Depending on where you live, you may already feel the air getting cooler and crisper. With school back in session and all the talk about Halloween, we know that fall is just around the corner. While we are busy with school and extracurricular activities, this is also a lovely time to take a relaxing break and connect to nature as a family. Here are some fun fall activities to help you and your kids connect to nature.
U-pick Farm
One of my most favorite memories of autumn is going apple picking with my family. I was so enthralled by all the hidden treasures hanging in the orchard. I loved tasting the different varieties of apples and deciding which was my favorite. My family and I actually just went apple and raspberry picking, so I was able to pass along my cherished childhood memories to them!
This time of year is the perfect opportunity to head to a local farm to pick your own produce of the season, whether it be apples, pears, raspberries, squash, or others available where you live. It is a wonderful chance for the entire family to enjoy a few hours strolling around an orchard or farm taking in the sights, fragrances, and miracles of nature. By taking your children on a u-pick adventure, they will learn a tremendous amount about healthy food and the environment, and you will support your local community. Plus, locally grown food tastes better, is more nutritious, and stays fresh longer.
The best part is that you can go home from the farm and spend quality time together in the kitchen creating tasty meals from the food you hand-picked yourselves. There are so many healthy kid-friendly recipes to discover, from smoothies to side dishes to snacks. When your children play this much of a role in gathering and preparing their food, it will have a huge impact on them and influence the food decisions they make in the future.
Pumpkin Patch
Nothing feels more like fall time than pumpkin patches, hay rides, and corn mazes! Your kids will love running around outside in a corn maze and searching for the biggest, brightest pumpkin to take home with them. No matter where you live, you should be able to find a place in your area that offers these fun autumn seasonal treats for your family to enjoy.
And, of course, your children will have a blast carving the pumpkins and displaying their works of art for neighbors to see. We always love toasting the pumpkin seeds and enjoying them as a healthy snack afterwards. Even if you can’t find a pumpkin patch by you, you can still grab a few pumpkins at a local store and carve them outside in your yard to get some relaxing outdoor time together.
Fall Foliage
One of the most incredible aspects of nature is all the colors we can find. During autumn, colors pop out all over as the leaves begin to change. When we experience the vivid natural colors during this season, we are filled with awe. This special emotion helps us feel happier and calmer, and is worth seeking out. One way to fill your kids with some awe this time of year is to go for a hike or family road trip to observe the gorgeous hues of changing leaves.
The fall foliage can be so soothing as well as inspiring. Bring along a camera and be sure to snap lots of photos of the gorgeous leaves, and when you return home encourage your kids to draw or paint pictures based on what they saw. You can also organize an online slideshow of your photos or print them to create collages. Another fun idea is to collect some of the fallen leaves and bring them home for art projects.
Volunteering
This is also a great time of year to get outdoors and give back to others. When we spread kindness throughout our community, we actually experience a physiological change called a helper’s high. These positive feelings are heightened even more if we are volunteering outside and connecting with nature.
September happens to be the month when the annual International Coastal Cleanup takes place, so if you live near the ocean you can volunteer to clean it up either with a group or on your own as a family. This year the cleanup is on September 19th. Find out how to get involved.
Another way to volunteer outside is to contact a local farm and see if they need help with activities like weeding, planting seeds, sifting compost, digging, or watering. You can also ask about or organize your own gleaning project, which involves picking leftover crops from a farmer’s field after they have been commercially harvested and donating the produce locally. Finally, on a much more personal level, you could offer to rake a sick or elderly neighbor’s leaves. This is a great way to get your kids involved in community service and to see the results right away.
I hope you will take advantage of this special season to enjoy some fun fall activities as a family. You will be sure to build family memories that will last a lifetime!
What are your family’s favorite fall activities?
Some fun ideas here! I haven’t been fruit picking in so long!
So many great ideas here!!!
I like to go to the farm with my family as well, though I’ve never gone apple picking, and it’s been a long time since we’ve taken a hayride or gone up to the pumpkin patch while we were there. Last year, we took a hike, and it was a good time. So, that may be our new fall tradition.
I love all of these! I’m such a nut for anything Fall! I love that harvest festivals are also coming back into fashion as a means of agrotourism for small farms. There’s always so many great ways to support your local family farms during the fall season and I’m happy to see you highlighting some of them! 😀
This perfect fall days are rare where it’s not too hot or too cold. Fresh air is great no matter what season.
So glad you mentioned volunteering – this is a great time of year for simple service projects that can really make the seasons to much happier for all!
Very cool! I hope you don’t mind if I add another suggestion. A walk in the park
I LOVE fall, so I love all of these! I’m already counting down to the equinox…My favorite parts are the foliage, like you mentioned, and the autumn harvests. Living in Washington state, I also live for the first drizzly, overcast days although a couple months into all that, I’m screaming for a break!
Fall is my favourite part of the year, nature is just so beautiful. I love autumn walks and cracking of fresh chestnuts or drinking herbal tea.
I love going to the pumpkin farms and soaking up all the Fall smells. We’re heading to the Smoky Mountains for a few days shortly, I can’t wait to see the changing leaves.
All of your suggestions are making me miss NORMAL. Our family is missing out on all our fun fall activities so far this year because of COVID. We normally are a sports family, playing softball on the girls side and football on the boys side. This time last year we were running from practices to games and back again. We hope to go to the Pumpkin Patch in the town next to us this year, but knowing that everyone will be flocking to this site when it opens because nothing else in our area is open, I worry that it might be dangerous. I guess skipping one year won’t kill us.
I think it is important to teach kids the seasonal lifestyle and to go with what nature has to offer. I think it should be also part of the curriculum. All great ideas you should supply the teachers with.
Great ideas! I took my kids to my aunt’s house and they were amazing at how many apples will grow on just one tree! She let us pick as many as we wanted, so we’ve been eating apple everything around here! I’m looking forward to seeing the leave change color!
This list brings back so many happy memories from when my girls were small! For now, these empty nesters are enjoying long drives in the country and stopping at the local farmers market for some yummy Apple Cider.
Lovely!
You’ve got a good thing going here! Definitely using this as a reference for my family!
I haven’t had the opportunity to visit a pumpkin patch yet this year, but it’s definitely high on my list of things that I would like to do in the very near future. We have been doing a lot of fall hiking as of late, exploring our local trails and really enjoying all the beautiful colours in the trees around the area.
Great ideas! These ideas can be so much fun! Even if it’s raining! Just throw on some rain gear! Thanks!
These are some great ideas that I would love to try out once this hot weather passes, haha! It looked like Fall had arrived but now we’re back in the 90 degree weather (ugh). Thanks for these Autumn activities!
Good suggestions. Volunteering is really satisfying.
I love these ideas! My housemates and I are planning on going to a pumpkin patch soon and I can’t wait 🙂 x
It’s been a few years since we have gone apple picking. Thank you for reminding me of the beauty of fall!
Fall is my absolute favorite season! I’m so excited to do these activities! Thanks for all the amazing tips! 🙂
I love this post! My family and I love this time of year and always look forward to all things fall! This is so helpful!
Fun ideas 🙂 so important to stay connected with nature and get some sunshine, even as the seasons change and the weather cools off!