals, pets, or if they were in the wild. The zoo will help your child see animals they may never see anywhere else and help them build a love for animals and our planet.

County or State Fair: Many counties and states are beginning to have fairs. There is so much for you and your family to experience at fairs. They have rides and food of course, but they they also have so many educational activities. There are animals, crafts, farm equipment, plants and produce. There are competitions to watch. So many fun things to do and with discussion between you and your child or your family and participants of the fair, there is so much to learn. So go to the local, county, or state fair and enjoy all the fun and learning it has to offer.

Fall Leaf Adventure: A leaf adventure is a trip to see the leaves changing colors. Take a picnic lunch and enjoy the outdoors. Take your little on a hike and look at the leaves on the trees as well as picking some up off the ground and explore each leaf a little closer. Make a hiking pack to include snacks, water, magnifying glass, a book about leaves, and a baggy to collect nature items for one of the crafts below.

Nature Hikes: Sometimes going to the mountains or a fun place to see fall leaves if not possible, however you can take your little for a walk around your neighborhood. Collect, leaves, nuts, sticks, and small rocks for the use in crafts or to learn about at later times. You can make it even more fun if you plan to take a picnic lunch or snack and stop somewhere in the neighborhood where you can enjoy nature and sit, eat, and look at the items collected together.

Fall Crafts to Enjoy Together

Nature Collage: From your nature hikes make a collage of the items you have found. For older littles they can use the items to make a scene or an animal.

Hand and Foot Prints: Use your child’s hand and footprints to make many different things. We made a stacked pumpkin with a footprint, another pumpkin with the palm of the hand and

leaves with the full hand print. Your littles will love turning their hands and feet into pictures.

Apple Tree Prints: Cut an apple in half. Use red, yellow, and/or green paint and stamp the apples near the top of a piece of paper. Have your child paint a tree trunk or use their foot print as the trunk. Add some green around the bottom and among the apple prints.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For 10 Ways to make Halloween more engaging than collecting more candy than you can eat, visit the article: 10 Ways to Make Halloween More Than Just Trick-or-Treating.

For Thanksgiving activities, adventures, books and crafts to enjoy with your family this years, visit: 9 Thanksgiving Traditions to Begin with Your Family this Year

Books to Fall Into

  • Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn by Kenard Pak
  • Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell and Lizzy Rockwell
  • Apple Pie Tree  by  Zoe Hall and Shari Halpern
  • Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert
  • Hello Autumn! by Shelley Rotner
  • Pumpkin Ciricle: The Story of a Garden by George Levensonand Shmuel Thaler
  • The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troianoand Susan Banta
  • From Seed to Pumpkin by Wendy Pfeffer and James Graham Hale
  • Pete the Cat: Five Little Pumpkins by James Dean
  • Pete the Cat: Trick or Pete by James Dean

 

Share some of your favorite fall books and activities.

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